The requisite introductory words...

I am hoping that this blog will actually be regularly updated; will feature essays on St. Louis architecture and urbanity. I am hoping to decry the demolitions, mourn what's missing, praise what's presently left, and fight against a fulsome future. If it sounds negative, rather than uplifting, you're probably reading correctly.

Unlike many cities, praise for St. Louis--a parochial, slow growth city--must come in a form that challenges its (that is, its leaders and its residents) very reality and daily functioning as a city. The present reality is one of a city that cannot ever recover from its former World's Fair era glory, its short run as the nation's fourth largest city. So then why try?

Well, because the same great city that 850,000 once called home is still, in physical form, there before our eyes. That is, what has survived the ravages of urban renewal and years of flight to the suburbs is anyway. And we, as lovers of this city, should be fighting to preserve that heritage.

Ironically, this is the future of St. Louis, in looking at its past. Supporting a city that cherishes small scale neighborhood retail and restaurants, beautiful (even when it's plain and unindulged) historic red brick architecture, and the ability to walk, bike, skip, or whathaveyou to your destination. And that's just the tip.

The decay of St. Louis, ever present in some areas and more and more quickly disappearing in others, has held a mirror to St. Louisans for quite some time now. The refracted image is ghastly but beautiful in its abandon; for all its spookiness, it appears a saner alternative than miles of strip malls and disjointed post-modern manses with their backs turned to history, culture, and a heritage in which to take pride.

With this blog, I hope to supply images and essays that convey the potential of this overlooked river town not to realize an idealized version of the Victorian period, but a sensible and attainable way of delivering a preserved St. Louis into a post-post-modern future and all of its present realities.

I call the blog "Dotage" because, at times, there is little else to my favor for St. Louis than fond affection. I often boast of my hometown with the disclaimer, "I can't explain it but..." There's a magnetism there for some of us urbanists that transcends our roles as the uniformed observer or even the planner who's read tract after tract on urban design and urban history. It should be noted that "dotage" is also the loss of one's memory over time, through old age, so please note the double entendre.

It's a unique, if suffering, place finally poised for a rebirth. So let's explore.