Research: Randall Crane

I have no formal training or background in Urban Studies and Planning, Urban Economy, or any kind of social scientific discipline.

What I do have training in is Film, or Cinema-for those Cineastes/Snobs. My 'formal' training in film and video production provided the vehicle for me to cross various sectors/disciplines. With that said, in combination with critical pedagogy and working with "at-risk" youth for a number of years, has provided fertile ground for calculated curiosity.

Oh, and I'm Filipino. Insert Diaspora and other assertions/questions/musings of Home here.

This amalgam permits fluidity in my scholarly searches, however, I'm sure my legitimacy will be in question because I don't have a bunch of letters following my name.

In an effort to combat potential critiques/bashing, I've been cutting my teeth on ground (see Pin@y Education Partnerships, SOMCAN, etc.), and in the books... or in this first example, blogs.

Urban Planning Research is authored by Professor of Urban Planning, Randall Crane, down at the University of California, Los Angeles,.

Although, possibly not the commanding voice, Crane's content diversity and form are more than digestible to outsider and academic alike. Crane's most recent entry is a strong example of very accessible material to a very practical understanding of urban planning conversation.

Crane also features individuals that continually ask the important questions, but also keep the work on the streets, and not just the books.

Crane does a thorough job in citations and links, which supplement the article and both open up more doors for questions, and set up strong cases.

I suppose Blogs aren't a substitute to the thick, voluminous books that line the shelves, but they certainly are changing up how conversations and research questions can be framed succinctly, and in greater frequencies, to encourage discourse.

(I'll be posting other blogs that I often frequent in future postings)