warning : mines
On a recent flight from DCA to Orange County, it became clear I was also flying between two of the largest US Marine Bases on the earth (Quantico and Pendelton). Overhearing the current and former military personnel talk about popular bases, reminded me of the way another demographic, the so-called "creative class" might discuss NYC neighborhood identity or the relative advantages of living in Brooklyn versus San Francisco.
Never before had geography seemed so relative (at least until you start getting into coordinate projection systems, but that's another story). After stumbling on some military ruins at Fort Baker across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco (above), I made a map that juxtaposed urban conglomerations in North America with US military landholdings, to get a bit of how these two geographies look side by side.
Reflecting on some of the other work done on military geography I was reminded of the day after I found out I would be relocating to Berlin. I went to the NYC public library and read Virilio's "Bunker Archeology", a documentation of derelict fortifications along the Normandy coastline.
In a way, the Cavallo Point spas reminded me of Christiania, in Copenhagen, also a decommissioned military installation. What would have happened if haight/ashbury happened in Sausilito?
This is an area that I'll probably spend more time investigating in Berlin. For now, here are some other interesting links for thoughts and ideas on the militarized landscape and its penetration into our everyday life: the people at subtopia: a field guide to military urbanism and of course the Center for Landuse Interpretation. (pondering their Wendover residency after I return from Berlin)
