I sat down with Vince Graham in the Winter Hall of his South Carolina beach castle, Mugdock (named after the historic seat of the Graham family in Scotland). We discuss a lot of things: building beautiful places, Ivan Illich, Corbu, Brave New World, HOAs, forces of institutionalization and atomization, books, Supreme Court decisions that have shaped our culture and land patterns.
Links and things mentioned
Mugdock Castle on Sullivan’s Island
Alcaeus of Mytilene
Le Corbusier
The Old Village in Mt Pleasant
“The Distorting Effects of Transportation Subsidies” by Kevin Carson
Demon of Interest by Eric Larson
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Timestamps
0:00 – intro
0:36 – history of the Mugdock Castle on Sullivan’s Island
3:52 – how Vince and Geoff became business partners
7:49 – obligation to create a homeowner’s association as a developer
9:03 – why it’s illegal to build places like I’On, incentives
12:32 – forces of atomization, fear of the other, nationalism, mechanization, planning
19:51 – individual autonomy, opportunity
26:45 – high scale agriculture, changes in awareness, Wilson v Shaw
32:02 – I’On background, rezoning process, hostile political environments
36:47 – examples of successfully re-zoning, Catfiddle in Charleston
44:35 – opponents to I’On, support from local governments
49:22 – internal improvements, constitutional history, funding infrastructure, the Panama Canal
1:02:20 – the relativist Supreme Court, institutionalization, changes after wars
1:08:31 – how Vince tells people what he does for a living, building beauty
1:10:52 – tech for the sake of tech, being discriminate about what we’re building, the reasons for building things
1:17:25 – meaningful work, Ivan Illich
1:21:29 – Kevin Carson, what the world might look like without subsidizing cars
1:24:00 – institutionalizing forces in history
1:30:51 – what Vince is working on now
1:33:46 – what Vince is reading now, how the environment affects the way we think
1:39:51 – conclusion and where you can find Vince
You can find Yeoman on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Youtube, and elsewhere.
Yeoman 