Architects are not just architects anymore. Now they are planners, too, and some high profile projects all over the world show that this trend is likely to continue.
"Famous architects are no longer just in the business of designing signature buildings. They are also increasingly functioning as megascale planners, hand in glove with the biggest developers in the world and with local municipalities, usually with both."
"Daniel Libeskind is at work on a 4.5-million-square-foot, "skyline-creating" waterfront development in Busan, South Korea; a master plan with office towers, condominiums, a hotel, and a cultural institute for a three-mile development corridor south of the historic center of Copenhagen, Denmark; and a huge shopping and entertainment center on the west side of Bern, Switzerland, scheduled for completion this year and boasting a hyperactive menu of amenities such as a theme-park swimming pool, a movieplex, and a senior citizens' residence. In Morocco, Jean Nouvel is projecting a 345-acre low-rise, high-density suburb of Rabat, as well as a new port complex in Tangier."
"Norman Foster has been retained as master planner for the historic center of Duisburg, a deindustrialized city in Germany's Ruhr Valley where he previously completed a renewal project for the inner harbor. He is also working on the first of a series of five hill towns for 15,000 residents on the Black Sea in Bulgaria and a car-free, waste-free, carbon-neutral "green utopia" for 50,000 in Abu Dhabi."
FULL STORY: Star Cities
Draft Los Angeles River Master Plan Revealed
A new draft Los Angeles Master Plan, created by Frank Gehry's firm, lays out a more active, natural vision for the river, in addition to addressing concerns about displacement in communities along the river corridor.
Op-Ed: Starchitecture Fails the Future
An addiction to spectacle and fad, says Peter Buchanan, has set architecture adrift in a sea of meaningless forms. And real design problems go ignored.
In SF, Does Lack of Big Names Mean Lack of Good Design?
Alexei Barrionuevo explores San Francisco's starchitect deficit, finding a city "more interested in conserving its [history] than in making a statement." This approach comes in for criticism from the dean of starchitects himself - Frank Gehry.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Eviction Looms for Low-Income Tenants as Rent Debt Rises
Nonprofit housing operators across the country face almost $10 billion in rent debt.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
