Make No Big Plans

Looking at "urban acupuncture", a recent movement that eschews massive urban renewal projects in favor of smaller interventions.

1 minute read

July 25, 2011, 11:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


This article in The Guardian attributes the creation of the urban acupuncture movement to Finnish architect Marco Casagrande, but the central interview is Los Angeles architect and professor John Southern:

"Southern explained that the urban acupuncture approach treats cities like a living organism. Such micro-targeting, low-cost, democratic, and empowering tactics provide urban residents the much coveted green space that they desire without driving to a specific location. Although city politicians want to score points from the creation of enormous parks or even large building complexes that score a green certification, those projects often run over budget and even take away space that could benefit local communities in other ways."

Southern advocates for pocket parks over large-scale central parks, and a focus on streetscaping.

Thursday, July 21, 2011 in The Guardian U.K.

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