China's unrelenting building boom has proven an irresistible lure for hordes of architects from around the world whose jobs disappeared during the Great Recession, reports Brook Larmer.
While the world's largest architecture firms have designed buildings and operated offices in China for the last decade or more, a new generation of "refugees from the economic crisis" have found a home in a country offering creative freedom and the efficiencies of a top-down political culture.
According to Larmer, "[t]his is the expected global economic formula flipped on its head: instead of American workers losing out to the Chinese, China is providing jobs for foreign architects. Even more surprising is the degree of imaginative license that China offers, even demands of, its foreign building designers. With new cities materializing seemingly overnight, international architects are free to think big, to experiment with cutting-edge designs, to introduce green technologies."
The sheer volume of design and construction necessitated by the largest rural-to-urban shift in history presents an incredible opportunity for creative responsibility for young western architects. However, "[f]or all the lip service given to creativity, [architect Adam Mayer] says, too often the results are cookie-cutter developments that make Chinese cities feel depressingly similar - and surpassingly ugly. 'To come up with something new and creative takes time,' he says, 'and in China, there's not the luxury of time.'"
"Despite the excitement over the flow of projects - indeed, the mere existence of work - there is also a deeper concern: all those empty apartment buildings in Harbin and elsewhere suggest that China's building boom may have passed its peak," as recent dispatches from the country seem to concur.
FULL STORY: Building the American Dream in China

Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
Citing “a challenging fiscal landscape,” the city will cease the program on the heels of 42 traffic deaths, including 24 pedestrians.

Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall
A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.

Study: Anti-Homelessness Laws Don’t Work
Research shows that punitive measures that criminalized unhoused people don’t help reduce homelessness.

In U.S., Urban Gondolas Face Uphill Battle
Cities in Latin America and Europe have embraced aerial transitways — AKA gondolas — as sustainable, convenient urban transport, especially in tricky geographies. American cities have yet to catch up.
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont