Museums

Mexico City

Friday Fun: Touring 12 Famous Museums from Home

Most museums are closed during the pandemic, but you can still visit them virtually from the comfort of your home thanks to Google Arts & Culture.

December 4, 2020 - Travel + Leisure

Spanish Steps

How Coronavirus Has Transformed Italy's Urban Spaces

Italy has been hit hard by the pandemic, and slowing the spread of the virus has meant dramatic changes in urban life.

April 3, 2020 - The Conversation

Chicago, Illinois

Introducing the National Public Housing Museum

The planned National Public Housing Museum, expected to open in 2021, will draw attention to a highly contested subject and connect to the relevance provided by contemporary anxieties about housing.

December 5, 2019 - CityLab

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Eastern State Penitentiary: A Class about the Past Speaks to the Present and the Future

Built as an embodiment of the ideals of prison reformers, the Eastern State Penitentiary had running water and central heating before the White House, and housed the first synagogue built in an American prison.

June 13, 2019 - Penn IUR Urban Link

Planning Commission in World's Fair office, 1958

Seattle Exhibit Grapples With Redlining Past and Present

A creative exhibit highlights how redlining and racist exclusion persist today.

March 26, 2019 - Curbed Seattle

Milwaukee Riverwalk

A Flurry of Expansion Plans for Milwaukee Arts Institutions

Buoyed by a strong economy and robust fundraising, a wide variety of arts institutions in Milwaukee want to remodel or relocate to new buildings. Here's a look at some of their plans.

June 1, 2018 - Urban Milwaukee

National Building Museum

An 'Evicted' Exhibit Planned for the National Building Museum

The critically acclaimed and Pulitzer Prize-winning book Evicted by Mathew Desmond will serve as the inspiration for an "immersive" exhibition at the National Building Museum.

October 28, 2017 - CityLab

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Lucas Museum Finally Finds a Home—in Los Angeles

This story has had more twists than the end of Empire Strikes Back, but it seems like it finally might end in Los Angeles.

January 11, 2017 - Los Angeles Times

Museum of Modern Art

New York Museum of Modern Art Closing its Architecture and Design Galleries

The first museum to have a "sustained department of architecture and design" is closing down its architecture and design galleries.

April 20, 2016 - The Architect's Newspaper

Paris Park

Museum Park Reflects Changing Preferences

Raleigh's North Carolina Museum of Art is redesigning its extensive grounds with an eye toward how public interaction with museums is shifting. Inclusion, sustainability, and brand development are paramount.

April 4, 2016 - The New York Times

Rio De Janeiro's New 'Museum of Tomorrow' Studies Urban Ambitions

The world lacks any significant number of museums focused primarily on the issues of planning. Rio de Janeiro, however, will soon add one to the inventory.

December 20, 2015 - Next City

Rainbow

Make Your City a Treasure Hunt

Do you remember going on a treasure hunt as a child? Treasure hunts are becoming increasingly popular with adults, as well as children. Technology has enabled mobile treasure hunts with cities across the world hosting hunts.

July 10, 2015 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

How To: Design a User-Friendly Museum Exhibition about Planning

John King writes that the "Gallery + Ideas Forum" at the Presidio in San Francisco provides an excellent model for presenting issues and ideas of planning and urban design to the public.

January 10, 2015 - San Francisco Chronicle

Report Recommends Trains for the Postal Service

The Post Office once used trains but no more, unlike the United Parcel Service (UPS). A new reports recommends that the Post Office return to their past, though not necessarily sorting the mail on the train like you might see in a rail museum.

November 11, 2014 - Linns.com

Revealed: Proposed Designs for Chicago's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

Beijing's MAD Architects have unveiled their preliminary design for Chicago's Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, inspiring no shortage of commentary in the process.

November 5, 2014 - Curbed Chicago

A Call to Protect Cultural Institutions from Urban Renewal

While considering plans for a large urban renewal project in Hollywood, Los Angeles struggles to avoid throwing out the baby with the bathwater—that is, saving a place for small cultural institutions when redeveloping neighborhoods.

September 29, 2014 - The Architect's Newspaper

New Development Projects Boost San Francisco's Northern Waterfront

The historic Fort Mason, along with several other development projects, has helped alter the landscape of the city’s northern waterfront, according to Jim Chappell, former head of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association.

September 17, 2014 - UrbDeZine

Criticism for Chicago's Lucas Museum Planning Process

Chicago won the opportunity to house the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, proposed for a location at Chicago's Museum Campus. But critics are gathering with questions about how the museum will fit into the city's fabric.

September 14, 2014 - Chicago Tribune

Do the 'Art Everywhere' Billboards Support Art, or Advertising?

With so many eyes trained obsessively on mobile phones, the outdoor industry is supporting a campaign to place famous art on billboards around the country. Will people notice? Should they?

August 29, 2014 - Pacific Standard

George Lucas Chooses Chicago for New Museum Site

Equal parts a stunning victory for Chicago and a breathtaking failure for San Francisco, "Star Wars" director George Lucas has selected Chicago as the site of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

June 25, 2014 - Chicago Tribune

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

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Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.