Adaptive Reuse
Bay Area Naval Base Approved for Neighborhood Conversion
A former Naval weapons station in Concord, California will be converted into a new, 12,000-home neighborhood.
The Contra Costa Times
As Dealerships Empty Out, Cities Look at Options for Reuse
As the auto industry evolves, the vast car lots that sprung up in many California towns over the past few decades are falling out of use. Cities are looking at new ways to reuse these spaces.
Los Angeles Times
Abandoned Train Infrastructure Becomes Amusement Park
The abandoned infrastructure for an inner-city rail project in Lima, Peru, has been adapted into a playful amusement park.
Treehugger
Underused Olympic Stadium to Become Water Park
Underused since the end of the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Beijing Water Cube swimming stadium will be converted into a water park.
Agence France Presse
Portland Learning from Los Angeles
An interdisciplinary team of urban designers, architects, and analysts have proposed a neo-retro-futurist scenario for making downtown Portland nearly car-free by 2050.
Hugeasscity
Winter Wonderland in the Bird's Nest
This slideshow from the BBC explores how Beijing's iconic Bird's Nest Olympic stadium is being reused -- as a kids theme park.
BBC
Closed Auto Dealerships Find New Life
Closed car dealerships across the country are finding new life as yoga studios, classrooms, and day care centers.
Gazette Times
Old Buildings See New Life As Schools
School officials in the UK are increasingly looking at old office buildings and other existing facilities that can be converted into school houses more affordably than building from scratch.
Guardian
Getting Creative About Finding Places for Parks
New York City is developing a handful of new parks on industrial lands and otherwise underused spaces. Urban Omnibus talks with Adrian Benepe, the city's commissioner of parks and recreation about the new projects.
Urban Omnibus
Berlin Airport to Be Reborn as Public Park
A historic airfield in Berlin will be transformed over the next year into the city's largest park.
The Local
Suburbs: The Last Frontier
As people move to cities and the outer suburbs begin to become more desolate, what will become of them? WorldChanging envisions the suburbs as the next frontier.
WorldChanging
From Trash to Splash
Dumpster diving takes on new meaning as a New York-based design firm reinvents vacant lots as mini-resorts by converting old trash bins into swimming pools.
ABC News
No Community Pool? Go Dumpster Diving!
Artists in Brooklyn are filling a void by converting construction dumpsters into swimming pools.
Ready Made
Next Steps for Shrinking Cities: Results of the Planetizen Brainstorm
Bulldoze? Densify? Walk away? There are many ways cities can react to shrinking populations and abandoned neighborhoods. Planetizen readers decide which ways are the best.
The Challenge of Adaptive Reuse
City manager of Phoenix Frank Fairbanks talks about how the city created a program to advise residents on how to effectively and creatively reuse old buildings.
Governing Magazine
The Future of Empty Car Dealerships: Results of the Planetizen Brainstorm
The results are in! We asked for you ideas for reusing the empty car dealerships cropping up around the country. Urban gardens? Flying car launch pads? These ideas may seem far out, but the number one answer may surprise you.
Brainstorm: What Should Cities Do With Their Newly Empty Car Lots?
With the auto industry struggling and car dealerships closing shop, what future do you see for empty car lots? Vote on ideas submitted by the Planetizen community, or suggest your own.
Vancouver's Sustainable Olympic Village
With goals of LEED-certification and plans for reuse after the games, Vancouver's Olympic Village is being called a model for event-based sustainability.
Architectural Record
America's Most Endangered Historical Sites
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced its list of America's most endangered places.
The New York Times
New York's Unprecedented Park
Preconceptions and lofty goals surround New York's soon-to-open High Line park. But the unprecedented inner city rail line conversion leaves much up in the air, according to this piece from The Architect's Newspaper.
The Architect's Newspaper






















