Places

In a fascinating essay in the journal Places, Keith Eggener examines the politics of architectural reputation through the lens of architect Louis Curtiss's life and career.

In a long read published in Places, Austin Troy delves into the complicated nexus between the need to increase water resources and decrease energy use, which are both exacerbated by, and exacerbate, climate change.

Laura Tepper explains "road ecology", the intersection between transportation planning and habitat conservation.

Architect Alan Chang writes an extensive piece for PLACES on the need to rethink how suburbs are built and designed now, before the economy recovers.

While the South is king when it comes to exurbs (low density, with workers who mostly commute to an urban area), the exurban experience has many faces, including small town New England.

This essay from Places looks at the history of "architectural fiction", and how imagined spaces and uses of land enrich understanding of the built environment.

California's San Joaquin Valley has become a hotbed of foreclosed homes. But beyond mere statistics, these homes are real places, and a new series of photographs documents them as scenes of surrender and abandonment.

In this piece from Places, Deborah Gans offers a firsthand look at planning for recovery in the city's neglected East side.

This piece from Places delves into the history of the campsite, their use of space, and their role in modern culture.

In this excerpt from a new book on Los Angeles, L.A.-based architect Michael Maltzan reflects on the city, and how its clashes and evolving identity are part of why it represents the future of cities.

In comparing the legacies of artist Andy Warhol and urban thinker Jane Jacobs, this essay suggests that the sort of urban community we think of today is more a result of Warhol.

Is urban planning losing its relevance as a profession? Some say yes. In this essay from Places, Thomas Campanella suggests that the roots of this fall from grace lie in the era of Jane Jacobs.

In a world heavily composed of and reliant on water, how we treat our oceans should be a major aspect of the way we think about planning and living on this planet, according to Timothy Beatley.

As funding falters in the private sector, some privately- or university-driven design centers are still pursuing new ideas is urban design and development. Places profiles one at the University of Arkansas.

With funding in question, the future of public libraries is uncertain. This slideshow explores how libraries function as a commons and public space in American cities.

This piece from Places discusses Los Angeles as a place difficult to wrap one's head around, and how light and darkness are so important to the city's identity.

Water shortages are on the rise, and effective management of this dwindling resource is becoming increasingly important to cities. How architects and planners visualize water in the landscape plays a big role in how it is understood and managed.

Despite efforts to stop them, floods hammered the U.S. in the early 20th century. A now abandoned model of the Mississippi river, its tributaries and surrounding lands was built to better understand how to combat those floods.

In an effort to encourage thinking about the future of the city, a new group of urban planners/artists has created a series of posters depicting imagined urban developments in New Orleans and posted them around town.

Gold mining was an integral part of what made the city of Johannesburg, South Africa one of the most economically important cities on the continent. But as mining winds down, some are trying to find new ways to use the landscape of mining operations.