Architecture
The Exuberance of Tackiness
Aaron Betsky, director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, says, "Americans can't even do tacky anymore," saying that the gaudy architecture and design of Las Vegas and Atlantic City have been sanitized and replaced by generic City Center-style banality.
Starchitecture Eroding
Eric Felton writes that buyers of splashy, starchitect-designed buildings are finding all too often that innovation in form leads to unforeseen structural problems.
Stairway to Never
WebUrbanist looks at 15 sculptures that use the architectural form of stairways to express a deeper meaning.
Reconsidering Masdar
Nicolai Oursoussoff says Masdar, the eco-city being developed near Abu Dhabi, is "something more daring and more noxious" than we think.
Could Classic Hill Towns Be a Model for Town Planning?
In classic hill towns, people showed innovation and dynamic placemaking--lessons learned for urbanism in the new century, says Chuck Wolfe.
The Predictability of Humans in Public Spaces
Jan Gehl sits down with Greg Linsday to talk about his new book, Cities for People, if Phoenix could take lessons from New York, and "the needs of the urban habitat of homo sapiens."
Sleep Pods Coming to U.S. Airports
A design company from Barcelona is selling airports on the idea of installing luxury sleep "bubbles" in terminals. Two international airports have reportedly signed up.
McMansion Central
The town of El Monte, California is a gated community that "encourages quality housing developments through well thought-out architectural designs..." Zen Vuong writes that the reality is the latest batch of homes are anything but.
The Unplanned City
David Knight and Finn Williams ask, "what can we build without planning?" Turns out that a lot of things get built without process, from building extensions to temporary structures.
Rappin' About Urbanism
Finnish architect Tuomas Toivonen has just released an album of urbanism- and architecture-themed rap songs.
Greener Buildings Mean Healthier Workers
A new study says that improved environmental quality in office building leads to reductions in "work hours affected by asthma, respiratory allergies, depression, and stress."
The City: Beautiful?
Is it okay yet to talk about cities and beauty in the same breath? Teacher Karrie Jacobs finds an astonishing lack of reading material for her class on aesthetic beauty and the built environment.
Printing Homes in 3-D
3-D printers are changing the way architects and builders make models for their clients, but a start-up in California is actually working on a giant printer that will build buildings in life-size.
Historical Commission Give Permission to Demolish 19th c. Church
The Church of the Assumption, a mid-19th century building, is slated to be demolished. The Philadelphia Historical Commission is allowing the demolition after the non-profit that owns the site claimed it was financially incapable of the repairs.
Let Charles be Charles
When Queen Elizabeth II -- now 84 -- passes on, Prince Charles will finally become king. With a history of active engagement in the built environment, will King Charles become a silent monarch, as some have claimed? David Sucher hopes not.
Masdar Highlights Policy Shift Away From Autopia
Robert Wright describes the policy shift already underway in planning for cities of the future. He reports that "as energy becomes more expensive, cities will have to be much more compact, easier to navigate by bike and on foot."
The Visions of Paolo Soleri: Dimmed, But Still Hanging in There
In 1970, visionary architect Paolo Solieri began envisioned a utopian city in Arizona. The resulting development, Arcosanti, and its architect have struggled for relevancy ever since.
The Beauty of Public Spaces
A new book by Robert Gatje gives public squares and piazzas the coffee-table treatment, meticulously detailing what makes these historic spaces work.
Exporting Suburbanism
Developing countries have begun importing Western-style pro-sprawl urban planning policies, often to their detriment. Kuala Lumpur and cities across the communist world are examined.
Architecture Gets Political in Israel
Esther Zandberg calls on Israeli architects and planners to refuse to design in Ariel, a sliver of land that goes deep into Palestinian territory. "Architecture is the implementer of political decisions," says Zandberg.
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
