History / Preservation

In this post from Reason, Tim Cavanaugh joins the debate over preservation holding back the city, and argues that land use regulations have a wholesale negative impact on the city.

June 20, 2011 - Reason

In response to Chicago's recent naming of a street in honor of Oprah Winfrey, late night TV host Conan O'Brien has suggested having his own street in L.A., along with various streetscape improvements.

June 17, 2011 - Curbed LA

Plans to build a copy of a scenic Austrian village in China have irked officials in Hallstatt, Austria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

June 17, 2011 - Der Spiegel

An old disused airport in Brooklyn will be converted into an urban campground, expanding from its current 5 campsites to more than 600.

June 17, 2011 - Inhabitat

The National Trust for Historic Preservation releases a list each year highlighting their Top 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. This year's list includes buttes, hospitals, forts, alleys and John Coltrane's home in Dix Hills, New York.

June 15, 2011 - National Trust For Historic Preservation

The Arlington, VA County Board is voting in July on naming 23 properties as 'essential' to preserve. Among those chosen are two strip malls.

June 14, 2011 - The Green Miles

In this post on The Infrastructurist, Peter Kageyama looks at a recent listing of 10 "dying" cities, and how the metrics used to rate these places can be and have been misinterpreted.

June 14, 2011 - Infrastructurist

This piece from Domus goes on a tour of Athens with local architect Andreas Angelidakis, who reflects on the city's lasting and negative impacts from hosting the Olympics.

June 14, 2011 - domus

Chuck Wolfe focuses on the role of the urban corner, terming it "the central place of urban life".

June 13, 2011 - The Huffington Post

Two big names are calling for more high rise development and less of the historic preservation efforts that have often prevented it in dense urban areas. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Inga Saffron says they're wrong.

June 11, 2011 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

A small community in tsunami-ravaged Japan considers a plan to move the entire village farther above sea level.

June 11, 2011 - MSNBC

The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways was actually the idea of an earlier president, according to this history of highways posted on The Infrastructurist.

June 10, 2011 - The Infrastructurist

The early skyscrapers were inspired by the idea of turning steel train bridges on their sides. This episode of 99% Invisible explains.

June 10, 2011 - 99% Invisible

A slideshow from Good Magazine highlights the newly opened section of the popular High Line Park in NYC.

June 8, 2011 - GOOD Magazine

New studies are proving that replacing already built buildings with new, energy-efficient ones is not good environmental sense.

June 7, 2011 - Miller-McCune

Detroit has become our most notorious story of urban collapse. But reporter Matthew Power suggests that we consider the city's official motto: "It shall rise from the ashes."

June 6, 2011 - OnEarth Magazine

"The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways" by journalist Earl Swift examines the movement to build interstate highways well before Pres. Eisenhower's landmark legislation.

June 6, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal - BOOKSHELF

A consultant has recommended to UNESCO that they reject a proposal to include 19 buildings designed by French architect Le Corbusier on their list of world heritage sites.

June 3, 2011 - Daily Yomiyuri Online

Urban explorer and urban ethnographer Bradley L. Garrett argues that the act of urban exploration has become increasingly misunderstood, and misinterpreted through the lens of a recent popular fascination with ruin fetishism.

June 2, 2011 - domus

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

June 2, 2011 - Places