History / Preservation

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.

April 8, 2011 - Places

The unveiling of a statue of musician Michael Jackson outside a soccer stadium in England has confused and angered some fans.

April 7, 2011 - The New York Times

Volunteers in Detroit recently performed a community cleanup in an unlikely location: the old Tiger Stadium.

April 6, 2011 - The Detroit Free Press

In this Q&A, architect Brenda Levin talks about the role of preservation in Los Angeles, and how restoring and reusing some of the city's historic buildings has created a long-term benefit.

April 5, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

A proposal to build thousands of wave energy generators off the coast of Southern California has environmentalists, fishermen and surfers up in arms.

April 3, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Sustainable design and historic preservation design have sometimes been at odds. But a group of experts says these two goals can work together to improve building sustainability.

March 29, 2011 - Sustainable Cities Collective

Johanna Hoffman writes in praise of historic preservation, that most maligned of planning disciplines.

March 27, 2011 - Next American City

At the 210-acre Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor Island State Park, two different visions prevail over preserving -- or destroying -- the 26 historic buildings on the island.

March 25, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

This interactive map from The New York Times overlays historic maps with modern-day maps of the city, and shows how the city and its street grid has developed.

March 23, 2011 - The New York Times

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.

March 23, 2011 - Places

The street grid of New York City was born 200 years ago in an early map of the city.

March 22, 2011 - The New York Times

Le Corbusier's modernist city, long a target of criticism from urban planners, is reportedly being sold off piece by piece. Preservationists are incensed and are leading an effort to preserve the city's signature style.

March 21, 2011 - domus

This podcast from The Guardian explores why cities have grown in population and what economic forces are behind this shift.

March 20, 2011 - Guardian

As it prepares to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, the Russian resort city of Sochi has transformed from a "blank slate" into the "world's biggest construction site".

March 18, 2011 - Business Insider

America's first public parks were cemeteries. But over time, they've moved from the center of town to the edges. A new book looks at the history of these places of the dead.

March 18, 2011 - The Atlantic

Suburban areas are increasingly in the sights of planners and designers who are thinking of new ways to reform the sprawled out land use patterns. This interview looks at how those efforts relate to Houston.

March 18, 2011 - Transportation Nation

Our annual list of the 10 best planning, design, and development websites represents some of the top online resources for news, information and research on the built environment.

March 17, 2011 - Abhijeet Chavan

The Seattle City Council is considering allowing buildings of up to 150 ft. in parts of the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood. Some say the scale is out of character; others say, not high enough!

March 16, 2011 - The Seattle Times

March 14, 2011 - Ann Sussman

The ancient irrigation networks lying below Phoenix could offer a solution to the sprawling desert city's water problems.

March 13, 2011 - Archaeology