Recent high profile projects have commisioned star architects for their designs, with debatable results.
The outcry over designs of the Royal Ontario Museum (Daniel Libeskind) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Frank Gehry) has been "almost more interesting than the buildings themselves" according to cultural theorist Mark Kingwell. According to Kingwell, Torontonians have a "desire for greatness but too often shrink from paying the price." The result is star architects delivering less than stellar buildings. "Civic architecture has to ennoble and challenge.... If a city is to be great, its buildings must prompt thoughts of greatness."
Thanks to Zvi Leve
FULL STORY: The $195-million scribble

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Vehicle-related Deaths Drop 29% in Richmond, VA
The seventh year of the city's Vision Zero strategy also cut the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes by half.

Map: Where Senate Republicans Want to Sell Your Public Lands
For public land advocates, the Senate Republicans’ proposal to sell millions of acres of public land in the West is “the biggest fight of their careers.”

Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.

The Ratio of Older People to Children Grew in Every State
Older adults outnumber youth in 11 U.S. states.

LA Transit Ridership Plummets Amidst ICE Raids
LA Metro’s bus and rail lines are seeing up to 15 percent lower ridership in the wake of violent immigration arrests.
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