The Los Angeles Times architecture critic chastises the massive Los Angeles school district for not using its historic building boom to improve the architecture and planning of new schools.
"Within the facilities division of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), "McConnell and Mehula have created a back-slapping, can-do spirit that views architecture from a cultural remove, if not with active suspicion. The newly hired director of design management, Jeffrey Brickner, is a former construction-industry executive whose office walls are lined not with images of new schools or architectural icons but with pictures of the We-Ko-Pa golf course in Fountain Hills, Ariz., and a framed copy of Sports Illustrated announcing Joe Paterno as the 1986 Sportsman of the Year.
Even some architects who continue to work for the district say they have sensed a growing backlash from facilities officials in the last couple of years against high-profile firms and progressive design.
...os Angeles architects have long been famous for an ability to produce memorable architecture on the cheap. But only a tiny group of firms has so far figured out a way to meet LAUSD's slender budgets while avoiding the strip-mall look."
Read the full story: Lessons unlearned
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Nation's most wind-powered state turns to coal as data centers increase energy demand
For the first time in decades, Iowa has increased its generation of coal power.
NYC cools commuters with city's first rain garden above a bus stop
New York City officials say the plants in the rain garden can absorb 16 gallons of rainwater during heavy storms.
Brightline West’s future may rely on $6 billion federal loan
The company has until Nov. 2 to make a $400 million equity investment into its proposed high-speed rail line.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association