Architect Margaret Helfand, reporting from the 10th annual Venice Architecture Biennale, describes the exhibition as a "call to arms" in a "life or death" struggle to ensure humanity's survival in a rapidly urbanizing world.
"To survive â€" and thrive â€" in this urban future, we need to ensure the continuation of our species by lusting after the good (strength of the public realm, education, health care, security, mobility, culture, and democracy), and eschewing the bad (crime, depletion of resources, short-sighted thinking, and denigration of the environment that nurtures us). Just as sex has traditionally been our instinctive response for self-preservation on the individual level, intelligent planning and design of the urban global web that now connects us all is the visceral and intuitive drive that will be just as critical to our survival as a species in this new world. And, just as architects were beginning to despair at our lack of influence on the evolution of our planet in a positive direction when the world is in such a mess, we have been invested with a new and powerful libido.
Urbanism is hardly thought of as a glamorous subject, [but] it may well hold the key to our survival on this planet."
FULL STORY: Sex and the City: Field Notes from the 10th Venice Architecture Biennale - Part 1
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
As Canada votes for a new Prime Minister, what can America learn from the leading liberal candidate of its neighbor to the north?
The Five Most-Changed American Cities
A ranking of population change, home values, and jobs highlights the nation’s most dynamic and most stagnant regions.
San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.
Housing, Supportive Service Providers Brace for Federal Cuts
Organizations that provide housing assistance are tightening their purse strings and making plans for maintaining operations if federal funding dries up.
Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
An outdated rail network that privileges freight won’t be fixed by privatizing Amtrak.
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
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions