For the final topic in its blog series Lab Notes I, the BMW Guggenheim Lab has enlisted June Williamson to address repurposing buildings and urban infrastructure for more productive uses.
Whereas much attention has been paid (by Williamson herself) to retrofitting defunct suburban buildings such as vacant malls, strip centers, big-box stores, office parks, and garden apartment complexes along a "live, work, and play" redevelopment model, Williamson proposes going further to investigate "other uses-more ecologically, socially, and economically productive uses-that might be adapted to the emergent suburban-retrofitting paradigm."
Working with landscape architect Anne Vaterlaus, Williamson tested this approach on a 160-acre parcel in the east Los Angeles "ethnoburb" of Pico Rivera. In developing design schemes for a failing "towne center", Williamson and her partner, "considered how this site might be retrofitted once again, with more resiliency, by introducing a retooled model based on production, designed around training, employing, housing, and feeding a local labor force in need of skills and opportunities."
The resulting design concepts, focused around jobs, affordable housing, and food production, are intriguing.
FULL STORY: Retrofitting for Fecundity
Los Angeles: Focus on Urban Design (Not Just Urban Planning)
By embracing timeless principles of urban placemaking, we can create walkable transit villages and make room for housing at every socioeconomic level. First we have to re-invigorate high quality urban design.
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.
Southern Californians Survey Trees for Destructive Oak Pest
Hundreds of volunteers across five counties participated in the first Goldspotted Oak Borer Blitz, surveying oak trees for signs of the invasive beetle and contributing valuable data to help protect Southern California’s native woodlands.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?
Massachusetts Budget Helps Close MBTA Budget Gap
The budget signed by Gov. Maura Healey includes $470 million in MBTA funding for the next fiscal year.
Milwaukee Launches Vision Zero Plan
Seven years after the city signed its Complete Streets Policy, the city is doubling down on its efforts to eliminate traffic deaths.
Portland Raises Parking Fees to Pay for Street Maintenance
The city is struggling to bridge a massive budget gap at the Bureau of Transportation, which largely depleted its reserves during the Civd-19 pandemic.
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.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont