A post on Gizmodo traces the long and evolving history of defensive fortifications and how they influenced how cities were built and how people lived.
Dave Munson provides a history of how defensive fortifications shaped cities. Starting with early settlements built on hills in Syria, the discussion shifts to citadels, like in Iraq and other places, to outer walls, like those in many cities in Germany.
Eventually the discussion focuses on star-shaped fortifications, meant to deflect cannon fire, such as Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh and Fort Hill in Baltimore. According to Munson, there was one age of warfare in particular that reversed the millennia long trends of cities providing protection from the violence of war: " The nuclear era was the first time that the incentive for defense actually pushed people out of cities. When you have a single weapon that can kill hundreds of thousands in an instant and level an entire city, urban areas start to look less like refuges and more like targets."
FULL STORY: How Defense Has Shaped Our Cities
Mayors Oppose Attack on Iran, Cite Effect of War on Cities
Citing the great burden America's cities are bearing due to the war in Iraq, a coalition of Mayors allied with anti-war groups tabled a resolution opposing military action against Iran at the recent Conference of Mayors.
Urbanism in a Time of War
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Is the Urban Form Sustainable?
One author offers a framework for resilience that rethinks common assumptions about the inevitability of cities as we know them.
Florida Considers Legalizing ADUs
Current state law allows — but doesn’t require — cities to permit accessory dwelling units in single-family residential neighborhoods.
Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?
HUD Announces Plan to Build Housing on Public Lands
The agency will identify federally owned parcels appropriate for housing development and streamline the regulatory process to lease or transfer land to housing authorities and nonprofit developers.
EPA Terminates $116 Million in Grants for Reducing Emissions from Construction Materials
C-MORE grants were earmarked for industry trade groups and universities.
BART Closes $35 Million Deficit
Cost control and revenue generation measures prevented service cuts.
The New Parisian Hearse is a Bicycle
Sleek, silent, and sustainable, a green trip to the graveyard has hit the streets of the French capital.
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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.
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