Renowned architect Frank Gehry has managed to stay out of the debate over the future of Ground Zero. Why?
"I was invited to be on one of the teams, but I found it demeaning that the agency paid only $40,000 for all that work...When you're only paid $40,000, you're treated as if that is your worth...I took 15 students to see the Haga Sofia in Constantinople, and said to them: this is what we need in New York...I don't want to come off as the white-haired wonder from California telling New Yorkers what to do. But I have a fantasy of a space that is so magnificent it would engage the world."
Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan
Read the full story: Towering Vision
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
Record-breaking wildlife overpass in Colorado brings 91% reduction in animal collisions
Prior to the overpass, vehicles were hitting one deer per day on Colorado’s Interstate 25.
Trump wants to cancel nearly 98% of funding for HUD housing support program
Multiple housing groups are suing the administration in an effort to preserve the funding.
See the 12 communities on New York City’s affordable housing naughty list
The Upper East and West Sides, Elmhurst, and Bayside are among the communities that have built little affordable housing over the past five years, and now will see certain projects fast-tracked under new city rules.
Downtown Chicago opens the doors of first office-to-housing project
Chicago aims to eventually turn empty office space into 1,765 mixed-income housing units.
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.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello