Local Culture
To Learn About a City, Visit Its Neighborhoods
Tourists are often drawn to downtown museums, sightseeing tours, and high-end restaurants. But if these travelers want to truly understand a city’s full story, they may need to take a bit of a detour.
Book Review: 'Culture Crash'
'Culture Crash: The Killing of the Creative Class' by Scott Timberg argues that cities must defend and support local culture in the face of the homogenizing effects of the creative class.
Preserving Native Culture Amidst a Commercial Building Boom
The city of Anchorage, Alaska has a number of new developments in the pipeline—some of which are located adjacent to residential neighborhoods. Can new development respect the values of native culture?
If I'm eating chowdah I must be in Boston
One of the ways we identify places is by foods for which those places are known. Baltimore – crab. Maine – lobster. Cincinnati – chili. San Francisco – sourdough bread. Vienna – pastry. Even for a city to which you’ve never been, chances are that in your mind that city has some food association.
Conflict Between History and Modernity Plays Out in Seoul District
Single-story, tiled-roof houses called hanok used to cover the footprint of Seoul, now a city of skyscrapers and avant-garde architecture. Today many describe the hanok as "endangered,"and conflict has come to a head in the small district of Bukchon.
Outside Interests Spell Change for Harlem
An influx of chain stores and new development in Harlem has many residents worried about retaining the historical character of the nation's so-called "African American 'Main-Street.'" Not everybody minds the changes though.
A New Saudi Arabia Rises Out of the Desert
An under-20 population of more than 13 million and an eagerness to move the national economy away from oil production have the Saudi government investing heavily in huge new cities that are designed to encourage a 'Western-style modernity.'
'Local' is the New 'Green'
Global corporations like Frito Lay and Barnes and Noble are attempting to co-opt the word 'local' into their branding.
Preservation vs. Revitalization in Seattle
Planners in Seattle want to add housing to Little Saigon, a neighborhood with a strong Vietnamese culture, without disrupting the district's character or displacing residents.
On Pride
Cities are sized-up, measured and analyzed in countless ways. The Economist uses statistics to indicate how New York’s financial sector is faring against its London counterpart. Richard Florida measures the extant of the creative class. Allan Jacobs carefully records intersection densities and Jan Gehl simply counts pedestrians. Some, like Peter Calthorpe, go beyond the city line and take stock of the whole region.
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 Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
