Local Culture

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.

July 25, 2017 - Tara Lerman

'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.

January 12, 2015 - Josh Stephens

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?

March 10, 2014 - Arctic Urbanophile

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.

June 28, 2012 - Lisa Feldstein

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.

December 14, 2010 - The New York Times

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.

December 14, 2010 - The Columbia Daily Spectator

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.'

December 13, 2010 - The New York Times

Global corporations like Frito Lay and Barnes and Noble are attempting to co-opt the word 'local' into their branding.

October 21, 2009 - Utne Reader

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.

July 15, 2008 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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.

April 17, 2008 - Mike Lydon