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Placemaking

From Events in the Gents to Pop Up People

February 2, 2012 by julian dobson
with 21 views
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You can imagine how people reacted. The idea of 'events in the gents' doesn't really bear thinking about.Yet the anarchic enthusiasm of a bunch of people in Hackney to bring their local high street back to life says something about the way people care about their communities - even to the point of breaking into a boarded-up public toilet... [read more]

The environmental building blocks of urban happiness

February 2, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 134 views
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  As regular readers may remember, I am fascinated by the relationship of our cities, and the way they are configured, to our mental and emotional well-being.  The relationship of urban form to physical health is finally getting some of the attention it deserves, but how the shape of our communities and neighborhoods affects... [read more]

Digital vs. Analog Ways of Transforming Cities

February 2, 2012 by Next American City
with 135 views
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Walkscore, a favorite civic tech app, notes that our Storefront has a decent walkscore but an unfortunate transit score.The other day I got a phone call from Josh McManus to talk about his work and Next American City’s Storefront for Urban Innovation. Josh is a Next American Vanguard who started a project called CreateHere in... [read more]

Layering Walkable Urbanism via Photoshop and Pompeii

January 30, 2012 by Chuck Wolfe
with 145 views
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Welcome to a new orientation towards city ruins—where Photoshop and urbanism have something in common—as shown in the accompanying image of the archaeological site of Pompeii. Here, both software and excavated city feature layers of perception.First, the original photograph blends with four Photoshop “adjustment layers”, including... [read more]

Will Rio’s Development Surge Bring Social Integration?

January 30, 2012 by This Big City
with 117 views
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“I’m going to Rio”, “I just got back from Rio”, “I want to go Rio”. It seems that everywhere I go I hear Rio this or Rio that. But even before Brazil’s second-largest city became the supra hit it has become after the announcements that it will host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games, it was known for its illustrative Carnival... [read more]

Jaime Lerner: 'A City Is Like a Family Portrait'

January 27, 2012 by The Dirt ASLA
with 164 views
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“A city is like a family portrait. You may not like the nose of your uncle but you don’t tear up the whole family photo. You don’t do this because the family portrait is you. In the same way, we just need to make those uglier parts of our cities more attractive. We can’t tear apart our cities,” argued Jaime Lerner, former Governor... [read more]

Can Ontario deliver the continent's best land-use plan?

January 26, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 206 views
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  I’m fond of saying that the best-conceived plan for managing growth and development in North America is the Places to Grow framework adopted by the province of Ontario, Canada.  Constructed pursuant to enabling legislation adopted by the province in 2005, Places to Grow addresses the future of a New Hampshire-sized region... [read more]

3 Things Farmers Markets Do Well, and 3 They Don't

January 24, 2012 by Mari Pierce-Quinonez
with 466 views
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I've come to realize that farmers markets are a dynamic space and do a lot of good, but they shouldn't be the linchpin of a local food or business movement. I've come up with some takeaways as to what works, and what doesn't, as well as the larger implications of farmers markets. [read more]

From Starbucks to Barbucks: Hyperreal Gentrification in Your Neighborhood

January 23, 2012 by Tony Chavira
with 541 views
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The idea behind hyperreality is that, at some point, you stop being able to distinguish what is real from what is fantasy. And this is what companies like Starbucks hope to ultimately achieve. [read more]

Five Ways to Kill the Inferiority Complex in Community Building

January 23, 2012 by Kristen Jeffers
with 180 views
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I think a major layer of community building is the inferiority complex. I’m seeing it again as we are preparing to welcome Trader Joes into our community. We spend too much time thinking we need to spend money on expensive stadiums and art centers to be more urbane. If we are over that demon, we bemoan not having an H&M, Shake Shack... [read more]

Why 'Protecting' Kids from New Orleans is a bad idea

January 20, 2012 by Next American City
with 78 views
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New Orleans’ Royal Street, where the under-16 crowd can no longer roam late at night. Credit: Flickr user kimncrisThis piece originally appeared on The Lens. When I lived in Europe, I used to josh my British friends with a plan for Britain’s economic future (which looked dim at the time). I suggested that they tear down every structure... [read more]

How Design Activists Hope to Turn Around Detroit

January 20, 2012 by the polis blog
with 140 views
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The Detroit Collaborative Design Center (DCDC) is not content with the status quo when it comes to built environment professionals — especially architects. Based at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture since 1994, it sees the production of architecture as a political act, one that supports or disrupts the actions... [read more]