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The MoMA on the Role of Architecture in Society
"[MoMA] recognizes – indeed it insists – that architecture even more than the other arts is bound up with ethics, social justice, technology, politics, and finance, along with the lofty desire to improve the human condition.”Arthur Drexler in his...
New Online Platform for Stories of Community Change
Most community development work is local by definition, so groups facing common issues in different cities often end up reinventing the wheel. LikeMinded, a new knowledge-sharing platform for “neighborhood solutions,” is trying to bridge these gaps...
Do Fuel Innovations Discourage Public Transit?
In 2003, New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere pointed out that transportation had to be “factored in at the earliest stages of project development” in order to prevent sprawl. He was referring to public transportation’s pivotal role...
Reflections From a Traveling Course on Cities
Last semester, we (Julia Waterhous and Dylan Crary) had the opportunity to observe and absorb urban challenges and realities in New York, Delhi, Dakar, and Buenos Aires as part of the International Honors Program's course on Cities in the 21st...
Street Politics: Art and Activism in Forgotten Alleyways
In Washington, D.C., it can seem that everything follows a pattern of professionalism, from the street grids to the meticulously chosen ties and heels of those off to their 9-to-5s. The city seems to lack the spontaneity of other busy cities across...
Taking on Streets, Sidewalks, and Public Spaces
By conventions of city planning, taking over public spaces like streets, sidewalks, and squares often requires sanctioning, either from the authorities or a collective public conscience: from the permits issued to a restaurant that extends...
Social Enterprise: The Missing Stage of Economic Development
For years, the majority of first-world academics, politicians, and practitioners have viewed economic development as a two-stage process. When a country or region is too poor to help itself, offer aid: start schools, open clinics, build...
City Rankings: More Harm than Help?
We could blame it on our competitive nature, but it is widely known that we enjoy hearing about how the places and things that we love hold up against the places and things of "others." We are surrounded by rankings in almost every field of life:...
Placemaking Via Mixtape: Music's Role In Community
Picking up on a theme from a previous post, there are multiple ways of engaging with the city for the audiophiles out there looking to capture literal and interpretive soundscapes. The Domus Mixtape series explores one such method — so far covering...
Construction Materials and Social Status
Nearly half of the world today — about three billion people — live or work in buildings made of raw earth and wood. This number is rapidly decreasing, which is normally attributed to rapid urbanization. The real reason seems to be that earth and...
Death Cab for Cutie On Urban Planning
"Plates, they will shift, houses will shake, fences will drift. We will awake only to find — nothing's the same."— From "Home Is A Fire" by Death Cab for Cutie With the beginning of summer and its enchanted evenings comes a strange feeling for those...
Bold Painting of Walls Brings New Life To City
Painting the walls isn't real change. This is an example of the criticism that Edi Rama, incumbent mayor of Tirana, Albania, faced in his bid for a third term this May. Real or not, the former artist and professor turned center-left politician has...
