Does the fact that Whole Foods Market is opening a store in Detroit surprise you? Well, a lot of Motor City residents were surprised by the decision, too.

The move does signal that a little pocket of Motown is thriving. And that’s great news – especially to Detroiters, who have seen their city eulogized ad nauseum in recent years. But the level of affluence in the neighborhood surrounding Whole Foods is well below what you would see in other cities that have undergone urban revival. — marketplace.org

The protest was an effort to save a park by occupying that very park; it was not a symbolic or ideological demonstration like the Occupy Wall Street movements, but a primal struggle between human bodies and bulldozers, that made the political discourse all the more potent... — Hyperallergic

Since 2011, Studio-X Rio has been bringing together professionals, academics, decision makers, students, and the general public to confront the city’s most pressing challenges. — Domus

Since announcing the five shortlisted finalists to Taiwan's Taichung City Cultural Center competition last week, we have been receiving a steady stream of further competition entries from around the world. Here's one from Moscow-based firm Architecton which moves the "Gate" metaphor to the core of its design concept. — bustler.net

It might seem like a mismatch: the Dolans, veterans of many public brawls, against Kimmelman, an urbane trained pianist who previously wrote primarily about art. But such is the power of the Times when it’s given to a crusading voice. — NY Magazine

We have received images of Pulse Pavilion, a fascinating temporary structure designed and built by third- and fourth-year undergraduate architecture students at the University of Saint Joseph in Macau. The design team was led by guest professors Kristof Crolla (Laboratory for Explorative Architecture & Design Ltd. / LEAD) and Dannes Kok. Pulse Pavilion was open to the public at Plaza Sai Van, adjacent to Macau Tower, from June 1st until today. — bustler.net

In 1961, Phyllis Richman applied to graduate school at Harvard. She received a letter asking how she would balance a career in city planning with her “responsibilities” to her husband and possible future family. Fifty-two years later, she responds. — washingtonpost.com

Dramatic entries are a given with air travel, and airports should convey a sense of welcome and arrival to travelers landing in a new city, like the great train stations of yesteryear, says architecture critic Paul Goldberger. — cnn.com

[...] unique to this event was a student design contest among the top seven schools of architecture in Los Angeles. Teams of three students from each school participated in a three-day competition in February to design a Continuing Care Retirement Community that will promote social interaction and community on the MLK Medical Center Campus in the South Los Angeles community of Willowbrook. — bustler.net

A new boutique hotel perched on top of one of Rio's previously most dangerous favelas is about to open. And yes, there is a jazz club and yoga, too.

These are new services catering to a new kind of favela resident.

"It's actually very conveniently located for my work," says Natalie Shoup, a 22-year-old American who lives in a favela called Babilonia, or Babylon. "This has a good amount of transportation to every part of the city. It's nice. It worked out really well." — npr.org