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The commercialisation of the urban landscape has resulted in the privatisation of public space. As city centres have become tributes to consumption, private interests have permeated these spaces. They have become awash with pseudo-public consumer spaces which belong to corporations rather than the citizenry. Although these places hold the semblance of being “public”, they are owned by corporate interests and are therefore under private control and not accountable to the public. — New Left Project
From The New Left Project's series on The Contemporary City. View full entry
Gowanus has become the most obvious touchstone for fears surrounding the rapid evolution that has overwhelmed so much of Brooklyn in recent years. It is also a test case for how democratically an area once colonized by industry might evolve into something like a modern Jane Jacobs vision. Dumbo is both a point of reference here and in one view, the representation of a nightmare outcome, given the area’s distinction as a nexus of multimillion-dollar lofts and budding tech empires. — nytimes.com
Previously on Archinect:Gowanus by Design: WATER_WORKS Competition WinnersGowanus Lowline Competition WinnersStudent Works: Wal-(medley mixed-up mélange montage mash-up shopping) mart View full entry
Rio de Janeiro is set to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games and there are two starkly different visions of what that will mean for the "marvelous city," as it is known[...]
"Instead of creating a space of conviviality, a space of shared culture, of community, of conversation, you are going to have this very isolated element where after 5 o'clock in the afternoon, it's going to be dead. You are creating banks, parking lots, Trump towers," Gaffney said. "It's been rezoned for 50-story buildings."
— npr.org
Previously on Archinect:Once Unsafe, Rio's Shantytowns See Rapid GentrificationOlympic Displacement: Atlanta 1996 to Rio 2016Before Olympics It's Demolition Derby View full entry
It's hard not to wince when you first look at the renderings of the Mormon Church's expanding kingdom at 16th and Vine Streets, unveiled last week by Mayor Nutter. The architectural chameleons at Robert Stern's office have paired a 1920s-style apartment tower with a teensy redbrick meetinghouse that looks as if it was dragged across town from colonial-era Society Hill. — philly.com
Contrary to what you may have read lately, the Museum of Modern Art is intent on carefully preserving the former American Folk Art Museum next door.
At least, the part of it that is most recognizable to the public: an 82-foot-high sculptural ensemble of 63 panels, cast in a gorgeous copper-bronze alloy [...]
“We will take the facade down, piece by piece, and we will store it,” Glenn D. Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art, said in an interview last week.
— nytimes.com
As reported last week by Archinectors Ayesha Ghosh and Alex Stewart, a discussion regarding MoMA's expansion plan and the intended demolition of the American Folk Art Museum took place at the New York Society for Ethical Culture, an appropriate venue for a conversation rife with implications for... View full entry
The face of London is about to change.
[...] The development surge, fueled by wealthy foreigners looking for a safe place to invest, has spawned concern that the city is sacrificing its heritage for the sake of luxury homes.
"London is in danger of becoming a sort of Abu Dhabi, a sort of Hong Kong," warned Nigel Barker of English Heritage, a body devoted to protecting the nation's inheritance.
— npr.org
Related: Boris Johnson's abuse of planning power is an assault on democracy View full entry
By intervening in the local planning process, the mayor of London is creating a more exclusive, divided city of private enclaves, designed only for the needs of the rich. [...]
While the Mount Pleasant case might be dismissed as the usual cast of nimbys set against the inevitable steamroller of market forces, it in fact reveals some disturbing truths about how the mayor's planning machine is actively working to make the city a more divided, exclusive place.
— theguardian.com
Related: Luxury Home Boom To Change Face Of London View full entry
The controversial plans to demolish the American Folk Art Museum in service of MoMA's expansion rumbled along last night, at a panel discussion hosted jointly by the Architectural League, the Municipal Art Society, and the AIA's New York chapter.Catch-up on news surrounding MoMA's expansion... View full entry
[...] developer Ben Miller says, until now, it’s been impossible for local people to invest in development right across the street.
“Who owns your environment? You don’t know,” he says. “Who’s building your environment, who’s building your city? Not you.”
Miller is co-founder of the group Fundrise, which has started selling shares of private real estate projects to the public online. [...]
First they bought 1351 H Street with private capital, then crowdfunded about a third of it.
— marketplace.org
Related: Crowdfunding Startups Let You Be Your City's Urban Planner View full entry
I foresee that major urban spaces of Pyongyang, such as Kim Il Sung Square, will be used as “public” space with a greater variety of urban activities, such as commercial activities and show events. [...]
The last thing that may happen in North Korea, or the thing that should not happen in some sense, is the Chinese model. Considering the scale of the economy and the potential of the North Korean market compared to China, it is hard to picture radical and massive urban development in Pyongyang.
— NK News
Part two of NK News' interview with Dongwoo Yim pushes the discussion of North Korean urbanism into the future, comparing potential development methods to those seen in China and South Korea. Focusing on capital Pyongyang, Yim proposes a "Bilbao effect" development strategy that is heavy on... View full entry
[The Catskills] could become a lot flashier, thanks to [Sherry Li's] proposal for the area: a multibillion-dollar "China City of America," complete with an amusement park, mansions, a casino, retail centers, a college, and more. [...]
The Center for Immigration Studies wrote a comprehensive take-down of "China City," criticizing the project's potential for environmental disruption, dubious promise of job creation, and possible role as a stalking horse for the Chinese government.
— The Atlantic Cities
After tight competition and vigorous deliberation from the jury, six Project winners were selected for the Public Interest Design Global. The winners will present their projects and discuss social impact design at a public global convening at the Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris on April 18-19, 2014. — bustler.net
The six winners, announced by the Ecole Spécial d’Architecture, Design Corps, and the Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) Network are: Umusozi Ukiza "Healing Hill" - Butaro Doctor Housing - Burera District, Rwanda (see cover image)Can City - Sao Paulo, Brazil TAEQ... View full entry
The Holloway Team was selected as the winners of New Zealand's international "Breathe - The New Urban Village Project" design competition. The team is led by Holloway Builders from Christchurch, NZ in partnership with architecture firm Anselmi Attiani Associated Architects and Cresco engineers, both from Italy. Building and Construction Minister, Hon. Maurice Williamson made the official announcement on Oct. 22 at an event in the transitional Cardboard Cathedral in Christchurch. — bustler.net
Previously: Finalists Announced for Breathe, The New Urban Village Project in New Zealand View full entry
“We have beaten the odds and the obstructionists over and over again,” the mayor triumphantly declared in his State of the City address in March. He chose an appropriate venue: the Barclays Center, the new home of the Brooklyn Nets, which was a lightning rod for his all-out development policy. A vigorous opposition was beaten in the courts and the City Council in much the same way he often steamrolled opposition to his comprehensive rethinking of development. — nytimes.com
While Mayor Bloomberg has attracted media attention recently for his contentious opinions on "stop and frisk" policing and city-wide bans on soda, it's hard to argue with the New York Times' interactive infographic on Bloomberg's twelve-year mayoral run, highlighting his... View full entry