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As Indianapolis' first Black Deputy Director, architect Lourenzo Giple pushes for economic development while 'preserving the integrity of the neighborhood'

2021-08-20T16:52:00-04:00

On August 16th, the Indianapolis Star (IndyStar) announced architect Lourenzo Giple as the city's new Deputy Director of Planning, Preservation, and Design. The newly appointed deputy is determined to making changes the city has been missing for years. Giple shared with Brandon Drenon of IndyStar, "Historically, zoning and planning have not been equitable. I want to do my best to shift some of those inequities."

Giple grew up in Liberia, where his family eventually fled the country because of a civil war. When his family immigrated from Liberia to Indianapolis, he discusses how his experience and upbringing in the city's lower-economic neighborhoods provided him a perspective for how architecture and urban planning could elevate the city into an equitable place.

Aerial view of Indianapolis. Image © Evan Walsh via Flickr

This new role within the Department of Metropolitan Development will cover long-term projects for city development, strategies for new architectural design, and tran...

Is a decline in U.S. government spending hurting infrastructure?

2018-09-10T16:14:00-04:00

In the second quarter of this year, investment spending by the federal government dropped below 1.4 percent of gross domestic product for the first time since the 1940s, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. OK, at 1.397 percent, it wasn’t much below, and federal government investment as a share of GDP isn’t exactly a closely watched economic indicator. But the decline through the decades is still pretty striking...

Justin Fox tracks the decline in U.S. government spending over the years, noting infrastructure investments have largely been replaced with spending on social insurance programs. With private investors taking the lead, Fox argues U.S. infrastructure suffers as there are many vital projects which private investors will never touch.

How big tech companies are shaping US city development

2018-06-25T16:05:00-04:00

I’m not saying America’s cities are turning into dystopian technocapitalist hellscapes in which corporations operate every essential service and pull every civic string. But let’s take a tour of recent news from the metropolises.

Farhad Manjoo unpacks the extreme impact big tech companies have on US city construction citing cases from Amazon, Elon Musk's Boring Company, and Bird's electric scooters. Are these innovations simply breaking through the red tape of local government or are they dominating with no input from the public?

How these U.S. cities will continue to fight climate change during Trump's presidency

2016-11-22T14:48:00-05:00

What impact will Donald Trump’s league of global-warming deniers and fossil-fuel boosters have on U.S. climate action? The short-term prognosis might not be as damaging as some fear, but...it seems safe to assume that for the next four years, domestic climate policy will be in the deep freezer—while the rest of us heat up...[But] U.S. cities have the power to shrink that footprint and prepare for the worst, even in the absence of financial or regulatory support from the federal government

A quick profile at how five American cities will continue progressing toward their goals to combat climate change, even without federal support from a Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress.

Why architects should get involved in local governance

2016-05-10T19:51:00-04:00

“Architecture is one of the most important things that we have to help communities shape themselves, both literally and figuratively,” Treviño says. “However, when we start talking about the leaders of the community, most often you have people without an architectural background.” As local leaders, architects can bring an objective, analytical perspective to the organizations that run their communities. And there’s already widespread interest among practitioners in making a difference.

This month, in line with the ideas behind the upcoming Venice Biennale, Archinect's coverage includes a special themed section, Help, featuring content that focuses on the social and political components of the discipline.

Here's some relevant coverage:

Have projects of your own that are oriented towards creating a more equitable and livable society? Submit to our open call before Sunday, May 22.

Lawsuit could make climate change readiness the city's burden

2014-05-23T12:37:00-04:00

A major insurance company is suing Chicago-area municipal governments saying they knew of the risks posed by climate change and should have been better prepared. The class-action lawsuits raise the question of who is liable for the costs of global warming. [...] “What the insurers are saying is: ‘We’re in the business of covering unforeseen risks... But we’re now at a point with the science where climate change is now a foreseeable risk.’”