Citing the need to act quickly to get homeless Californians off the streets, Gov. Gavin Newsom will ask lawmakers this week to allocate more than $1.4 billion to a variety of local and state-run efforts, with much of the money earmarked as subsidies for immediate housing and community healthcare services. — Los Angeles Times
The $1.4 billion will be used to pay for monthly rents, construct shelters, and provide treatment to those in need. “Homelessness is a national crisis, one that’s spreading across the West Coast and cities across the country,” Newsom said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles... View full entry
Landscape Architect and educator Dorothée Imbert has been named as the new Director of the Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University. Imbert will take up a four-year term starting Fall 2020 and will follow in the footsteps of Michael B. Cadwell, FAIA, the current director... View full entry
Empire Station New York State officials led by Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a plan this week to expand rail capacity at Penn Station in New York City by as much as 40% through the addition of a new bay of passenger rail concourses just south of the existing station. More specifically, the... View full entry
Now SB 50 allows cities two years to adopt their own plans to achieve the bill’s central goal, which is to greatly increase the amount of market-rate and affordable housing built near transit and job centers [...] without increasing car travel or concentrating the new homes in low-income areas while leaving more affluent areas untouched. — The Los Angeles Times
Writing in The Los Angeles Times, opinion columnist Kerry Cavanaugh highlights some of the recent changes made to proposed legislation from California State Senator Scott Wiener of San Francisco. Wiener's SB 50 measure is a statewide densification initiative that's been a work in... View full entry
Los Angeles-based architects Julie Smith-Clementi and Frank Clementi, former founding partners at multidisciplinary architecture office Rios Clementi Hale Studios (RCH Studios), have launched a new comprehensive design practice offering "the full spectrum of place-based design." Exterior of the... View full entry
Two years after a lack of funds halted construction of a marble-clad Greek Orthodox church at New York's World Trade Center site, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Greek Orthodox officials announced plans Thursday to resume construction with the goal of finishing the rebuilding by the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. — The New York Times
The troubled Santiago Calatrava-designed St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine at the World Trade Center appears to have received the blessing from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo after the project fell victim to acute cost overruns and had to eventually halt construction in... View full entry
Jill Lerner, Managing Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), Stas Zakrzewski of Zakrzewski + Hyde Architects, and Arup Principal Fiona Cousins have been appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the city's 16-member Climate Advisory Board to help steer the city's implementation of an... View full entry
The United States Pentagon is working to distance itself from a series of statements made US President Donald Trump threatening to target Iranian cultural sites were military conflict to break out between the two nations. According to The Associated Press, Defense Secretary Mark Esper... View full entry
According to Architect's Journal (AJ), a Watford man has received seven convictions after falsely describing himself as an architect on LinkedIn and with Companies House, the Uk's registrar of companies. Sohail Chohan, the convicted man, who pleaded guilty, told AJ that his son set up... View full entry
Now that 2020 is here, many are looking to the new year with optimism and initiative to face the world's pressing issue of climate change. Amid the constant reminders of the globe's current climate crisis, a December editorial piece and report from Nature.com elicits a reason to reflect... View full entry
Unloved and janky, scaffolding is New York City’s other architecture, its Tinker Toy exoskeleton. It has enraged and inspired its residents, while forever altering their behavior — there are those who cleave to its shelter during bad weather, or skittishly avoid it — as they continue to rail against its persistence and ubiquity, perhaps unaware of the history behind much of it. — The New York Times
Penelope Green on New York's much loathed yet ubiquitous sidewalk sheds — retelling the origins of the 1980 law that mandated them for buildings with decaying facades, how they could be vastly improved, when they've already been turned into destinations in themselves, and when lack of... View full entry
Happy New Year! For the month of January, Archinect is shifting its spotlight series to Los Angeles, the country’s second largest city, and the urban area home to some of the nation’s leading architecture firms, advocacy groups, and educational institutions. Los Angeles is, of course... View full entry
Canberra has experienced its worst air quality on record, as bushfire smoke became trapped by atmospheric conditions and residents were told to stay indoors and brace for more smog in the coming days.
The ACT’s acting chief health officer, Dr Paul Dugdale, said the smoke was the worst since the 2003 bushfires and was “certainly the worst” since air quality monitoring started in the city 15 years ago.
— The Guardian
According to The Guardian’s reporting, Air Quality Index (AQI) readings in Canberra city reached 3,463 on Wednesday afternoon, with readings above 200 considered to be hazardous. According to reports, the fires have burned at least 14.6 million acres around the country so far with... View full entry
“No Section 8.”
You’ll find those words on rental listings across the country. Landlords use them to deter people who rely on the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8, from applying for their units.
Starting in January, a new California law will make that discrimination illegal.
— Capitol Public Radio
A new law is slated to take effect in California on January 1, 2020 that will prevent landlords in the state from discriminating against federal housing voucher recipients. The measure caps off a better-than-average year for tenants rights activists across the country—at the local... View full entry
We've covered a sprawling variety of urban planning stories on Archinect this year, but as the new decade is mere hours away from the land of the densification-averse, we'd like to raise our glass and salute the fine people at Planning Peeps for tirelessly brightening our days with the memes even... View full entry
