This week, he signed over £285,000 of his £9m High Street Fund, created in March, to projects which will "re-energise the capital's high streets"...the mayor's office is donating to these projects through Spacehive, a civic crowdfunding website through which campaigners can raise money from the public to fund their community schemes. — CityMetric
From a proposed revitalization project known as the "Peckham Coal Line" that, much like New York City's High Line, would transform abandoned coal sidings into a foliage-rich walkway for pedestrians and cyclists, to a public library in an alley known as a "Literalley," designers and dreamers alike... View full entry
In 2005, the now defunct Rebar placed coins in a San Francisco parking meter not to park a car but to erect a small public park. Every third Friday in September since then, activists worldwide who wish to foster a conversation about the lack of public space have been transforming parking spaces... View full entry
The international competition organized by think-tank New London Architecture and the Mayor of London has released 100 renderings of proposed solutions to London's housing crisis. Attracting over 200 entries from 16 countries around the world, the competition includes submissions from respected... View full entry
Ask a cyclist what it’s like to ride in Indonesia’s capital – a sprawling megalopolis of 10.2 million people...More than likely, they’ll tell you it’s outright dangerous...Car-free days may be popular, but there is almost no [cyclist] infrastructure... [However, there] is hope among cyclists that bike lanes will become a priority after the city’s [mass rapid transport] system is finished in 2019. In the meantime, several young innovators are taking matters into their own hands. — The Guardian
More on Archinect:Australia's "biggest bike-lane skeptic" plans to remove a popular Sydney cyclewayAs bicycle ownership in North Korea rises, Pyongyang introduces bike lanesCopenhagen could ax its pioneering city bike program by month's endWhy a bike city? Why not a mix of biking and transit? View full entry
Instead of relying on a subway that breaks down and causes interminable delays, what if the 17 miles of London's Circle Line were replaced with three moving walkways, much like the ones in airports, that allow pedestrians to step on at three miles per hour and then amble over to a fast lane of... View full entry
A combination of (mostly) public transit along with some Uber rides can be affordable for a wider range of customers than Uber alone. — Five Thirty Eight Economics
According to a study of New York City's private-car hiring habits, many of those who hired Uber did so as an extension of public transit: in other words, instead of Uber-ing all the way to a particular destination, a wider socioeconomic spectrum of New Yorkers frequently use some combination of... View full entry
Last year, the group 1W1P – 1Week1Project – created the memorable speculative project "The Qatar World Cup Memorial," a "scalable building that raises awareness about the number of workers who died during the construction of the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar."Now, the... View full entry
Citing L.A.'s quest to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles County transportation officials are seeking to fast-track two of Metro's most anticipated rail projects.
In letters sent Tuesday and obtained by The Times, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority formally asked to join a Federal Transit Administration pilot program that could accelerate construction on a subway to the Westside and a rail connection to Los Angeles International Airport...
— LA Times
Pending federal approval (and cash – $1 billion, to be precise), Metro hopes to pursue an "extremely aggressive" schedule, completing the Purple Line subway extension as well as the LAX "people-mover" by the potential opening of a 2024 Los Angeles Olympics.Currently, the Purple Line is scheduled... View full entry
“There are a lot of people working in architecture who are very frustrated with what’s happening, but feel like they don’t have a voice to speak out,” said Sarah, another of Concrete Action’s co-founders, who also wished to remain anonymous. “We’re hoping that this is going to give them an avenue to do that without worrying about losing their jobs or getting into trouble.” — Vice
Architects who are dismayed by working on projects that tend to harm, not improve, the neighborhoods in which they are sited now have a secure whistleblowing option: U.K.-based Concrete Action allows architects to anonymously submit rent-inflating building plans to the public. The site, which... View full entry
The Republic, a computer model of a future urban floor plan for an administrative and institutional area has commenced and aims to be unparalleled in size and complexity. Its initial aim is to produce a series of audiovisual dialogues exploring the urban architecture. Longer term objectives are... View full entry
Mountain lions, bobcats and other wildlife would have less chance of becoming roadkill if [California] adopts a plan to build a [165-foot-wide, 200-foot-long] landscaped bridge over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills...Urbanization has taken a toll on Southern California’s mountain lion population, spurring battles over shrinking territory and a depletion of genetic diversity because of inbreeding. — Los Angeles Times
Related on Archinect: 33-story endangered species picture showFancy $48M animal terminal to open in JFK Airport next yearChinese sinkhole develops its own eco-systemOur infrastructure is expanding to include animalsHummingbird Drones and other Bio-inspired Robotics View full entry
David Waggonner is an urban and environmental architect. Since Hurricane Katrina decimated his city, he’s been focusing on urban stormwater management, mapping out designs for New Orleans that would mimic the way Dutch cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam deal with water. In the Netherlands, people “invite water into the city,” meaning water is visible everywhere. [...] “In New Orleans, we’ve hidden and squandered the asset.” — theatlantic.com
Related on Archinect and our sister site Bustler: Louisiana is Disappearing into the SeaPost-Katrina: Will New Orleans still be New Orleans?Changing Course teams present final 100-year plans to restore Lower Mississippi River Delta (Bustler) View full entry
A Brazilian urban planning collective called Urb-i...scoured Google Street View images to find the most stunning public space transformations from around the world. The results give us hope that our cities are becoming more beautiful places to live. — Business Insider
Cheer up: not everything is getting worse, at least not if you check out these comparison shots of real places from around the globe captured on Google Street View. Compiled by Urb-i, these 41 intersections and urban streets are studies in pedestrian-friendliness; as the years melt by, many of the... View full entry
As Chicago prepares to enter a new era of ramped-up affordable-housing development, a key question is whether private developers will go along with the city’s new guidances. A lawsuit filed... last Thursday shows signs of possible peril for the city’s low-income housing agenda.
At the heart of the lawsuit is the Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO), which is part of Chicago’s five-year “Bouncing Back” plan for increasing affordable housing. [...]
— City Lab
A shortlisted finalist in the 2015 World Architecture Festival awards, CRG Architects' Bamboo Skyscraper is not only noteworthy for its unusual choice of material, but its vision of what constitutes a skyscraper. Instead of focusing on a single prominent tower, the design is a cluster of... View full entry
