North Korea's border trade getting busier | Maine & Michigan get beautified border stations | Feds Rethinking RFID Passport | Nuclear powerplant in construction b/t Bulgaria and Romania | Tunnel under Alps links north, south Europe | Rand Corporation & Putin move to aid a PAL state | Iron... View full entry
Lance Freeman , an assistant professor of urban planning at Columbia University doubts the ill effects of gentrification in urban neighborhoods in the new issue of Urban Affiars Review - here is the news fallout: Bed-Stuy: Do or Die? l Gentrification: Blessing or Blight? l 'Discovering'... View full entry
"Benjamin Barber, professor of Civil Society at the University of Maryland and director of the Democracy Collaborative, and Lawrence Vale, head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, discuss how decisions about what will be rebuilt in Baghdad could significantly alter the... View full entry
Death of the Dream (A.L. Huxtable)-err...someone could have mentioned that a link was missing last time | NYT OpEd: "the "beacon" promised by Mr. Libeskind cannot under any circumstances be replaced with a dreary, fear-inspired fortress." | Move the United Nations Downtown (Fred Bernstein) View full entry
Donald Trump is coming to Los Angeles for a real estate expo with a boom-oriented message. But some experts aren't buying it. LA Times View full entry
Many of Melbourne's leading architects are angry. They say they have been spurned by the State Government - and the result is flawed major projects that lack inspiration. By Royce Millar, for The Age View full entry
TomDispatch comments on ‘Riding the Real-Estate Tsunami' as opined on recently in the LA Times by Mike Davis. “What will life be like in the United States (or Britain or Ireland) after the home-equity ATM shuts down? “ Davis makes some... View full entry
There won't be a creative rebirth at Ground Zero after all, says Ada Louise Huxtable. The proverbial writing on the walls: Libeskind Relic Going, Going... Gone? & Cornerstone? What Cornerstone? (NYP) View full entry
A host of articles on recent urban issues and projects: RTKL claims the Outskirts are In (bwire) | Lance Freeman at Columbia U has this idea of Gentrification as a Boost (usatday) | More on Aleppo, recipient of the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design (havrdgaz) | Milwaukee's fascination... View full entry
Well, with a recent report listing the hideous living and operation conditions of San Quentin State Prison in Cali, and citing state law which says an additional complex would not be allowed to be built offsite from the current institution's location, law makers seem bent on constructing a new... View full entry
What's been driving the growth of military construction in Alaska? Seen as a new important front for military strategy and other state projects, this year the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will spend a record budget of $682 million there. Anchorage Daily View full entry
The LA Times looks at The Sandi Group, an American company cashing in building private fortresses for contractors in Baghdad, and begs the question: is anti-terrorist design really the way to achieve national security? [related: Defensive Walls in Baghdad are Canvas for Art, At the Border...]... View full entry
John Zarocostas in Geneva last week interviewed Miloon Kothari (World Chronicle Programme interview), an architect and independent consultant on adequate housing with the UN Commission on Human Rights, about the growing worldwide problem of homelessness(John Zarocostas interview). Staggering. View full entry
Communities say more federal money is needed to rehab the ex-military spaces they've inherited, which are often polluted and impractical to use. LATimes | Previously: "All Your Base Are Befouled By Us" View full entry
Bush's new pact with Mexico & Canada draws fire | New passport chips | Patrols & crossers thrash the dessert | Immigrant Hunting | San Ysidro border plaza gets beautified | Dangerously restoring a Canadian memorial | Security measures alter tourists' view of the Capital | Inside Islam's... View full entry
