Pedestrianism among advocates and urban planners in the new, young century has been on the ascent in global cities far and wide, with many pushing for more restrictions on cars in the interests of bipeds and cyclists.

That was part of thinking behind the Shared Streets initiative, a five-hour long event over the weekend. It saw the city demarcate some 60 blocks of Manhattan’s oldest neighbourhood as part of an urban geographical experiment... — the Guardian

At the very least, these projects propose efficiencies and aesthetics that run counter to the institutional momentum within the city’s many departments, a daunting prospect in itself. None of this is necessarily inappropriate for such an exhibition, but it does ignore the question of where much of the aesthetic and spatial expression in our built environment comes from, and how we might change it. — New City

Critics point to a less-than-robust tech scene, layoffs and shuttered businesses as major stumbling blocks, while others applaud the community's transformation. [...]

"The other thing that we would have done differently, knowing what we know now, is really made our goals much more explicit," Hsieh said.

For example, he would have put "collisions" — serendipitous encounters between individuals who can drive innovation — ahead of co-learning, connectedness and even return on investment. — cnbc.com

“if augmented reality really catches on, and an internet environment overlaid on our real world surroundings becomes common, what will be the rules around using that augmented space?" [...]

Could you sell, lease, or subdivide the digital rights to your own home, yard, or lobby? Could you extract a toll, tax, or commission from virtual usage? — bldgblog.com

Part of the challenge throughout California and plenty of other communities...is that we tend to make local policy — and housing policy in particular — as if the only people who matter in a community are the ones who go to bed there at night.

We don't think of people who work but don't "live" there, or who'd like to live there but can't afford to, or who once lived there but had to leave, or who could access better jobs if only they could move there, or who commute through there... — the Washington Post

computer vision and artificial intelligence are the keys to a debate behind a door that’s been locked for a long time: the social impact of design in cities. [...]

"Now that we have new tools to measure aesthetics, we can estimate its consequences" [...]

[MIT Media Lab associate professor Cesar Hidalgo] wants to develop more empirical ways to study cities and the way they’re perceived—and, in turn, provide better science to the policy-makers who shape legislation. — fastcodesign.com

Casinos like the Taj Mahal have destroyed Atlantic City’s public space. Gambling’s arrival replaced the outward-looking hotels, shops, and promenades of the mid-century boardwalk with clusters of dark, labyrinthine resorts, set back from the street and enclosed behind monitored security gates. [...]

Atlantic City’s model of a plush, self-contained casino abutting a ruined neighborhood has become a synecdoche for the last forty years of American urban development. — jacobinmag.com

Each of the 16 bus stops that competed this year — and the agencies who oversee them — deserved a thorough shaming. No transit rider should ever have to wait in the rain for a bus with no posted schedule, or walk in a ditch along an eight-lane highway after disembarking. These conditions are deplorable but all too common in American cities.

The two bus stops facing off today — in Kansas City and Silver Spring [...]— had some extra dreadful quality that sets them apart in the eyes of our voters. — usa.streetsblog.org

From multidisciplinary architectural firm Weston Baker Creative comes this vision of glass and grass in the form of a mixed-use high-rise springing from the Rem Koolhaas parcel on banks of the High Line. As CityRealty.com reported, the mixed-use concept would include residences, an art gallery and ten levels of indoor farming terraces. — 6sqft.com

[T]he city of Bao'an in Shenzhen is setting its sights on revamping the 30 kilometer, 12-lane G107 highway...By rethinking the notion of a highway and envisioned with a series of utopian-like renderings, [Avoid Obvious Architects + Tetra Architects & Planners] proposed “a smaller, more fluid, multi-layered thoroughfare that will be a spectacular starting point of growth for an organic smart city.” — Bustler