Facades as billboards first emerged in ridley scotts 1985 masterpiece. Beyond the tourist destinations in NY, Vegas and the hyperactive asia urban cores, are we really ready for entire buildings to be transformed into animated billboards?LAtimes explores Sonny Astani's dream of obliterating the... View full entry
Toni Negri discusses the significance of urban space for new forms of opposition with Constantin Petcou, Doina Petrescu, and Anne Querrien. The city, Negri says, is where the "political diagonal" intersects the "biopolitical diagram" – where people's relation to power is most pronounced... View full entry
Hugh Pearman reviews the coming wave of eco-cities from Dongtan in China to Foster and Koolhaas's plans for Abu Dhabi. While none of the designs are in themselves the sole solution he concludes. "If there's ever going to be a tipping-point that gets everyone designing new kinds of sustainable... View full entry
Faced with persistent air pollution despite promises to stage a green Olympics, Beijing is planning to reduce the city’s motor traffic by half during the games to improve air quality and ease traffic flow... NYT View full entry
Kolkata, a city of over 14 million, is in a huge development boom, though loosely organized. HELP them plan their future and try to ignore the bad website. View full entry
Attention archinect members, Chicago's 2016 Olympic Applicant File is now online and ready for some serious (or frank) critique as the "make no little plans" bid marches its way to Lausanne... Place your thoughts below. View full entry
As Liverpool in the UK and Stavanger in Norway begin their 2008 status as cities of culture the BBC describes how the Capital of Culture scheme benefits winning cities. BBC >> View full entry
NYtimes the first long awaited coin-operated toilet has opened on the streets of New York. But at 14 gallons a flush is this $100,000 technological pod worth the water? Photo: G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times14 gallons * Toilet flush: 1.29 gallons * Basin auto-cleaning: 1.2 gallons * Toilet... View full entry
There have been no waste collections for more than two weeks in Naples. More than 100,000 tonnes of rubbish lies rotting in the streets. bbc View full entry
The NYC D of P and EDC have proposed a comprehensive zoning plan for Coney Island that could require developer Thor Equities to scale back (again) its plans for building a massive hotel and entertainment complex in the Brooklyn neighborhood. The new framework also might spare the Astroland... View full entry
"I think our overstretched and increasingly obsolete infrastructure might symbolize something important." But what? View full entry
The development of urban high rise buildings in most areas of Tehran city occurred without consideration to the extents of their function and the necessity of indicator design creation, consequently it caused monotonousness, lack of identity and differences among buildings in compare to each... View full entry
Some of the biggest cities in the world are proposing the most ambitious real-estate projects in a generation, a sign of growing confidence in urban living even as the current financial landscape grows bleaker. WSJ | related View full entry
Zocalo LA hosts a discussion with Qingyun Ma and Thom Mayne about "The Life Cycle of the Built Environment" Thursday evening, Jan. 10th, at MOCA's Arco Court in downtown Los Angeles. The event is free, but reservations are required. (213)626-6222. If you can't attend, catch the podcast in a few... View full entry
Households and friendships uprooted by mobile home park's closing. Follow the saga of Sunnyvale Mobile Home dwellers as they fight for their homes, then relocate after developers take over the property. Mercury News View full entry
