Accepted wisdom has it that the continuing social unrest in the banlieues, as these suburbs are called, is a direct result of their built form: repetitive slabs and blocks of modern housing, often in large isolated estates. [...]

In fact, environmental determinism accompanied the very making of the French suburbs in the postwar period and the development of modern urbanism more generally.

Why is it that we assign so much power to buildings? — blog.oup.com

Of course, San Francisco has much to offer. The clothing stores, the cable cars, the botanical gardens. My neighbor the conveyor operator, Alan. The libraries, the sports bars, the bus stations. Sigh. — Leaving Everywhere

It soon became apparent that the alley was not a great place to be: Further down the way was a cardboard box used as a makeshift toilet. Once, he saw a pool of blood and the apparent weapon, a pointy umbrella...

Vogel asked an architect friend what he should do. “She said the answer was simple: All I needed to do was put people in it [the alley],” said Vogel. — Yes Magazine

In the mid-1960s, the De Gaulle-instigated Mission Racine to develop Languedoc-Roussillon’s tourist economy created six modernist seaside resorts from scratch, each a day’s boat ride apart – still one of the largest state-run development schemes ever.

...there was some ideological overlap between the purifying doctrines of naturism and modernism: Le Corbusier himself enjoyed airing his bits on the Cote d’Azur and shared the same teacher as Cap d’Agde’s chief architect, Jean le Couteur. — the Guardian

Hardcore Architecture is a project by Chicago artist Marc Fischer exploring the relationship between domestic spaces, urban and suburban neighborhoods, and underground hardcore and punk bands of the 1980s. [...]

The results of his media archaelogy are a funny, ironic and intriguing snapshot of American vernacular architecture in the 1980s. It's also a fascinating alternative vision of the places where underground culture has been created and nurtured — minnpost.com

Lonely Planet made a decision in December that stunned many in the travel industry, even those deeply invested in promoting the borough. It named Queens the No. 1 travel destination in the United States for 2015.

Yes, Queens. Not Miami, the Grand Canyon, Washington, San Francisco or, more to the point, Manhattan, but rather New York City’s equivalent of a flyover state, perhaps most famous for two sitcoms, one featuring a food-fixated deliveryman and the other a xenophobic bigot. — nytimes.com

With the huge impact of mental disorders on people’s health and wellbeing, and the increased mental health risk of that comes simply from living in a city, you might think that mental health would be an urban health priority. In fact, few policies or recommendations for healthy urban environments address mental health in any depth. — CityMetric

After imposing taxes on units in Amsterdam, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco and elsewhere, “home-sharing” facilitator Airbnb will now begin collecting taxes in Paris, the company’s biggest market.

Collection officially begins October 1st and some see the move as Airbnb’s attempt at playing nice with city regulators. Venture Beat connects the change to Uber’s troubles in Paris, where the ride service company fought new regulation policies. — nextcity.org

For nearly two decades, the Young Architect's Program (YAP) has brought both young and established talent to MoMA PS1's courtyard to form a welcome space for overheated crowds that often interact with the work during the institution's popular Warm Up series [...]

So what happens to the pavilions and their creators once the DJs pack up their gear, the throngs of people leave, and the summer is over? — artnet news

The dean of OU's College of Architecture issued an apology Monday for wearing clothing associated with Islam at a back-to-school meeting.

A photo on the College of Architecture's Facebook page that has since been deleted showed Dean Charles Graham wearing a white thawb and a red keffiyeh on his head at the meeting on Aug. 20. — The Oklahoma Daily

Every time we build something, we manipulate the conditions of people’s lives, but most planners don’t know enough about this manipulation...I have worked very hard to find out what the life is that goes on inside our buildings and how our buildings influence that life...Because if you just do form, then you are doing sculpture, but if you look after the interaction between life and form, you are doing architecture. — Metropolis

Islamic State blew up the ancient temple of Baal Shamin in the Unesco-listed Syrian city of Palmyra, the country’s antiquities chief has said. [...]

Baal Shamin was built in 17AD and it was expanded under the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian in 130AD. Known as the Pearl of the Desert, Palmyra, which means City of Palms, is a well-preserved oasis 130 miles north-east of Damascus. — theguardian.com

While I believe there will always be a place for the book in the hearts of academics, it is far less likely there will be a place for the book, or at least for every book, on the academic campus. [...]

This is not to say that academic library construction and renovation have come to an end. But rather than being conceived of as on-campus book warehouses, academic libraries are today being reimagined as spaces in which learning, collaboration and intellectual engagement take center stage. — qz.com