Beijing is two cities. One is of power and of money. People don’t care who their neighbors are; they don’t trust you. The other city is one of desperation. — Newsweek

Mr. Garrett died last week at 74, just short of the 25th anniversary of Burning Man’s founding.

But his handiwork will be on display to thousands as the yearly festival begins Monday. Mr. Garrett arranged the grounds, called Black Rock City, in a series of concentric semicircles. At their center is the Man, a giant effigy meant to be immolated on the last night of the weeklong gathering. — nytimes.com

On September 11, 2010 fieldoffice launched an effort that will acknowledge lives lost during the tragedy of September 11, 2001 as well as reconstruct as many views of the city’s lost skyline. Thousands of glass plates, inscribed with a written dedication to a victim and an outline of the missing skyline, will populate New York City from anywhere in the city that the towers would have been visible. — dispersed-memorial.net

Steven M. Johnson (b. 1938) is a former urban planner and future trends analyst from California, who defines himself in terms of Chinese astrology as a tiger "with a tendency to rush forward, defend the weak, and be foolishly brave." Since the early 1970s, he has been creating scores of alternative products and systems—on paper—that he hopes will benefit "or at least amuse" his fellow consumer-citizens. — theatlantic.com

We don’t even see his feet. He is embedded in the rock like something not yet fully born, suited and stern, rising from its roughly chiseled surface. His face is uncompromising, determined, his eyes fixed in the distance, not far from where Jefferson stands across the water. But kitsch here strains at the limits of resemblance: Is this the Dr. King of the “I Have a Dream” speech? Or the writer of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech? — nytimes.com

Once the definitive bicycle city, Beijing is responding to growing congestion and ongoing smog by setting a new target: for 23% of commuters to pedal to work by 2015. To achieve this target, new infrastructure for cyclists is to be wheeled in, with improved bicycle lanes, more parking facilities and a rental scheme to put a further 50,000 bikes on the roads by 2015. — sustainablecitiescollective.com

Curved buildings with mushroom roofs! Giant 3D printers spewing out ships! Swarms of high-tech workers making electric cars!

It’s all part of “Super Dock,” a futuristic science park designed by radical eco-architect Mitchell Joachim.

“There are no walls,” he said. “We’re merging architecture and land into the water. The entire area becomes a ballast for Brooklyn, so it can absorb water, clean it and filter it back into New York.” — brooklyndaily.com

“If this project is viable, why hasn’t it been done over the years?” asks Deborah Howlett, the president of the New Jersey Policy Perspective. “Why does it take $350 million from the people of New Jersey?” She finds it particularly galling that the financing for the almost $4 billion megamall was arranged in a year when Christie slashed 5 percent of the school system’s annual funds. — New York Magazine

According to those people in the mystical know – how you sign your signature actually does mean something and does provide some insight into the mind behind the name. — lifeofanarchitect.com

The ubiquity of digital spectacles and curiosities today is one reason performance art has had its thunder stolen. — nytimes.com

Yesterday I checked out the exhibition "Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities" at the Museum of Arts and Design. Below are some highlights from this highly recommended show. — archidose.blogspot.com

This was the city of the 20th Century, but surely nobody, neither utopians or dystopians, imagined that it would look like this. It was nobody's dream and at least in theory, nobody's nightmare. How did we get here? — BBC

Do you remember when you took driving lessons and the teacher said to be particularly careful about your speed when you're exiting a highway, because you've adjusted to its high speeds? Same thing here, the other way around. And the lazy pace of a summer of glorious unemployment surely also helps, but a walk to the gym, to the river, or to see friends a few blocks away is enough for me at the moment. — Harvard GSD (Lian)