When the Lambert Houses were completed in 1973 as part of the Bronx Park South Urban Renewal Area, the complex was quickly recognized as a significant architectural and social contribution. [...]

So when UO columnist Susanne Schindler learned that Phipps is planning to demolish and redevelop the Houses, citing structural issues and significant security concerns, she wanted to understand what went wrong at this much-lauded site. — urbanomnibus.net

The first images of Bjarke Ingels Group's public square [officially titled Malaysia Square] for the £8 billion Battersea Power Station redevelopment in London have been revealed just a few weeks after BIG was appointed as the competition-winning designer. The public square, which will be BIG's first U.K. project, is only a part of the Battersea Power Station's redevelopment plan. — bustler.net

BIG is about to make its debut in the UK. The Architects' Journal reported that the Danish firm was selected in an international competition to design the public square in the £8 billion redevelopment of the historic Battersea Power Station, a decommissioned coal-fired power station in southwest London. A formal announcement is yet to be made. — bustler.net

The 2014 European Prize for Urban Public Space adds a dose of reality to often romanticized European cities, showing that every city no matter where has its own set of pressing issues. The annual prize recognizes exemplary projects that have transformed and improved public spaces throughout the continent.

Starting with a total of 274 projects from 30 European countries, the international jury selected 25 finalists, and finally two joint winners and four special mentions. — bustler.net

Preserving the rich history of an iconic site while modernizing any aspect of its design is always a tricky feat. For MVRDV, one of their latest competition wins is redeveloping the urban plan of the historic Serp & Molot (Hammer & Sickle) Factory...In the two-stage competition, the winning team was chosen out of a shortlist with LDA Design (UK), Ateliers lion Associés (France), Mega Project (Russia), and De Architecten Cie. (Netherlands). — bustler.net

With billions in federal, charity and insurance dollars flowing in after [Hurricane Katrina], there were suddenly resources for change.

“The city essentially got the opportunity to do a do-over,” said Carol Bebelle, a lifelong New Orleanian and executive director of Ashé Cultural Arts Center. [...]

In many ways, it was a top-to-bottom re-imagining of the cityscape.

So, is the city in a better place than it was nearly nine years ago? It depends on how closely you look. — equalvoiceforfamilies.org

If there is any one lesson that I have learned in my life as a city planner, it is that public spaces have power. It's not just the number of people using them, it's the even greater number of people who feel better about their city just knowing that they are there.

Public space can change how you live in a city, how you feel about a city, whether you choose one city over another, and public space is one of the most important reasons why you stay in a city. — TED

Little remains of Chicago's Cabrini-Green, a mid-century public housing complex once home to as many as 15,000 people. The poorly maintained high rises, rife with gang violence, were eventually demolished (the final one came down in 2011). [...]

The Chicago Housing Authority hopes to see it all redeveloped soon. [...]

CHA says half the new residential units to be market rate, another 30 percent public housing, and the remaining 20 percent affordable housing. — The Atlantic Cities

The plan’s backers say it represents a rare chance at economic revitalization for the neighborhood. Its opponents say it would destroy the fabric of Holy Cross, and might represent the first step toward changing the traditionally low-rise New Orleans waterfront into something very different [...]

“The argument is that the Lower Ninth Ward has to take what it can get,” says DeBacher. “We believe that we deserve—as any community deserves—good development, not just any development.” — The Atlantic Cities

The Paris Métro, opened in 1900, extends over more than 200 kilometers of track, serving more than 300 individual stops. But there are 11 more stations that, though once built, now stand nearly abandoned. Many of these "ghost" or "phantom" stations shuttered after the occupation during WWII. [...]

Parisian mayoral candidate Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has a bold plan for these phantom stations ... these abandoned spaces should be reclaimed for the city's residents. — The Atlantic Cities

What a National Register [of Historic Places] listing really means is a 20% federal tax credit for structural investing, along with any state tax incentives, but that's often not enough to make preservation a more appealing option over razing and starting over. [...]

Listing on the National Register certainly gives something of an economic incentive for preservation, as well as a national profile for these sites [...]

However, what historic sites ultimately need is sustainable funding. — Atlas Obscura

Late in 2011, [Zappos CEO] Hsieh became even more legendary by announcing almost larkishly that he’d be leading a $350 million effort to rejuvenate a blighted stretch of Las Vegas’ downtown […]

His plan was to spend much of his own personal fortune to transform this lifeless area about a mile north of the neon blitz of the Strip into an entrepreneurial tech nirvana. [...]

Doubters have no place in the ecosystem. Pragmatists stand little chance. A love of hyperbole prevails. — Wired