Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
Los Angeles-based designers Sofia Borges and Susan Nwankpa recently collaborated in a photo exhibition titled "HOME(less)". Currently at the University of Southern California, the exhibition spotlights L.A.'s ongoing homelessness crisis in an interestingly positive manner. Borges and Nwankpa took... View full entry
What went wrong in Winnipeg was not just about architecture, and 5468796 were stuck trying to make the best of a bad situation. The pulling out of government support to make Centre Village an actual co-operative changed the [project's direction]...'It’s time to get the peanut butter off our fingers,' said Ross McGowan, former chief executive and president of CentreVenture...He admits that a failure to understand the needs of the community took a considerable toll on the project. — The Guardian
Despite good intentions to help families in need, perhaps the worst nightmare an architect can face when designing affordable housing is realizing that the project — which would of course already be fully built — doesn't meet the actual demands of the community, and then some. That's basically... View full entry
But if L.A. is going to remain a creative capital, its civic and cultural leaders are going to need to do more than offer really great talk about how great we are...This can start with the Otis Report on the Creative Economy...If this report is to be more than just a feel-good data dump, it could use some solid recommendations on how L.A. compares to other cities culturally and how we might improve the situation for artists and cultural organizations, both small and large. — Los Angeles Times
More about arts districts on Archinect:Venice Beach's ongoing grapple with the tech titan invasionDowntown LA's vision of an architecture and design super clusterHow one urban planner is helping revamp a Miami suburb "without gentrification"With a little compromise, illegal urban squats like... View full entry
When fully built, [the New Urbanist, corporate development] Lavasa intends to consume 100 sq km...and will cater to a total population of up to 300,000 in five 'towns' built on seven hills...[But] how does it turn itself from a quirky weekend getaway into a fully fledged 'smart city' where people live and work full time? — The Guardian
Previously on Archinect: Lavasa a new orderly, high-tech "city" View full entry
The plateauing and decline in U.S. vehicle miles traveled per capita that occurred between [2005-2014] was described by some hopeful commentators as a dramatic shift that was indicative of the preferences of a new workforce...Marginal changes in the way a new generation behaves...cannot overcome the realities of a country where more than three-fourths of jobs are located more than three miles from downtowns and where only one-fourth of homes are in places that their residents refer to as urban. — The Transport Public
More about car transit on Archinect:Welcome to Evanston, Illinois: the carless suburbiaDawn of the self-driving car: testing out Tesla's autopilot functionFrom California to Texas, car culture is losing its monopolyCan a loss of driver autonomy save lives?Designers imagine a world of self-driving... View full entry
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
Layla McCay, director of the recently launched Centre for Urban Design & Mental Health think tank, gives her two cents on the stigma that still overshadows mental health, both in urban design and current society.More on Archinect:Mindy Thompson Fullilove is a psychiatrist for citiesJason... View full entry
The truth is that Los Angeles, once a pioneer in defining the freeway’s place in urban life, has fallen behind other cities. From Dallas to Paris to Seoul, the most innovative ideas about freeways and how they can be redesigned are coming from places far from Southern California. It’s time for L.A. to catch up... — Los Angeles Times
Following his recent review of the 405 Freeway expansion through the Sepulveda Pass, Christopher Hawthorne sums up why the time is ripe for Angelenos to refresh their perspectives on the city's freeways.More on Archinect:Archinect's critical round-up: the week's best architectural critiques so... View full entry
The irony of [Metelkova Mesto's] transformation – from the military arm of a censorious regime to a tolerant artistic community – is what makes the regeneration project of this space so encouraging...Metelkova, in contrast, has built its image firmly on its artistic and cultural credentials. It’s autonomous, but not anarchistic; liberal, but not lawless. — The Guardian
More on Archinect:Developer wants to re-use and trademark the 5Pointz name for their new residential towersMuralists and the fragile relationship with the buildings they paint onThe Uncertain Future of Slab City, CaliforniaHerzog & de Meuron to redevelop Berlin’s infamous Tacheles cultural... View full entry
It’s this inevitable dichotomy between data and real life that will likely define [Google's] Sidewalk Labs...There’s a naivety to their worldview that might help to get things done inside a company but could prove a hurdle to progress in the public realm. Yes, the region does need more housing, but the politics of how, where, and when that housing is built are far more nuanced than Google can apparently handle. — psmag.com
The cloud of speculation surrounding Google as of late only grows bigger with the tech giant's recent launch of its independent start-up, Sidewalk Labs. Charging further into Google's real-world endeavors, the "urban innovation company" vies "to improve city life for everyone through the... View full entry
As rural Japan battles the twin afflictions of a population that is getting smaller almost as quickly as it’s getting older, Kamiyama is one of a handful of towns that is bucking the trend. It’s practicing 'creative depopulation' — trying to make sure it gets younger and more innovative, even as it shrinks, by attracting youthful newcomers who are weary of big-city life to work in new rural industries. — The Washington Post
More:Find your ideal neighborhood with this new 'Livability Index' online toolRevisiting Sharon Zukin's "Loft Living" and NYC gentrificationRenzo Piano: the future of European architecture lies in the suburbsDesigning for Seniors and Soldiers, Toward a "Silver" Architecture View full entry
Gilles Vesco calls it the 'new mobility'. It’s a vision of cities in which residents no longer rely on their cars but on public transport, shared cars and bikes and, above all, on real-time data on their smartphones...'Multi-modal' and 'interconnectivity' are now the words on every urban planner’s lips...This model of denser, less car-dependent cities is becoming the accepted wisdom across the developed world. — The Guardian
Writer Stephen Moss talks to urban planners and transportation authorities around Europe to get a glimpse into how cities worldwide continue to wean themselves off car dependency and explore new forms of mobility, all while city density increases. View full entry
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) recently published a report titled "The Macro View of Micro Units", which shares the latest findings in the revived trend of micro dwellings in the United States. The report arose from a ULI Foundation research grant that the Multifamily Housing Councils received in... View full entry
MUJI HOUSE, the architectural entity of Japanese design brand Muji, recently released their latest prefab house in Tokyo called the Vertical House. The slender 3-story structure was primarily designed for urban dwellers living within Tokyo's tight living spaces.Designed with simple white walls and... View full entry
Michael Bloomberg's Bloomberg Philanthropies revealed the winners of its first European edition of the Mayors Challenge. More than 150 top cities from 28 European nations entered the competition, which asked participants to send their most innovative ideas that address Europe's timely pressing issues like unemployment, energy efficiency, obesity, aging, and improving government efficiency. — bustler.net
Barcelona took the Grand Prize for Innovation and €5 million to help implement their proposal, Collaborative Care Networks for Better Aging, a digital and community "trust network" for each of its at-risk elderly residents.Innovation prizes of €1 million were also given to the following... View full entry
A growing number of small urban spaces are creating landscaped gardens that stretch beyond floor pots, with greenery growing upwards along walls and fences.
This new trend toward ‘vertical gardens’ is renewing apartments, offices and restaurants inviting greenery to flourish in small spaces.
— DesignBuild Source