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The large-scale modernization of CBS Television City in Fairfax, Los Angeles led by Foster + Partners is moving forward with an endorsement from the Los Angeles City Planning Commission. The revised version of the $1 billion project, which preserves existing William Pereira-designed heritage... View full entry
The first project from Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in Malaysia will be a master-planned Discovery City located within the Ibrahim Technolopolis (or IBTEC), a new 7,290-acre smart city in the southern state of Johor. While design details of the firm’s 582-acre contribution won’t be put forth in... View full entry
Even though record prices on the secondary market have heightened anxiety about the rising costs of living in Singapore, one of the world’s most expensive cities, public housing remains broadly affordable — at least for those who qualify for government subsidies to buy units.
Today, close to 80 percent of Singapore’s residents live in public housing, and about 90 percent of the units are owned on a 99-year lease.
— The New York Times
The architect of Singapore’s successful “social engineering” campaign after 1965, Liu Thai Ker, is a Malaysian-born Yale graduate and former understudy of I.M. Pei, who told the New York Times recently that he was “sad” to see the city-state’s current market dynamics affecting some of... View full entry
New York City's recently launched Office Conversion Accelerator Program has drawn interest from 64 building owners in Manhattan as planning officials mull changes to help speed up the process intended to deliver 20,000 new units of housing by 2033. The market for conversion in Lower... View full entry
The Boston City Council passed a measure Wednesday to shift planning authority away from the Boston Planning and Development Agency, a body that's reshaped much of the city in the 20th century and has faced criticism for the power it wields over building and urban renewal.
The newly minted Boston Planning Department will assume many of the responsibilities, property and staff currently under the old agency, which will retain oversight of large developments.
— WBUR.org
As per WBUR, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has been adamant about phasing out the current planning system during her time in office, calling it "an anachronism plagued by lack of transparency and misguided priorities." Other critics have amplified her call, arguing that it inculcates structural racism... View full entry
The once-secretive plan for a startup new community in Solano County, Northern California, is beginning to materialize as the company known as California Forever has begun publicizing details for their proposed development ahead of a potential November vote to determine its future. ... View full entry
The University of Miami School of Architecture has announced its participation in a master planning project that will help develop a smart city in the capital region of Guyana, South America. Both students and faculty from the school will join with others in UM’s Advanced Study of the Americas... View full entry
While the city’s top transportation post remains vacant, the department’s respected former commissioner has landed a leadership post at the award-winning Chicago architecture firm Studio Gang.
Gia Biagi will join Studio Gang as Principal of Urbanism, the firm announced Thursday.
Biagi told the Sun-Times that under the newly-created role, she’ll lead Studio Gang’s planning and urban design work nationally.
— Chicago Sun-Times
Biagi told the Sun-Times architecture critic, Lee Bey, her work will help Studio Gang’s efforts to shape “how we think about cities, how we revitalize them, and how that connects to other important systems, whether that’s emphasizing ecology or looking at the important public... View full entry
A new plan for a proposed smart city in Oman has been released by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in advance of the project’s anticipated construction start next year. The 14.8 million-square-meter Sultan Haitham City is located west of the country’s capital, Muscat, and will accommodate... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an opening for the Architecture Program Chair at the University of Michigan, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open position on Archinect Jobs for a Senior Planner at the City of Tacoma’s Planning and Development... View full entry
Never before has a mundane theory of urbanism been such a lightning rod for outrage [...] Some online forums have claimed that the 15-minute city represents the first step towards an inevitable Hunger Games society, in which residents will not be allowed to leave their prescribed areas. They see it not as a route to a low-traffic, low-carbon future, but as the beginning of a slippery slope to living in an open-air prison. — The Guardian
The man widely credited with developing the “15-minute city” concept, Colombian-born French academic Carlos Moreno, is the most likely source for paranoia owing to his radical left-wing identity. Though, as Wainwright points out, the idea dates to the 1920s, many conspiracists view its... View full entry
New LA Mayor Karen Bass has elevated current City Planning Commissioner Jenna Hornstock to a newly-created post as the Deputy Mayor of Housing, according to the city's announcement on Wednesday afternoon. The appointment aligns with Bass’ comprehensive shakeup of the city’s existing... View full entry
The City of Denver has hired its first chief urban designer. Following a nearly year-long search, Eugenia Di Girolamo was selected as the city’s first employee to focus exclusively on urban design. Di Girolamo most recently worked as the deputy director for urban design at the New York... View full entry
Chicago has unveiled a draft of its first citywide framework plan since 1966, charting how the city intends to become more equitable and resilient. The plan, titled We Will Chicago, is led by neighborhood stakeholders, artists, community partners, and city agencies. Having launched in 2020, the... View full entry
The country of El Salvador has picked an architect for his attention-grabbing bid to lure cryptocurrency investment to the small Central American nation. FR-EE founder Fernando Romero is now in charge of the country’s Bitcoin City development and plans to add a new Pacific airport, according to... View full entry
