... the ABI is a pretty good leading indicator of non-residential construction levels a year or so down the track. It’s often not a bad indicator of broader economic conditions either. For example, the index’s low of late 2008 came a little before U.S. stocks’ post-crisis nadir in March 2009. It’s been on a general uptrend ever since. As have stocks. There’s a crumb of good news, here, then, because the ABI has now been rising for four straight months. — blogs.wsj.com

With the exception of Nairobi — insert joke here about Kenyans crushing everyone at the New York City Marathon — the fastest walking cities were from wealthy nations. The statistical analysis confirmed this general perception: two of the three strongest social predictors of walking speed were a country's G.D.P. and its purchasing power parity (the other was its individualism). — theatlanticcities.com

one driving idea of the show holds firm, Bergdoll’s binder notwithstanding: Suburbs are generally an architect-free zone. Insofar as such creatures are spied at all, they’re employed to rubber-stamp a builder’s plans. Beyond that, they’re not wanted. Suburbanites are conservative, wherever they might lie on the political spectrum: There’s a good reason why builders have kept on churning out houses which have remained essentially the same for decades, even as they have grown steadily in size. — architectmagazine.com

For three straight months now, the Architecture Billings Index — a measure from the American Institute of Architects — has shown slight increases in work levels at architectural firms, with the latest figures showing a score in January of 50.9, compared with 51.0 in December.

... the index tends to provide a decent lens into the mood of the real estate world, and an increase may lay the groundwork for new construction projects months down the road. — blogs.wsj.com

Too often during the bubble, banks and builders shunned thoughtful architecture and urban design in favor of cookie-cutter houses that could be easily repackaged as derivatives to be flipped, while architects snubbed housing to pursue more prestigious projects.

But better design is precisely what suburban America needs, particularly when it comes to rethinking the basic residential categories that define it, but can no longer accommodate the realities of domestic life. — nytimes.com

One of the coolest creative-class careers has cratered with the economy. Where does architecture go from here? — salon.com

If we’re going to find jobs in the U.S. and the rest of the world, they’re going to have to be found in exactly the area where China is finding them — tertiary industry, or services.

How do you create service-industry jobs? By investing in cities and inter-city infrastructure like smart grids and high-speed rail. Services flourish where people are close together and can interact easily with the maximum number of people. If we want to create jobs in America, we should look to services... — blogs.reuters.com

Private nonresidential construction may pick up this year, as demand grows for new U.S. projects.

The Architecture Billings Index held at 52 last month, a sign of expansion, according to the American Institute of Architects. The commercial and industrial component -- a proxy for private building activity -- climbed to 54.1 in December, the highest in 10 months, the Washington-based association said Jan. 18. — bloomberg.com

Skyscrapers have an 'unhealthy' link with impending financial collapse, according to banking experts. [...]

Researchers pointed to the fact the world's first skyscraper, New York's Equitable Life building, was finished in 1873 during a five-year recession, while the Empire State Building coincided with the Great Depression. — dailymail.co.uk

As we approach the end of 2011, more and more attention will be applied towards answering the profound question: why is this year different than any other year (or why was it the same)? To facilitate this scrutiny, I've called upon Architecture Research Office (ARO) and Gustafson Guthrie Nichol (GGN), the recently announced Architecture Design and Landscape Architecture winners, respectively, of Cooper Hewitt's National Design Awards. — huffingtonpost.com

In London's case the practicality of the architecture is a reaction to the economic rather than the political excesses of the recent past. The 2012 Games are shaping up, in fact, as one of the clearest signs yet that the architectural boom years of the last decade or so in the West have definitively ended. — latimes.com

DeStefano Partners becoming units that, respectively, will focus on domestic, international projects — chicagotribune.com

“If you take a percentage and you work with western salaries, you can’t make it work,” Gehry said. “So it almost forces you to open an office in China and work with local people.” — Frank Gehry, via bloomberg.com

Following the first positive score in four months, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reversed direction again in September. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the September ABI score was 46.9, following a score of 51.4 in August. — aia.org

Williston used to build about five new homes a year. This year, Williston built 2,000 new homes. Next year, they're aiming for 4,000.

SHAWN WENKO: This is similar to the California gold rush.

Shawn Wenko is the Workforce Development Coordinator for the city of Williston. He shows me a dozens of ceremonial "ground breaking" shovels stacked in the corner of the office. He says they used to make special shovels for every groundbreaking, but they've had to go generic because of all the projects. — marketplace.publicradio.org