Could Los Angeles grow to become a “real city” like New York or London? Last year, LA gained at least 50,000 people, according to a recent report from the California Department of Finance, pushing the population to more than 4 million people for the first time in the city’s history. — Vice

The scheme was designed by EMA Architecture + Design, a local practice specialising in commercial mixed-use masterplans and residential development.

The first phase will be followed by subsequent ones over 20 years, resulting in a £1bn ($1.4bn) “Garden District”. As well as the homes, there will be a school, shopping centre, sports facilities and parks.

A quarter of all the homes will be affordable housing, with the remainder split between private homes and apartments. — globalconstructionreview.com

A City Council committee could take the first steps Tuesday toward mandating that developers include affordable units in new housing complexes to be built in several East Austin neighborhoods.

The proposal by Council Member Greg Casar, who chairs the council’s Planning and Neighborhoods Committee, comes as soaring rents have pushed poorer and minority residents out of the city. — My Statesman

A group of developers on the short list to buy Tribune Tower want to convert the Gothic Michigan Avenue landmark into condominiums, apartments and even a hotel [...]

The property also comes with something all developers love: land for new buildings. A buyer could build one or two more towers on the parking lot next door and on space created by demolishing some of the existing Tribune building that is not landmarked. [...] — Crain's Chicago Business

Some Pyongyang-watchers believe the changes are merely skin deep, and do not portend or reflect deeper political or economic changes. ‘There is still all this state influence. There is no free development [...] The production of the city has not yet changed. Only the shapes of the buildings have changed.’

‘There is this thing among North Koreans about developing...an architecture that is reflective of their society. So what is an architecture that reflects their society?‘ — Los Angeles Times

What’s the root cause of Los Angeles’ affordable housing crisis? Many blame the new luxury housing developments springing up... driving up interest in the neighborhood and attracting hipsters. Landlords take notice and soon rents start climbing. That’s the story anyway.

But here’s the thing: If booming development in hot markets like Hollywood and downtown is why rents keep going up... why have the same price increases hit locales with extremely limited development? — LA Times

In addition to housing for low- and moderate-income households, the mixed-use and mixed-income development will include a supermarket with healthy food options, a charter school, a medical facility, cultural and community spaces, a social services facility, and a rehabilitated playground that is currently closed. [...]

The 24-story building is expected to be the largest residential Passive House built in New York City and use 70% less energy than conventional buildings. — housingfinance.com

Workers have almost completed mounting the copper paneling on the American Copper Buildings (née 626 First Avenue), the new tilting, two-towered development on Manhattan’s East Side, but their most striking feature—a three-story, 100-foot-long skybridge—is still open to the elements. [...]

The skybridge itself, though, is designed to be the showstopper. The architects placed a 75-foot lap pool on the bridge, so residents can swim 300 feet in the air [...]. — bloomberg.com

this plan creates a new complication all its own: a financing scheme that involves borrowing nearly $1.2 billion and extending five taxes beyond their expiration dates: Tax dollars collected in 2066 still would be paying off a deal cut a half-century earlier, in 2016. [...]

By law both proposed museum sites are submerged lake bottom and have special protections. [...] If you're a citizen, you own what's called a fractional beneficial interest in this public trust land. You can use it. — Editorial Board – chicagotribune.com

bastardized visual language has become the de facto standard of Dallas residential architecture development. The explanation for its ever-increasing prevalence, however depressing, is fairly straightforward. Developers find something that’s profitable and want to reproduce it. Risk-averse banks are happy to lend them money given their track record, at least in the short term. Architects, stuck with low budgets, tight schedules, and conservative developers, serve to please and follow convention. — artsblog.dallasnews.com

Foster + Partners’ plans for the overhaul of London’s Grade II-listed Whiteleys shopping centre have got the go-ahead – despite opposition from locals.

Westminster City Council approved the contentious scheme last night, but will now look into setting conditions concerning the scale of two residential towers that form part of the proposal, alongside a gym, hotel, cinema and new shops. — thespaces.com

“If we do it right,” Gehry said at an event in September, “we can really make the High Line look like a little pishy thing.” Given that Manhattan’s elevated park, at merely 1/35th the length of the river, has helped transform the surrounding neighborhood into a playground for the rich, residents of LA’s river-adjacent communities are right to be concerned. — thenation.com

“What I realized is that they have very little power,” Mr. Viet, 28, said of his fellow urban planners. “The fates of the buildings were being decided by someone else.”

[...] when Ho Chi Minh City’s property market perked up after a slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis, dozens of prewar buildings — spanning the colonial to modernist eras — were razed to make room for new ones. As the city’s modest skyline grows, residents are watching with a mixture of awe and trepidation. — nytimes.com

'My family has lived here for generations. We don’t want the money, we don’t want our house destroyed, we just want to live here,' Mrs. Zhang declared.

The physical re-facing of China is cutting some very deep social scars. Abuse of power, corruption, developers in cahoots with government officials, and the misappropriation of funds are rife throughout the eviction and relocation process, littering the country with the seeds of discontent. — CityMetric