Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
Environmentalist blog Treehugger has published an exchange between the author of an anonymous new Twitter manifesto that outlines in 25 points the need to combat the capitalistic notion that endless growth is the only option for modern industrial societies. Patrik Schumacher and... View full entry
The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) has published its latest monthly Interior Design Billings Index (IDBI) report, finding that the demand for interior design services is poised to grow considerably over coming months as businesses and institutions undertake additional interior... View full entry
"Construction spending in the commercial category, which encompasses retail space among other segments, is down nearly 12% on a year-over-year basis. Spending related to lodging, including new hotel construction, was down 0.7% for the month and is up less than 4% year over year. Spending in the power segment also decreased in August and is down 3.5% compared to the same time last year." — Building Design + Construction
A recent report from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) looking at construction activity year-over-year shows a slight increase in construction spending for the year ending in August 2019. Total construction spending rose 0.3-percent relative to the same point in 2018, resulting in... View full entry
In particular, the new numbers confirm that there is a major slowdown underway in the creation of jobs making things: manufacturing, mining and construction.
Those “goods-producing” sectors, as Labor Department classifications call them, added an average of 58,000 jobs a month in 2018. That is now down to 23,000 a month thus far in 2019 — and a mere 15,000 in July.
— The New York Times
The New York Times reports that as most economic figures remain steady, a look at some of the "fine print" of recent economic data might be cause for concern, particularly within the manufacturing and construction sectors, which are seeing lagging job growth. According to The New York... View full entry
The number of homes that were flipped was actually down 8% from the previous year to a three-year low. And the number of investors engaging in home flipping has dropped 11% over the past year. — Marketwatch.com
Life is hard for a home-flipper these days. As real estate prices have ballooned across the country, profit margins for renovated and re-sold homes have narrowed. As a result, the number of homes being flipped has fallen markedly in recent years. What does it mean? Todd Teta, chief product officer... View full entry
Whether you envisioned Hyperloop One as an overhyped pneumatic tube or an inventive way to transport cargo and/or passengers, 35 teams from 17 countries around the world have just been announced as semifinalists in the contest to create working transit corridors for the technology. The 35 proposed... View full entry
Despite recent geopolitical tensions, The Philippines is projected to have one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and one seeming indicator of that is the increasing number of tall corporate towers — some with, uh, distinctive designs — that are sprouting up throughout Metro... View full entry
With the U.S. presidential election coming up, a few Americans are considering moving to Canada, a move that actually might be lucrative if you're an architect. Responding to the forces of globalization, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is aiming to inject new economic life into his country... View full entry
Last year, Greater Manchester’s economy outgrew that of inner-city London. Further devolution of powers from Whitehall are about to be realised, and the campaign for the title of first elected mayor of Greater Manchester has picked up pace.
However, Manchester is also about to contend with the capital in other ways. A major housing crisis lurks, and a growing deficit of office space needs to be dealt with. To make amends, Manchester’s skyline is heading for dramatic change.
— theguardian.com
Read more article concerning the housing crisis spreading across UK cities:To live in London you can't be a LondonerLondon fails to achieve any targets for affordable housingArchitects design ‘the house of tomorrow’ View full entry
Cities are mankind’s most enduring and stable mode of social organization, outlasting all empires and nations over which they have presided...it is not population or territorial size that drives world-city status, but economic weight, proximity to zones of growth, political stability, and attractiveness for foreign capital. In other words, connectivity matters more than size. Cities thus deserve more nuanced treatment on our maps than simply as homogeneous black dots. — Quartz
Global strategist Parag Khanna gives his outlook on the economic future of the world's megacities.More on Archinect:Connectivity, not territory: why we need to make a new map for the USHow neoliberalism is changing us (for the worse)These are the most economically distressed cities in the United... View full entry
Most modern Chinatowns are serving less as a singular manifestation of Chinese-American life than as a central gathering place for people to experience Chinese culture...And indeed, Chinatowns themselves were often built on the ground of former ethnic enclaves that had organically dissolved...But as Chicago’s Chinatown demonstrates, this is not a predictable story. More than a hundred years after its founding, the neighborhood has a dynamism that can’t be neatly scripted. — Next City
As Chinatowns across the U.S. succumb to gentrification and shifting cultural preferences, writer Anna Clark spotlights the particular booming growth and expansion taking place in Chicago's Chinatown. More in relation to urban growth: Shocker: New York tops list of most expensive cities for... View full entry
Architecture firm von Gerkan, Marg, and Partners won a large commission earlier this week to design a new urban development in Shenzhen, China. The 45-hectare project is part of an economic plan that China developed for the area. — bustler.net
"It comprises a transportation hub including five underground railway stations, a border control point and numerous commercial areas. Above ground there will be a range of tower blocks of different heights with apartments, shops and offices to form multi-functional city quarters." Images © gmp View full entry
Join the discussion on Archinomics: Effects of Predicted Global Economic Growth on the Architecture Profession on Thursday evening, Nov. 21 at The Center for Architecture in New York City. Hosted by the AIANY Global Dialogues Committee, the two-hour discussion examines which countries are... View full entry
