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It's not at all clear that President-elect Donald Trump's plans to spend massively on infrastructure are going to unfold as he promised.
Trump made rebuilding the nation's aging roads, bridges and airports very much part of his job-creation strategy in the presidential race. But lately lobbyists have begun to fear that there won't be an infrastructure proposal at all, or at least not the grand plan they'd been led to expect.
— AP
More on President-elect Trump:Former Texas Governor Rick Perry nominated as Secretary of U.S. Department of EnergyCities should be very wary of Trump's 'Plan for Urban Renewal'Trump pilfers Clinton's plan for an 'infrastructure bank'Why is Trump seeking private equity for public infrastructure? View full entry
A proposal by Gov. John Hickenlooper to direct marijuana revenue toward building affordable housing and curbing homelessness offers a glimpse into the potential the new revenue can have on public services and projects...To the chagrin of pro-marijuana activists, Hickenlooper believes there is a correlation between homelessness, a need for affordable housing and substance abuse, including impacts from marijuana legalization. — The Gazette
Gov. Hickenlooper requested $18.3 million ($16.3 million from marijuana taxes and $2.0 million from the General Fund) toward affordable housing as part of his FY 2017-18 State budget this past November. The Gazette reports that Hickenlooper and his administration “are hesitant to acknowledge... View full entry
'Tis the time of year to reflect – on the good, the bad, the self, and the world. In looking back on the year that was 2016, we've parsed through all the News stories and now present to you, in all their gruesome glory, the biggest political stories of the year.While news from the U.S... View full entry
The very thing that makes modern cities vibrant and culturally dominant – increasing population density, and the atmosphere and networks that result from it – has left them politically under-represented. Meanwhile, the scattered and thinned-out populations of many struggling rural and small town areas distribute their voters through the British and American electoral systems much more efficiently. — Andy Beckett – The Guardian
Related on Archinect:The V&A's Martin Roth on Brexit: 'Me-first mentality' spreading through Europe is 'brutal'Brexit means Brexit: architects Rob Hyde, Katy Marks and Mark Middleton on how Brexit could change UK-architecture (and how architects could change Brexit), on Archinect Sessions... View full entry
What are the likely policy goals of a neurosurgeon appointed secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development by a man who can't stop disappointedly tweeting at Alec Baldwin? "There’s not a dearth of qualified Republicans for that job, so if you choose somebody with no background in... View full entry
The mix of private and public funding for the Guggenheim Helsinki has officially been rejected in a city council vote, meaning that the plans for the museum designed by Moreau & Kusunoki are unlikely to ever be built. A new financing plan that drew the bulk of public funding from the city and... View full entry
Mr. Trump...has said that infrastructure redevelopment will be a priority of his first 100 days in office. And Ms. Chao has experience — politically and personally — in navigating the competing centers of power in the capital...But now that she is in line for a prominent position in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, it is her own ties to business that are likely to come under scrutiny. As labor secretary, she faced criticism that her department favored business and was lax on enforcement and worker safety. — The New York Times
More on Archinect:President-elect Trump offers HUD post to Ben CarsonTrump pilfers Clinton's plan for an 'infrastructure bank'Scott Frank, Senior Director of Media Relations for the AIA, resigns following the AIA's statement of support for President-elect Trump View full entry
“You are not a profession that has distinguished itself by your social and civic contributions to the cause of civil rights, and I am sure this has not come to you as any shock. You are most distinguished by your thunderous silence and your complete irrelevance.” — NEXT CITY
"We have fallen short and Mr. Ivy, in this instance, does nothing to belie the concerns of the membership. It is all too easy for us to be cynical and skeptical at times like these, when the more precise tool (and one we are built for) is to be critical and creative. The AIA made a mistake and has... View full entry
The indefatigable Paul Krugman takes a closer look at Trump's proposed infrastructure funding plans in his column for The New York Times, wondering why the President-elect would seek private equity for public projects. Is this a profiteering scheme that sneakily privatizes ownership of... View full entry
The unthinkable has happened and Donald Trump is now the president-elect of the United States. Considering Trump's rocky relations with architects (and critics) and his comments on America's “inner cities” during the debates, now that he has won the White House, what does a Trump presidency... View full entry
From longer-than-expected lines to technological fumbles, voting polls in urban cities are typically a gnarly mess on Election Day — sometimes causing some voters to end up discouraged and skip out. In response to this still-too-common situation, the Van Alen Institute launched the “Open... View full entry
LIke everything else in the 21st century, infrastructure is no longer about big moves but rather about nuance, refinement, and creative strategy. This is the argument advocated by The Hill, which makes the case that all infrastructure projects should be resilient and made to serve multiple... View full entry
Blair Kamin, Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, has had a tempestuous relationship with Donald Trump for years. As a developer working in Chicago, Trump's buildings have been critiqued by Kamin, and as often happens when Trump is criticized, he does not shy away... View full entry
"I see architecture as almost a political work" [...]
“We are in a radically divided world” in which “architecture is not dealing with those political issues in a really sophisticated way,” [...]
“I think that both the art world and the architecture world … [are] pretty intolerant in terms of engaging” with political worlds beyond Western democracies."
— news.harvard.edu
More recent news from Rem and OMA:OMA's plans for Axel Springer building officially releasedWatch live: Rem Koolhaas is moderating a 12-hour marathon of interviews on the future of EuropeOMA's hyper CorbTo thrive post-Zaha, Koolhaas says ZHA should emulate high fashion brands"The first major... View full entry
Housing is under attack today. It is caught within a number of simultaneous social conflicts. Most immediately, there is a conflict between housing as lived, social space and housing as an instrument for profit-making — a conflict between housing as home and as real estate. More broadly, housing is the subject of contestation between different ideologies, economic interests, & political projects. More broadly still, the housing crisis stems from the inequalities and antagonisms of class society. — Jacobin
For more on the housing crises gripping almost every major city in the world, follow these links:Inside the failure of Jerry Brown's plans to ease California's housing crisisTo solve a housing crisis, invest more in modular constructionTo live in London you can't be a LondonerThe root of London's... View full entry
