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An increase in the overall demand for design services has been recorded for the 19th consecutive month, according to statistics contained in the August Architecture Billings Index (ABI) published this week by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). The ABI score is now up to 53.3, representing... View full entry
The Dodge Momentum Index hit a 14-year high in June and recorded another 2.9% increase in July. The index now stands at 178.7, up from June’s figure of 173.6. “Commercial planning in July was led by an increase in data center, office and warehouse projects, while fewer education and... View full entry
Following the sudden, dramatic price spikes on an array of building materials in 2021, the Associated General Contractors of America has appealed to President Joe Biden to take action to ease the skyrocketing cost of lumber. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, "AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr asked Biden to urge domestic lumber producers to ramp up production to address growing shortages, as well as to make the crafting of a new softwood lumber agreement with Canada a top priority of his administration." View full entry
We don’t draft designs in a void and cities don’t spring straight from our imaginations. Architecture is itself a designed object, circumscribed and delimited by the social, political, and economic conditions of the era. But, likewise, these conditions aren’t exactly natural—they’re... View full entry
At a time when pundits and political scientists were celebrating the end of history, pointing to an emerging Democratic majority and extolling the virtues of a flat world of globalization, she ominously predicted a coming age of urban crisis, mass amnesia, and populist backlash in her final work, Dark Age Ahead. Eerily prescient as always, rereading the 2005 book today serves as a survivors’ guide to the Age of Trump. — citylab.com
"Jacobs outlines an increasing distrust of politicians and politics, a burgeoning new urban crisis in cities, worsening environmental degradation, entrenched segregation, and an “enlarging gulf between rich and poor along with attrition of the middle class” as signals and symptoms of a coming... View full entry
WHAT are the most dysfunctional parts of the global financial system? China’s banking industry, you might say, with its great wall of bad debts and state-sponsored cronyism. Or the euro zone’s taped-together single currency, which stretches across 19 different countries, each with its own debts and frail financial firms. Both are worrying. But if sheer size is your yardstick, nothing beats America’s housing market. — the Economist
It is the world’s largest asset class, worth $26 trillion, more than America’s stockmarket. The slab of mortgage debt lurking beneath it is the planet’s biggest concentration of financial risk. For more on the state of the US housing market, check out these links:What these... View full entry
Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced that the newly-formed government will delay making any decisions about building a major nuclear power plant—the first in a generation—until the fall.Economists reacted with alarm to the announcement, according to Bloomberg, since the deferral... View full entry
According to a report from Reuters, construction spending fell in American for the second month in a row, following a steep 2% drop in April. April's drop was the largest since January 2011. The US Commerce Department states that May construction spending dropped 0.8%. The drop indicates that... 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
We tend to perceive our identities as stable and largely separate from outside forces. But over decades of research and therapeutic practice, I have become convinced that economic change is having a profound effect not only on our values but also on our personalities. Thirty years of neoliberalism, free-market forces and privatisation have taken their toll, as relentless pressure to achieve has become normative. — Paul Verhaeghe | the Guardian
"If you’re reading this sceptically, I put this simple statement to you: meritocratic neoliberalism favours certain personality traits and penalises others."In this op-ed, Paul Verhaeghe asserts that neoliberalism has weakened social ties and pitted workers against one another in a... View full entry
In the old days of policymaking by aphorism—give a man a fish, feed him for a day!—simply handing money to the poor was considered an obviously bad idea. How naïve—you can’t just give people money. They’ll stop trying! They’ll just get drunk! The underlying assumption was that the poor weren’t good at making decisions for themselves: Experts had to make the decisions for them.
As it turns out, that assumption was wrong.
— Slate
"[...] GiveDirectly, has decided to try to permanently end extreme poverty across dozens of villages and thousands of people in Kenya by guaranteeing them an ongoing income high enough to meet their basic needs—a universal basic income, or basic income guarantee."[Update: according to... View full entry
7:31 am
Ugh, forgot I’m working for a dude.
7:34 am
I wonder if the dude has a family.
7:36 am
Weird how I know all the female architects’ parental statuses but I don’t know the dudes’.
7:37 am
I should stop referring to GREATEST ARCHITECT OF ALL TIME as “dude,” even in my head. Begin referring to him as GOAT. (Greatest Of All Time.)
8:00 am
Why is the subway late? Should I walk? If I walk I’m gonna get sweaty.
— CommonEdge
While this fictional young architecture intern may confuse pandas with penumbras, she doesn't seem to have any problems affording her new internship for the "Greatest Architect of All Time."That's not the case for all interns, however. For a look at the economics of... View full entry
While cities like Dallas and San Francisco have rebounded strongly since the recession, many other places are still struggling for economic growth and prosperity. As time goes on, we're seeing a divergence between successful parts of the country and the non-successful parts.
More than 50 million Americans live in "distressed" ZIP codes, according to a new report from the Economic Innovation Group, a Washington D.C. think-tank.
— Fast.Co Exist
"These areas—largely concentrated in the South, Southwest, and the Rust Belt—are suffering a "recovery gap" driven by low home investment, shuttering businesses, and poor job opportunities."According to the report, economic opportunities are intimately tethered to geography in the United... View full entry
People caught running unlicensed apartments through websites will be offered the chance to have 80% of their fine canceled if they allow the city council to use the apartment as social accommodation for three years...When the three years are up the landlord [can] either pay off the fine through his or her own funds and reclaim possession of the apartment or continue offering the property as social accommodation until the council receives the equivalent of full payment of the fine. — Business Insider
More on Archinect:Airbnb now open for business in Cuba, despite anemic internet accessAirbnb rentals cut deep into San Francisco housing stock, report saysMonterey Park City Council adopts tougher penalties for landlords of illegal boarding homesAirbnb celebrates London's Deregulation Act with... View full entry
Slapped in the face is exactly how many Venetians are feeling by the tidal wave of new money. And the local tech boom, prompting 'Silicon Beach' references around town, is just one source of it — The Washington Post
More on Archinect:The rise and spectacular fall of Venice Beach's Pacific Ocean ParkAre apps the virtual gateway to physical gentrification?Oren Safdie's play "False Solution" finishes up its 3-week run this weekend in Santa MonicaThose hipster millennials might not be the true gentrifiers of U.S... View full entry
