A few to start off the day:
Andrés Duany defends the New Urbanism against the critiques of the "Avant Garde Establishment," Landscape Urbanists, and others.
An editorial piece in yesterday's New York Times attempts to make the case that New York's grid is an environmentally-sensitive, "green" plan, citing in support the factually incorrect statement that the 1811 Commissioners' Plan "conserve[d] 843 prime acres as a Central Park." Oops.
More from the department of "thinking small:" writing about Bucharest, an author considers the role of the human scale in architecture and planning in making cities worthy of being loved.
Canadian city proposes requiring suburban developers to pay higher fees to better reflect the costs of supplying city services to outlying developments.
Withdrawal of state funding threatens long-planned Cincinnati streetcar.
I have only one question about the Duany piece. Where do people come into the vision? Where are individuals like myself considered? after people have to live in his vision and deal with the consequences. I wish that before pontificating about what people "must" do, elite architects like Duany would actually do some actual observation and exploration from time to time. You know, actually walk the streets rather than just riding by or flying over the unwashed masses. What they find might actually surprise them.
ReplyDeleteJ Carlton -- Duany actually addressed this topic directly just a few months ago, if you're curious:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.architectmagazine.com/planning/control-the-masses-andres-duany.aspx