Category: suburbia
-
On Agrarian Urbanism
An opportunity for point-counterpoint on the topic of Agrarian Urbanism – one that, with the recent explosion of discussion and interest in urban agriculture – is vital to discussing the place of food in the city, and what impact this will have on the form and function of our urban agglomerations. The topic is poignant…
-
More on Ecological Urbanism
A recent post regarding Ellen Dunham-Jones talk in Vancouver highlighted the stance of new urbanism not just on landscape urbanism but on ecological urbanism. Some notes via one of the attendees from – highlights a major disconnect between understanding and rhetoric – particularly that ecological urbanism is focused on some idea of ‘city in nature’ suburbia…
-
The Wilderness Downtown
I have in the past alluded to the ‘Soundtrack of Spaces‘ linking music to our physical environment. I know most people have amused themselves with this video experiment, but I finally found myself engaging with the Arcade Fire’s interactive video ‘The Wilderness Downtown‘ – perhaps a literal interpretation of the space/music connection. The narrative film,…
-
Patch, Mosaic, Corridor
While urbanization and sprawl into every nook and cranny of the ecosystem has left large habitat patches in North American relatively difficult to attain, a post by Treehugger shows that the less dense South American continent has the potential to provide a large mosaic of territory for the native Panther – Jaguar onca – (aka…
-
The Landscape Urbanism Wars
A number of recent posts/discussions outline what is now shaping up as a ‘war’ between the proponents of Landscape Urbanism and those of the New Urbanism. I find it constantly amusing, in this time of blatant political attack ads on television every night (the rift could be DNC v. RNC), to see the polarization that…
-
Animurbanism
I thought this was pretty funny (and ridiculous) when first heard on NPR, then seen in multiple locations. The story centers on the layouts of these planned Sudanese cities, shaped like indigenous animals and even fruit from the region. This has been all over the place lately in media snippets, with a reaction of surprise,…
-
Building Better Burbs
Check out the finalists for the Build a Better Burb competition. Not that Long Island is your typical burb, but some interesting ideas to chew on. Also available is voting on the finalists for People’s Choice Award.
-
Walhattan
An amazing if somewhat shocking graphic spotted on A Daily Dose of Architecture, “The above is from Jesse LeCavalier’s essay “All Those Numbers” at Places: Design Observer. In it, the architect investigates “the design possibilities latent not only in Walmart’s building types but also in the organizational practices — especially its unparalleled expertise in logistics.”…
-
Piggy-back Big-Box
An interesting hybrid assemblage of big box behemoths in Baltimore, shows a trend away from the sprawling power centers to a more . Via the Baltimore Sun, the development will place a Walmart atop a Lowes store in a piggy-back move: “The new location will be unusual for Walmart because it will be built on…
-
Retrofitting Suburbia
A nice long video from TEDx Atlanta featuring Ellen Dunham-Jones on Retrofitting Suburbia that “…takes you through retrofitted suburbia, transforming dead malls into buzzing downtown centers.”