An urban planner examines the worldview of high-stakes commercial real estate developers, with a special focus on our new developer-in-chief.
urban planning
Posted inBooks, Current Events, Nonfiction
An Urban Planner Against the Developer Presidency
An urban planner examines the worldview of high-stakes commercial real estate developers, with a special focus on our new developer-in-chief.
Posted inCurrent Events, Nonfiction, Quotes
New York City’s Final Frontier: Underground
What lays beneath New York City affects life above ground. One team is mapping the city’s below-ground infrastructure.
Posted inArts & Culture, Current Events, Quotes
In South Korea, Gentrification Goes Global
Factory workers and artists struggle to keep their work spaces in this Seoul neighborhood.
Posted inEditor's Pick
They Call It Canaan
In the aftermath of disaster, as new communities thousands-strong coalesce in the countryside around Port-au-Prince, Haitians ask: what makes a city?
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Planning for the Death of Parking in American Cities
In the latest issue of Mother Jones, Clive Thompson investigated how the rise of autonomous cars, and Americans’ desire to live in more walkable cities, will mean no longer having to set aside vast amounts of land for parking lots. Many articles have offered a utopian vision of our autonomous driving future, but what I particularly like […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Future of Restaurateuring in Portland
This “safer bet” is where the second generation of Portland’s food industry intersects with the region’s commitment to density in the face of growth. Micro restaurants and food halls celebrate small spaces. Their inherent informality appeals to diners who treat dining out as an everyday form of entertainment. The small, turnkey spaces make it easier […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why Are Cities Still Subsidizing For-Profit Development?
But at what point should cities make this decision to stop subsidizing for-profit development? And how do they know when enough is enough? That’s the question being asked in Kansas City and in cities around the nation as downtowns bounce back from years of abandonment only to find that developers still expect the aid they were receiving […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Murky Origins of Burma’s Capital City
The city’s origins are clouded in rumour and speculation. Some describe it as a vanity project of Than Shwe, the former military leader of the country. Many believe the “audacious” name given to the city might reflect “illusions of grandeur or … perhaps another sign of [Than Shwe’s] possible dementia”, according to one 2006 US government […]
Posted inNonfiction
The Last Freeway
The true story of L.A.’s freeways, and a judge who changed everything.