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Archpaper Review: Our Cities Ourselves
Does one size fit all, even when it is oh-so-hot bikes and buses? I wonder, in The Architect’s Newspaper, about the solutions proposed in the Center for Architecture’s Our Cities Ourselves.
What was also disconcerting is the sameness of the strategies. Bus Rapid Transit, the transport fix on everyone’s lips, is the major player, linking backwaters to centers, creating transit nodes, replacing cars and motorcycles. BRT is the one thing most of these cities do have (or have in the works). Dedicated bus lanes and bike lanes turn up in almost every example, along with linear parks and landscaped boulevards, street-level retail, highways sunken and disappeared. But can BRT really always be the answer?
Read the rest here.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alexandra Lange is an architecture and design critic, and author of Writing about Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities. (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012). Her work has appeared in The Architect's Newspaper, Architectural Record, Dwell, Metropolis, Print, New York Magazine and The New York Times.More Bio >>
DESIGN OBSERVER JOBS
MORE BY Alexandra Lange
05.18.13: Dream Weaver05.14.13: Anxiety, Culture and Commerce
04.24.13: Beyond Gorgeous
04.18.13: Architecture Without Signs
04.09.13: What It Costs (to Buy a Bench, to Extend a Curb)
04.03.13: Portlandia + Timelessness
03.18.13: Instagramming Around Australia
03.07.13: After the Museum: The Tumblr
02.25.13: Founding Mother: Mariana Van Rensselaer and the Rise of Criticism
02.17.13: Patterns of Houston
More by Alexandra Lange >>
BOOKS BY Alexandra Lange
Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and CitiesPrinceton Architectural Press, 2012
Design ResearchChronicle Books, 2010
More books by contributors >>
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