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Observatory

Urbanism

04.09.13: Alexandra Lange

What It Costs (to Buy a Bench, to Extend a Curb)
Participatory budgeting lets communities put their own urban priorities in order.
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03.18.13: Alexandra Lange

Instagramming Around Australia
Lessons from contemporary Australian architecture, plus what I saw on Instagram.
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02.17.13: Alexandra Lange

Patterns of Houston
How do you critique the urbanism of Houston? Look for patterns.
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10.23.12: John Thackara

From Autobahn to Bioregion
A review of the projects submitted to the Audi Urban Future Award.
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10.08.12: Alexandra Lange

Having Fun at the Museum
Blocks, rocket ships, playgrounds and balls: the hidden meaning of playthings at the Museum of Modern Art.
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08.28.12: Alexandra Lange

Art Matters to Architecture
In Indianapolis, a restored Milton Glaser mural allows us to see its Brutalist home as its architect intended: with color!
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06.29.12: Alexandra Lange

The Shape of Lunch
"Lunch Hour NYC," a new exhibition at the New York Public Library, defines the midday meal as an urban invention.
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05.03.12: Julia Novitch

Public Space and Citizenship: An Interview with Elihu Rubin
Public spaces can be charged politically because they enable citizens to gather, to represent themselves and to transmit messages.
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05.02.12: Alexandra Lange

Against Kickstarter Urbanism
You can Kickstart an edible spoon, but not a city.
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04.23.12: Alexandra Lange

Fixing South Street Seaport: Is New Architecture Enough?
Fighting over Ben Thompson's postmodernist landmark Pier 17 at South Street Seaport. Should it stay or should it go?
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04.17.12: Alexandra Lange

Carlo Scarpa, Quilter
Olivetti and Doges: How Carlo Scarpa updated the Venetian treasure chest.
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03.10.12: Alexandra Lange

City of Shoes: Is Urbanism Scalable?
Can Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh scale his online shoe business into a city?
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02.22.12: Alexandra Lange

Reassembling the American Dream
"Foreclosed" at the Museum of Modern Art asks what people really like about suburban living. And then, Can they do that with less?
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01.05.12: James Biber

Vestige(s) of Empire
Comparing the repurposing of two monuments to lost Empire: London's Commonwealth Institute and Berlin's Palast der Republik.
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11.16.11: Alexandra Lange

Who Are We Competing For?
At the "Zoning the City" conference, planners insisted cities were in competition? But why are we so focused on the people who want to leave, rather than those who want to stay?
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10.31.11: Alexandra Lange

Lessons from the High Line
How can the High Line become a new paradigm, and not a dead end?
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10.28.11: Alexandra Lange

Tell Me a Story, 'Urbanized'
A city is not a font or a toothbrush, so why, in Urbanized, does director Gary Hustwit treat them the same way?
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10.04.11: Alexandra Lange

What Makes Architecture Useful?
At Experimenta Design 2011, the buildings of Lisbon make the best argument for the ongoing usefulness of good design.
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08.10.11: Alexandra Lange

Reading in Public
A new book club with an unusual topic: architecture and design.
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06.01.11: Alexandra Lange

An Atlas of Possibility
The Institute for Urban Design's By the City/For the City project provokes crowd-sourced possibilities for New York's future.
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05.27.11: Alexandra Lange

On GOOD: Why Are Car Seats So Poorly Designed?
If you want parents to use public transportation, first you have to fix the car seat.
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03.18.11: Alexandra Lange

Bad Faith Towers
Atlantic Yards trades titanium dream for prefab reality.
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02.01.11: Alexandra Lange

The Moms Aren't Wrong
Why planning cities for children would make them better for us all.
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01.19.11: John Thackara

The Service Ecology of a City
Milan has approved a new Territorial Government Plan (Piano di Governo del Territorio) in which public services, and the way they are planned, are at the centre of the whole project.
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11.23.10: Alexandra Lange

New City Reader: Sidewalk Sale
How Atlantic Yards became Barclays Center and disappeared from Brooklyn in the process.
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10.27.10: John Thackara

Leave Nothing But Footsteps
“Take nothing but memories” Kalack concludes “and leave nothing but footsteps”.
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07.24.10: Alexandra Lange

Archpaper Review: Our Cities Ourselves
Does one size fit all, even when it is oh-so-hot bikes and buses?
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07.20.10: Alexandra Lange

Culture Shed: Where's the Neighborhood?
CultureGrrl offers a critique of the NEA grant for Culture Shed, the Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Rockwell Group design for a Kunsthalle with retractable roofs over at Hudson Yards.
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07.02.10: Alexandra Lange

The Personality of Parks
Until Pier 6 at Brooklyn Bridge Park opened, my only experience of parks as a parent had been of neighborhood parks
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03.22.10: Alexandra Lange

Times Op-Ed: Hole Earth Catalog
On the New York Times Op-Ed page today, my suggestion for an adopt-a-pothole program for New York City.
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06.19.09: Michael Bierut

When Design Gets in the Way
When it comes to fulfilling simple human desires, can design get in the way? A call for more incrementalism in design.
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