Ultimately, the real strength of The BLDGBLOG Book is Geoff Manaugh’s skills as a compelling storyteller. As Manaugh delves into the world of Landscape Futures in the fifth and final chapter of his book, the reader is simultaneously immersed in the floating canal city of London A.D. 2109 and in the Cloud City that hovers [...]
The main slogan for this past August 29, 2012 event was “Towards the Buenos Aires of 2030;” and for now Megaciudades is the most important conference regarding Urban Planning and Sustainability taking place in the city on an annual basis. In its third year, the event was organized by the German-Argentine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, [...]
Today, Spokane, Washington and Portland, Oregon are home to multiple universities, both public and private. They also have a reputation with their locals for having quality live performances and concerts featuring local, as well as popular, artists. Both have their respective small coffee roasters that most residents are loudly proud of, Stumptown and Thomas Hammer. [...]
Wow, how fast time does fly! It seems like only yesterday that I was signing my first set of paperwork to do my internship with Global Site Plans. Initially, I must admit that I was a little nervous about doing an internship with Global Site Plans because I feared that I could not produce quality [...]
Museums have recently become a hallmark topic in the teaching of architecture, as many architecture schools tend to include several museum projects in their design studio curricula, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone since we live in an age of the museum as a paradigmatic architectural and cultural enterprise. With the increasing popularity of critical writing, [...]
For over a decade, the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) has given professionals and students in architecture, landscape, and urban design the opportunity to compete across multiple categories for the annual CNU Charter Awards. The Charter Awards honor a select number of winners, honorable mentions, and two grand prize winners: one professional and one [...]
The explosion of online education in the past decade is rapidly changing the face of education. In 2006, 3.5 million students were listed as enrolled in an “online learning institution of higher education.” In 2009, it was asserted that 44% of USA post-secondary students were taking either some or all of their courses online. This [...]
In Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, on May 24 2012, the Hellenic Institute of Transport (HIT), the Greek Center for Research and Technology along with the municipality of Thessaloniki, and the Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers, presented the project “You are a click away.” This project will suggest intelligent, environmentally-friendly, and sustainable transportation solutions to citizens of [...]
The explosion of online education in the past decade is rapidly changing the face of education. In 2006, 3.5 million students were listed as enrolled in an “online learning institution of higher education.” In 2009, it was asserted that 44 percent of USA post-secondary students were taking either some or all of their courses online. [...]
What is the future of Detroit? The answer to that question is deeply intertwined with its past, but also enlightened by its present. Global Site Plans offered me the platform to contribute. I am grateful for the opportunity to share in this dialogue and pose my own questions, such as: What encourages bicycle-use in your community? [...]
Writing is a vehicle. And it continues to drive me, from the place I began, to where I am heading today. Hard to believe, but six months have passed since I began my blogging position with The Grid. Just a few months ago, I was a senior in college, interested in pursuing a path that [...]
Economic development is the practice of inspiring private investment, retaining, and creating jobs. Economic development specialists and urban planners focus on economic development, work towards promoting entrepreneurship and small business development, implementing tax incentives for development projects, and expanding employment opportunities for local residents. In Mammoth Lakes, CA the current economic development strategy is to [...]
Due to rapid global urbanization, specifically in Asia and Africa, the United Nations predicts the world population to be 67% urban by 2050. This year’s World Urban Forum (WUF6), held in Naples, Italy, was aptly themed, “The Urban Future.” September 2-6, 2012, leaders from around the world gathered to address pertinent urban planning questions, such [...]
An overgrown parking lot clings to the fringe of an urban center. Rundown school buildings wait for a sorely needed upgrade. Somewhere outside of these places, sleekly dressed design students stay up late with their rulers and tricked out software in hand. How about combining the two? This type of collaborative thinking has become increasingly [...]
Have ever you tried to get services without using any regular exchange tools like money? Have you been to a bank where your savings are deposited as in units of “time?” Zumbara is a social platform where you exchange services with other people and are paid by time as currency instead of money. Saved hours [...]
According to the EPA, in 2010, Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash and recycled materials, while composting over 85 million tons of material. Environmental sustainability and responsible resource use are important political and urban planning topics. A study conducted by the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor revealed that Detroit is the only major [...]
Summer courses gather students and graduates around the globe, creating hubs of creativity and cultural clustering. Universities organize workshops and courses on various themes, in many cases interconnected with several study subjects. This way, the young professionals experience a situation close to real life case, where different work branches cooperate. Students embrace the opportunity to [...]
It is very paradoxical how history changes. In the Second World War German people migrated to other countries, while at present, they are welcoming people from all around Europe. In this precise moment I am writing this post, and I am physically in Germany. Some months ago I quit my position in the Engineering department [...]
“Every citizen has had long associations with some part of the city, and his image is soaked in memories and meanings.” Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City (1960) Twenty-seven years later, a young Tyree Guyton reflected on his associations to the city of Detroit, Michigan. Poverty, drugs, crime, racism, and violence shaped his world. [...]
It’s July 2012, and new saplings and shrubs at Roger Williams Park hover around three feet tall. But in five years, the site will sprout tubers and leafy greens – even offering medicinal herbs free of charge to visitors. In 30 years, the small pocket of land will provide nuts, mulch, fruit, and fuel to [...]
