“Rethink Athens” is a project organized and funded by the “Onassis Foundation” whose objective is to improve the everyday life of Athenian citizens, by transforming the center of the Greek capital. “Rethink Athens” will be realized by a European competition which will indicate a winning architect (person or legal entity) to undertake the design of a [...]
By all accounts, urban sprawl is a problem that has plagued many metropolitan cities throughout the United States. Like many of these cities, Richmond, Virginia has struggled with the concept of how to control the growing population while still possessing the ability to attract new residents to the area. Recently, many of the city’s efforts [...]
The new wave in social media communication is quickly creating a method for discussing topics relating to urban planning, architecture, and community development. The social media site Twitter is leading the charge in this evolution by creating a way for people from around the world to gather in one centralized location to discuss and solve various [...]
Many communities go to great extremes to revitalize their cities, like destroying abandoned homes within a one mile radius, or by developing high-speed rails along the center of a neighborhood. However, what has become clear is that most future redevelopment within a city usually involves some sort of urban renewal. Thus, urban renewal is considered [...]
In 2011, Ford closed their 122-acre St. Paul, Minnesota plant after 86 years of production. The community has developed around the plant and Ford’s impact on the area is a fixture of this cultural landscape. The closure of automotive plants in the US is not a new phenomenon: In the last 33 years, 267 of [...]
A healthy downtown is an important economic component for any city that desires to increase revenue, improve tourism, or revitalize local neighborhoods. Thus, the local downtown is by and large the life-blood of any metropolitan area. Like many other cities and small towns, urban planners from Richmond, Virginia have been working tirelessly to revitalize the [...]
The overall goal of any riverfront plan is to create river accessibility that becomes a major resource to the community; by linking it to nearby communities so that both residents and tourist can enjoy it. While many communities have a neighboring river as a potential asset to their community, most local governments are unable to [...]
In April 1888, the first streetcar line in Spokane, Washington was built for Browne’s Addition, a neighborhood just one-mile West of downtown. The terrain is level and easy to maneuver for the less-powerful engines. It was built to attract mining and timber barons to the then-newly built mansions in the subdivision. It was drawn by horses and was [...]
Homelessness is by in large considered both a community problem and a national problem. It is an epidemic that affects millions of Americans nationwide every day. Beyond the political battle over how to resolve the homelessness epidemic, there lies a fundamental truth about the problem. That truth is that many decision makers simply don’t know [...]
June Mountain is located approximately 20 miles (31 kilometers) north of the town of Mammoth Lakes, California. Opened in 1961, the ski area provides the economic epicenter of June Lake, CA, a small, unincorporated community in Mono County. Unfortunately, on June 21, 2012, the day that the mountain was supposed to open for summer activities, [...]
Creating green areas in big cities is necessary for people to live better lives. Places for urban agriculture, away from park and recreation areas, in cities, contribute to economic and ecological sustainability, as well as creating green corridors where people can breathe and thrive. The first urban agriculture area was established by Ataturk who founded [...]
The growing housing crisis in America has had a great impact on Richmond, Virginia’s housing market. Since the beginning of the housing collapse in 2008, the wealthier 1% of the nation’s households have seen great success, while the remaining 99% of the nation have seen 1 in 667 housing units become foreclosed since June 2012. [...]
Architecture alone doesn’t make a vibrant city, you have to activate the store fronts. Despite its assets, during the suburban growth of the 1970′s, 80′s, and 90′s, Detroit found that it could no longer compete with the malls and shopping centers cropping up in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb County. In many ways, the 1998 demolition [...]
Since 1996, the State of Virginia has been working with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Southeastern High Rail Corridor project to establish high speed rail passenger connections that would connect the City of Richmond to places like Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and Raleigh, North Carolina. The project is being done as a [...]
The city of Tucson, Arizona is sometimes referred to as “the Old Pueblo.” “Pueblo” is a Spanish word derived from a Latin word “populus,” meaning “town.” Downtown Tucson is the historic and cultural heart of the Old Pueblo. Its rich history is reflected in numerous historical buildings, and a strong arts and cultural sector. Downtown [...]
Lacking the time to study up on the latest New Urbanism manifesto? A visit to Raleigh City Farm, of Raleigh, North Carolina, may provide a substantially accurate visual summary. This eight-week-old, 1.3 acre “social enterprise” is picturesquely situated between Peace College and Historic Mordecai neighborhood, granting the urban farm a ten-minute walk from the heart of [...]
Those pesky Brownfield sites can create great opportunities or can be worrisome problems. In Richmond, Virginia Brownfield sites can be found in many locations throughout the city. Brownfield sites are defined as “old abandoned industrial properties where potential hazardous or unsafe materials might exist.” Over time, brownfields can infect a community with major problems like [...]
It has been argued the cities in the Midwest are on the “decline.” Populations in urban centers like Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland are shrinking as old infrastructure decays. However, the newly relocated Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative takes an unorthodox approach to these “shrinking cities” and addresses the so-called problems as opportunities to engage in research [...]
Waste Management broke ground October 2011 on behalf of the City of Spokane for their new 62,000 square foot, state-of-the-art recycling center. October 1st, 2012, they are scheduled to open and ready for almost a dozen new recyclable materials. The Spokane Material and Recycling Technology (SMART) Center will receive many things dubbed as trash until [...]
Zoning, the main form in which land use is regulated in the United States, is a controversial form of urban planning. Property owners do not like being told what they can and cannot do with their land and view use restrictions as a violation of their property rights. Those in favor of zoning view it [...]
