URBALIZE

The city of Chicago will have a new public park on an elevated...

Sun, 27 May 2012 23:53:10 -0400

The city of Chicago will have a new public park on an elevated railway, thanks to a community lead initiative with some planning help from ARUP, Ross Barney Architects, and Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. The park is 3 miles (5 km), making it twice as long as the High Line Prokject. The park is mainly being funded by Federal transportation funds; the first phase is scheduled to open in 2014,

New York City officials broke ground on Phase 1 of the new...

Sun, 27 May 2012 13:50:00 -0400

New York City officials broke ground on Phase 1 of the new Governors Island Park. The first two built sections will be Hammock Grove, and Liggett Terrace.

Florian Riviere is an urban hacktivist who reorganizes the city...

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:44:00 -0400

Florian Riviere is an urban hacktivist who reorganizes the city for fun. For his take on how cities are for people, read the interview here.

Also take a look at the Venice Biennials program on Spontaneous Intervention

Larrisa Fassler’s work uses different conventions of...

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:33:00 -0400

Larrisa Fassler’s work uses different conventions of maquettes, plans, sections, elevation and projections to map the most banal and unimaginative areas through the practices of every day life. She also aims to undermine the rationality of architectural measure by re-working units of data with of length and height with “number of footsteps” or “me+arm+hand”. Fassler maps cities into new systems of connections and networks that trace relationships rather than geographical location, to emphasize topological over topographical information

Read about a nice example of citizens reclaiming and improving a...

Tue, 22 May 2012 03:29:00 -0400

Read about a nice example of citizens reclaiming and improving a heavily neglected public space. Even more at their blog

The Red Stair Amphitheater project in Melbourne, gives the...

Fri, 18 May 2012 06:58:08 -0400

The Red Stair Amphitheater project in Melbourne, gives the public space a new quality for an open space. It creates curiosity and is able to establish a new hot spot close to the waterfront. The Red Stair Amphitheater had been realized by Marcus O’Reilly Architects.

How to reclaim open public space and create a temporary park in...

Fri, 18 May 2012 06:51:00 -0400

How to reclaim open public space and create a temporary park in an inexpensive way? Rebar from San Francisco were trying to transform those spaces into urban laboratories.

Eric Fischer creates an urban geography of free speech and...

Fri, 18 May 2012 05:34:32 -0400

Eric Fischer creates an urban geography of free speech and communication, using mapping data to represent cities in an imaginative graphical way. Check his flickr for methods of mapping where he uses tourist vs local, race and ethnicity, or geotagging from mobile devices.

This video quickly shows s the evolution of Portland’s...

Fri, 18 May 2012 04:53:20 -0400

This video quickly shows s the evolution of Portland’s bikeways from 1980 to the present, a reminder that biking infrastructure takes a great deal of planning and effort to make it efficient.

Conceptual Devices are a design firm in Zurich started...

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:02:02 -0400

Conceptual Devices are a design firm in Zurich started by Antonio Scarponi. “ Design should not be based on formal principles – but always on an idea of society.” GLOBE / HEDRON is a bamboo greenhouse designed to organically grow fish and vegetables on top of generic flat roofs.

The Edge is a remediation site design project in the SF Bay. It...

Mon, 07 May 2012 05:21:00 -0400

The Edge is a remediation site design project in the SF Bay. It aims to combine public infrastructure with ecosystem rehabilitation. The work is from the design team Interstice and a winner of the Green Dot Award contest in 2011.

The design for the express rail link station in Hong Kong by...

Fri, 04 May 2012 07:12:36 -0400

The design for the express rail link station in Hong Kong by Aedas has been revealed. An indepth look over at DesignBoom. Despite its beauty and freshness, its not clear if the slope of the green roof is actually feasible.

In some ways technology is making our live easier. We can...

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:52:00 -0400

In some ways technology is making our live easier. We can express our selfs via Facebook, Twitter or Blogs and share some of our thoughts with others. But we forgot something with that technolgical opportunities, that it is also possible to share our thoughts in an analog way.

The artist Candy Chang started her project “Before I die” in New Orleans and got now a sort of similar project in the city of Mapotu in Mozambique. There is a “people wall” accessible for everyone to share his problems or thoughts what is also a way of democratizing the public space.

Further information to the projects just go to “Before I die” and a report of the project in Mozambique on GlobalVoiceMail.org.

An interesting 20-minute video in which the Singaporean Chan Soo...

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:37:09 -0400

An interesting 20-minute video in which the Singaporean Chan Soo Khian is interviewing the architecture veteran Moshe Safdie (Habitat 67)

“Urban Roots America” is a new film by Mark MacInnis...

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:35:00 -0400

“Urban Roots America” is a new film by Mark MacInnis and Leila Conners on the transformation of Detroit’s urban farms in vacant areas. The documentary shows how Detroit is increasingly attractive to young people who can live within the city their dream of urban agriculture.

For further information check the website of Urban Roots America

West 8 has won a competition to design the Yongsang Park in...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:08:00 -0400

West 8 has won a competition to design the Yongsang Park in Korea. The site is a former U.S. military base, and the design will aim to bring harmony between the history and future ecological system.

Streetfilms latest production explores the innovations that...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:40:00 -0400

Streetfilms latest production explores the innovations that earned San Francisco a 2012 recognition from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

Earlier this month, UPenn held a screen of the documentary...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:30:00 -0400

Earlier this month, UPenn held a screen of the documentary Urbanized, and held a panel discussion with two of the films participants, which can be viewed here on vimeo. Enjoy!

There are a few recent projects which redesign the banal...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:53:19 -0400

There are a few recent projects which redesign the banal landscapes of airfields into new urban components. Aspern is an example in Austria, attempting to create a research, development, and education center. The Tempelhofer Freiheit in Berlin took a different approach, and kept the historical identity of the site.

Valentin Schipfer’s article gives some insight behind the master plan branding that goes into a development such as Aspern;s urban lakeside.

Civitas has announced the winners of the competition to re...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:13:00 -0400

Civitas has announced the winners of the competition to re imagine the East River Waterfront of NYC. The selected designs address crucial aspects of re imaging the waterfront canals, to below-water ecosystems, and community led design. A full recap can be found here at the architects newspaper.