Why we should push back against the tech world designing our future.
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Displacement has traditionally been a dirty word in community planning. As evidenced by projects that consider potential displacement of floodwaters and low-income communities, architects, planners, and institutions are pushing back against a history of ignorance, designing sustainable and equitable communities for everyone.
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Architects and engineers anticipate stresses and forces when designing a building. If we don’t, tragedy results. When the underpinnings of our society are neither moral nor just, all of us should resist our assumptions and work together to dismantle a rotting system and begin anew.
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Science fiction writers don't always get the respect they deserve, but their visions of the future often become very real. Although we haven't yet reached the dystopia of Bladerunner's 2019 Los Angeles, it is worth taking stock of what has come to pass and how we must respond to it as designers and citizens.
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Right now New York City's century-old networks of roads, trains and bridges seems on the brink of collapse. In response, Loci considers the value of infrastructure, in both pragmatic and poetic terms.
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In our current cultural climate, as conventional wisdom is being eroded, challenged, and denied, how can someone build a set of core beliefs? It might be that everyday encounters with those around us, and our ability to remain inquisitive and open to change, make the most impact.
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We know literacy is necessary for people to make informed social, political and economic decisions. But what tools are training are necessary for people to make informed decisions about architecture and design? Loci considers what’s required, and what’s at stake.
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Pope Francis' second encyclical Laudato Si advocates stronger environmental stewardship. In it David Briggs finds a revolutionary call for architects to move beyond green metrics, and find a way of building that honors both earth and spirit.
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At a time of social unrest, David Briggs thinks about how designers and architects work, and how their method can engage matters of civil justice.
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Would a workplace refashioned to support female architects be one that's more supportive for everyone?
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Starting a successful community garden requires inspiration, innovation, and lots of hard work. Heather McKinstry, co-founder of Sprout Farms in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, shares a firsthand account.
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The architecture of our streets and cities shapes the way we interact with each other, sometimes imperceptibly. After personal investigation, Rebecca Della Peruta reflects on whether it isolates the homeless.
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A critical part of an architect's work is getting the work. Ed Jose shows us how, throughout history, self-invention, self-promotion, and socializing have been instrumental.
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New Yorkers were outraged when MoMA tore down the Museum of Folk Art building as part of their current expansion. As Kenneth Miraski explains, the real tragedy might be MoMA's lack of a compelling overall vision.
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Now that Gowanus, Brooklyn is rising from decades of postindustrial neglect, David Briggs turns to Detroit to see what designers and developers can learn from that city's history.
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In “The City in History,” Lewis Mumford described how the first great cities of Athens and Rome succumbed to the disparity of a city’s subcultures and accumulation of wealth for the privileged classes.
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As I start to write this, I am sitting in my darkened office on lower Broadway two days after Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc on our city. There is no power in Lower Manhattan, the subways are not running, and my staff is scrambling to take a computer offsite.
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A few weeks ago, Sam Schwartz, traffic guru and the former New York City Traffic Commissioner, presented his Equitable Transportation Formula [ETF] at the monthly Institute of Urban Design breakfast club.
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