Host Jack Eidt features a 1995 talk at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles by the late author Mike Davis, urbanist historian, public intellectual, and commentator on politics, labor, activism, and society.
Tag: Urban Planning
Urban Utopia or Dystopia? The 15-Minute City Debate
Imagine a world where everything you need—schools, groceries, parks, and even your favorite coffee shop—is just a 15-minute walk, train or bike ride away. This is not a distant dream; it’s the revolutionary concept of the 15-Minute City, a topic with serious challenges and prominent detractors.
Public Art and the Psyche: Olafur Eliasson on Cities
“City planning has been way too pragmatic for a long time.” So says Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, who creates artistic environments that break down the industrial expanse of cities with faux-natural elements, hot sun, waterfalls, rivers, and take over the senses of their spectators.
Sprawl vs. Open Space: “Rio Santiago” Again Threatens Orange
Jack Eidt writes on the dangers of proposing mixed use development far from urban amenities and alternative transportation. The real estate industry in Orange County, California and beyond, has consistently violated engineering and planning wisdom by building in floodplains, paving over precious open space land and losing opportunities to preserve wildlife habitat and recreation opportunities amid the suburban sprawl at the edge of the wilderness.
French-Designed Flower Towers Planned for Casablanca
French architect and urban planner Edouard François’ latest following the vertical garden trend: A quartet of flower towers in Morocco that will be planted with bougainvillea and jasmine.
LA River: An Urban Ecosystem Makeover in Transition
After seven years of study, federal officials have recommended a $453-million plan that would restore an 11-mile stretch of the Los Angeles River but leave much of its banks steep and hard to reach. Advocates will continue to press for a more ambitious alternative that would bring more people to the river, improving parks and recreation as well as ecosystems.
Detroit Future: Landscape Urbanism, Antidote to Industrial Blight
For the last 40 years, Detroiters have fled the once-majestic downtown core for the bucolic image of sprawling suburbia. Now an urban revival in the name of “Detroit Future City,” complete with forests, parks, farms and waterways, is planned to overcome the financial mismanagement and industrial blight that have plagued the city for far too long.