Urban Planning: The Latest Architecture and News

Videos

On June 16-17, Prague will be hosting one of the leading architecture and urbanist events in Europe. Most of the 49 world renowned experts who will speak at reSITE 2016: Cities in Migration have experienced migration themselves. Coming from 20 countries, they will bring innovative solutions and successful strategies for European and Western cities to come to terms painlessly with the influx of new residents. Carl Weisbrod, Chairman of the City Planning Commission of NYC, Professor Saskia Sassen, sociologist at Columbia University, and Michael Kimmelman, the Architecture Critic for The New York Times will come from New York City. A huge number of speakers will come from Germany. Besides the famous landscape architect, Martin Rein-Cano from Topotek 1, Berlin, we will meet one of the city planner of Munich and the co-founders of the initiative “Refugees Welcome.”

Architecture and planning firm Sabri Pasayigit Design Office has released its new master plan for the Municipality of Kayseri in the Sahabiye neighborhood of Kayseri, Turkey.

The project balances historic and modern architecture elements, with a focus on the historic castle of Kayseri as the city center point. Cultural and public buildings will be placed near this historic center, with taller buildings set farther out of the city.

When hearing the word “skybridge” or “elevated walkway,” what often comes to mind is a narrow, glassed-in pathway perhaps crossing between two office buildings or hospital concourses; a narrow artery whose only purpose seems to be keeping people dry and away from cars as they walk from meeting to meeting. But this wasn’t always the case - in the 1960s, skyways were seen as radical urban inventions that would bring city circulation into the 3rd dimension. Championed in the United States by architect Victor Gruen, following ideals espoused by both CIAM and Team 10 in Europe, the skyway movement took hold in cities all over the world with varying degrees of success, but rarely with the fluid connections between levels originally envisioned by its designers.

Dallas Architecture Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing public education about architecture, design and the urban environment, will continue its 2015-2016 Panel Discussion Series on Tuesday, May 10, 2016 with “Economics and Architecture” moderated by Jeff Whittington, Executive Producer and Host at KERA 90.1.

Husqvarna invites you to take their survey, The Future of Parks, and share your insights into how parks will look and function in the year 2030. The UN has set a goal to make cities more sustainable in the coming decades, and parks will play an integral role in making that happen. Together with students from around the world, you will help to co-create a vision of what is to come!

Platform 8 catalogs a curated selection of work generated in the past year at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Alongside final products of design education, Platform 8 places particular emphasis on collecting and documenting the people and artifacts that shape research-driven design practices. Here, design is presented both as process and as a final product. Indexical structure, punctuated with a collection of portraits, presents a comprehensive picture of the school. Platform 8 shows the intention, direction, and passion seen and experienced every day at the GSD.

KidsBuild! will be held at BSA Space on Saturday, April 9 and Sunday April 10. Guided by professional architects, families will choose a construction site from a fictional city grid, design and build a building, and be awarded a certificate of occupancy from the city building inspectors.

The prestigious Media Architecture Biennale 2016 (MAB16) will project Sydney into the digital media spotlight. From June 1st, The Concourse in Sydney’s Chatswood will host the world’s leading experts in architectural digital technology for 4 days of conferences, seminars and symposia designed to discuss, assess and debate the impact of digital technology in the future design and development of smarter and more liveable cities.

Dallas Architecture Forum, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing public education about architecture, design and the urban environment, will continue its 2015-2016 Panel Discussion Series on March 22, 2016 with “Village Redux: Co-Housing and Pocket Neighborhoods,” moderated by Nan Ellin, Founding Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington.

This two-day symposium is co-sponsored with the MIT 2016 Committee and the MIT Department of Architecture. It will examine architecture and cultures at MIT and their influences on education and student life on campus. Speakers, including David Adjaye and Hashim Sarkis, will explore the prescient design of the original buildings and the interdisciplinary, innovative research that they fomented, as well as imagine the teaching and maker spaces of the future.

As we become a planet of city-dwellers, planners and urban designers have an imperative to design communities that perform better than ever before. But what exactly does “performance” mean? Communities should have energy and water-saving systems, but at a high level there also needs to be a more holistic approach to creating a sense of place and connection, while at the same time being accessible to different demographics and vibrant all throughout the day. Here are five essential ingredients for designing a high-performance community.

Dallas Architecture Forum, will continue its 2015-2016 Panel Discussion Series on March 8, 2016 with “Remaking the City,” moderated by Bob Meckfessel, President of DSGN Associates in Dallas. This panel is presented in collaboration with Preservation Dallas.

Kimmel Eshkolot Architects has won the competition to design the Kaplan North Masterplan, covering an area of 32,000 square meters in central Tel Aviv. Once a secretive and secluded area, the space has been opened to new development due to the decision to relocate the headquarters of the IDF.

“Located between one of the city’s busiest intersections and its cultural center, the design creates a new gateway to Tel Aviv, which will be an innovative series of structures that will connect this fragmented area,” with the goal of creating a “sustainable coexistence between a busy urban space and an intimate residential neighborhood.”

Downtown Los ​Angeles is on the verge of a breakthrough moment. It is becoming more livable, walkable and enjoyable as we speak. But what's missing? A multidisciplinary panel at the A+D Museum examines the promise of DTLA almost a decade after the museum's show Enlightened Development asked the question: How do we foster a "sustainable downtown revitalization"? What can we learn from other cities where a similar downtown renaissance has taken place?

China has become home to some of the world’s most outlandish architectural landmarks of the 21st century. Hangzhou is home to a replica of the Eiffel Tower, located in a luxury real estate development, and Shanghai’s World Financial Center is often referred to as “The World’s Largest Bottle Opener.” However, all of these zany designs may soon come to a halt following a directive issued by the State Council, China’s cabinet, and the Communist Party’s Central Committee on Sunday, reports the New York Times.

The directive says “no” to any architecture considered “oversized, xenocentric, weird, and devoid of cultural tradition.” In their place should be buildings designed as “suitable, economic, green, and pleasing to the eye.”

Kaunas architecture festival (KAFe2016) invites to participate in the international exhibition-competition of final projects of university architecture students – both bachelor and master studies – on the topics of the central part of Kaunas town. The topic of this year’s KAFe2016, RESTART YOUR CITY CENTER, therefore development of the central part of town and the role of communities in this process is at the focus of the competition topics suggested for consideration of Lithuanian and foreign architecture universities.

Photo of the Day: Ghadames, Libya http://t.co/MpRCAemGuy #pod #photography

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) March 27, 2013

Since time immemorial, and more recently, humans have wondered what the world looks like from above. This fascination has historically manifested in the plan drawing and aerial photography. In this vein, and using a motorized paraglider, National Geographic photographer George Steinmetz has captured a stunning bird’s-eye view of the ancient city of Ghadames, in Libya.

The Suffolk Downs Urban Design Workshop is the third in an ongoing series of Urban Design Workshops organized by the BSA Foundation. The workshops’ overall goal is to open up dialogue and stimulate thinking about the design potential of places with particularly significant and compelling opportunities.