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Today's News - December 15, 2006

An insightful/inspiring/frightful NPR series on China's massive urbanization. -- Debunking the Smart Growth/New Urbanist "solution to the terror of suburbia." -- New Orleans update: Community Congress II was "a stunning and historic sight." -- Could Libeskind "the horse to beat" in the Gulf Coast's "Reinventing the Crescent" (at least his wardrobe "was eye-catchingly alien." -- Boddy calls for Vancouver to harness "the power of shame" to create "housing the homeless and affordability for the rest of us." -- Malaysia's sci-fi i-City in the making. -- A shortlist of four in Baltimore. -- "Un Tramway Nommé Désir": streetcars make a comeback in Paris. -- Grand Canyon Skywalk not quite ready for its close-up. -- Canadian Architect magazine names 2006 Awards of Excellence winners. -- Call for nominations: 2007 America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. -- Weekend diversions: Cooper-Hewitt's National Design Triennial covers a lot, but "never gets around to tackling the weightier questions." -- "Young Chicago" makes a good point, but still feels disconnected. -- "The Architect" flick "a thoughtful drama" but "perhaps urban-planning solutions are too much to expect from a Friday night at the movies."

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Shanghai Builds for the Future: China is now undergoing one of the most massive urbanization in human history; Dream World to Cosmopolis; China Gets Its Own Slice of English Countryside; Evictions Reflect Dark Side of Shanghai Growth; and more [images, links to article series]- National Public Radio (NPR)

Suburbs a sin to Smart Growthers: ...there's plenty of evidence to debunk this nonsense. I highly recommend "War on the Dream," by Wendell Cox...restrictive land-use policies advocated by Smart Growthers and New Urbanists result in a dramatic loss of housing affordability. By Steven Greenhut- Orange County Register (California)

New Orleans Planning Update: The Unified New Orleans Plan (UNOP): Disaster recovery expert Robert B. Olshansky reports on the latest planning effort...Community Congress II involved over 2,500 participants in five cities...a stunning and historic sight. -- Wallace Roberts & Todd; Ed Blakely- PLANetizen

The Visionaries: Daniel Libeskind: The second in a series of profiles of planners, architects and developers generating new ideas about the recovery of New Orleans..."Reinventing the Crescent" -- Gehry; Hadid; Norten; Reiser/Umemoto; Kroloff; Duany- The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Harnessing the power of shame: Vancouver's city-building over the past year has been dominated by two intertwined issues: housing the homeless, and affordability for the rest of us. By Trevor Boddy- Globe and Mail (Canada)

City of the future: A cyber-city is in the making near Shah Alam...futuristic real estate project which covers over 72 acres is called i-City [images]- The Star (Malaysia)

City limits field to 4 in redesign of Pratt St.: ...a design contest to reinvigorate a 16-block stretch...to refresh the public spaces along the corridor. -- Ayers Saint Gross; EDSA; Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects; Hargreaves Associates- Baltimore Sun

Un Tramway Nommé Désir: Streetcars Make a Comeback in Paris: France hopes this return to the past will ring in a new era of urban mobility. The tram is quiet, fast and comfortable -- a perfect remedy for traffic jams. [images]- Der Spiegel (Germany)

Questions surround Grand Canyon Skywalk: Only a few months before its scheduled March 28 public debut, the project faces serious challenges...Not to mention logistical difficulties: 14 miles of unpaved road... -- Mark Johnson/M.R.J. Architects- Arizona Republic

2006 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence winners announced -- Paul Laurendeau Architecte/Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et associés architectes; Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects/Smith Carter Architects/Prairie Architects; Peter Cardew Architects; Baird Sampson Neuert Architects; HIP Architects/David Murray Architect- Canadian Architect

Call for nominations: 2007 America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places; deadline: January 12, 2007 [pdf]- National Trust for Historic Preservation

Fruits of Design, Certified Organic: “Design Life Now,” Cooper-Hewitt third National Design Triennial: Covering so many bases so equivocally, it never gets around to tackling the weightier questions of “What is good design?” or, more to the point, “What is design good for?” -- OMA/Koolhaas; Tschumi; Mori;l Van Valkenburgh; Calatrava; Predock Frane; Architecture for Humanity; Konyk; Lazor Office- New York Times

Neither Young nor Chicago: The title is a misnomer, but the first exhibit from the Art Institute’s new architecture and design curator makes a good point...There’s not a single weak link, but the show still feels a bit sparse and disconnected...“Young Chicago” has a Cliffs Notes feel to it... By Lynn Becker -- Joseph Rosa; Clare Lyster; Ross Wimer; Paul Preissner/Qua’Virarch; IDEO [images]- Chicago Reader

Ambitious take on public housing: Was large-scale public housing a noble attempt to solve intractable social problems? Or were the projects themselves the problem? That's the question behind "The Architect," a thoughtful drama about the relationship between buildings, the people who design them, and those who live in them.- Boston Globe

Design Team Selected for Rutgers Grand Redesign Plans: Green spaces and connecting the campus to the river will create places as much for the community as the campus -- Enrique Norten/TEN Arquitectos; Wallace, Roberts & Todd Design [images]- ArchNewsNow

-- Expansion: Arquitectonica: Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York
-- Exhibition: Racing Cars, The Art Dimension, ARoS Aarhus, Denmark

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