Desertification in China. Image by Benoit Aquin.
Today, some additional facts about water, or its absence. As an opening frame of reference, it takes 150 gallons of water to make a loaf of our daily bread.
The North China Plain is a desert, some of which is natural but much of which is man made. Herders and farmers in [...]
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Scenic Hancock, Maryland
Gasoline in our region is running about $4.25/gallon at the moment. Every day the Post is filled with stories about rising oil prices and the resulting affect on all kinds of things: food; UPS and FedEx and the shipping business; the hospitality industry and dwindling numbers of travelers; the failing airlines; and a million other [...]
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From the 1909 Plan of Chicago, a view by Jules Guerin.
I really do want to get back to exploring some issues related to urban infrastructure and the next city, but I keep getting distracted by wacky news items.
As most of you know, Chicago celebrates the centennial of the 1909 Plan of Chicago next year, and [...]
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Steven Holl’s Linked Hybrid in Beijing. Image from flickr.
Stephanie Busari of CNN in London wrote today to offer a link to the CNN International article she wrote about Beijing. Take a look. It’s nice to have been able to give her our perspective.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/18/beijing.hybrid/index.html
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After writing about the New York Times articles of June 8th in the last two posts, I was contacted by a young woman in London who writes for CNN. She is doing a piece on Steven Holl’s ‘Linked Hybrid’ (LH) development in Beijing, shown below. She wanted me to chat with her about the project.
During [...]
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Steven Holl’s ‘Linked Hybrid’ project, in Beijing, just 2.5 miles from the extraordinary Forbidden City. Image from flickr.
I continue to muse about the New York Times Magazine’s recent architecture issue entitled “The Next City.” In the feature piece, “The New, New City,” architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff talks about the dazzling speed and scale of redevelopment in [...]
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Shenzhen, China. Image by Sze Tsung Leong for the New York Times.
This past weekend the New York Times Magazine was devoted to architecture and urban design, and the issue was entitled “The Next City.” I was crestfallen to see that the title of our project here had been scooped up. I was certain that we [...]
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Sketch by David Macaulay
Systems of infrastructure represent critical foundations for any city, and thinking about infrastructure is an important first step in designing the next city. I find myself musing about this quite a lot – sounds like great dinner conversation, no? Anyway, stick with me for a minute.
The American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, [...]
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The School of Athens, Raphael. Plato on the left, Aristotle at right at the painting’s center.
One of our Chicago readers and long-time friend Greg Gleason – who was here with us for dinner recently and suggested formulating ideas for the next city rather than whining that the world was coming to an end – has raised [...]
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Every spring we greedily enjoy the brief span of time between the end of winter’s chill, and the onset of Washington’s breathtaking combination of summer heat, humidity, and ferocious mosquitoes. This span of time is brief – 6 to 8 weeks tops – and it is now coming to an abrupt end, but it is [...]
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