Urban Resilience: U.S. cities attempt to reinvent themselves following this adage: "cities adapt or they go away"… in the near-enough future. I will not say enough how serious will be the impacts of challenge issues on cities. Consequently, cities must reinvent themselves to adapt to changing contexts. These are the cases of Houston and Boston. Two cities, both from America. With different patterns, different issues. But suffering of a lack of effective urban planning . These cities are competing with others U.S. cities to adapt to changing contexts. These cities launched a competition to design the city of the future. Perkins + Will and Map-Lab are among those who unveiled their design proposal. The former for Houston, the later for Boston. Perkins + Will revealed an intriguing FibroCity for Houston to regenerate the urban voids and reconnect all these incomplete streets. This strategy leads to a city structured by a green web to instill new life.
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| FibroCity © Perkins + Will |
Map-Lab's design entry articulates health, beauty, equity, site, materials, energy, water for a resilient and sustainable Boston (precisely, the Boston's Innovation District). The agency participated to the Living City Design Competition launched by The International Living Future Institute in 2010. Here again, this results in a sustainable and adaptive city of Boston that accepts fundamental changes — next economy, climate change, ecology.
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| ResilienCity © Map-Lab |
Article that I enjoyed: Dutch cities as models for South of America? Here is a great article "As the Mississippi floods, follow the Dutch model" by Renée Jones-Bos published May 27th, 2011 in the Washington Post. Anyway, the South needs a serious and effective urban planning to face these increasing climate challenge. Of course no way to link to the issue of global warming, in case you might think.
…: and still in the Washington Post is this article "Weather patterns, urban sprawl, human nature add up to extraordinary tornado death toll" by Associated Press, published in May, 28th 2011. I agree with this fact "Historically, the central business districts of cities have not been hit that frequently, but as you increase the land area covered by homes and businesses, you're increasing the size of the dartboard." Here is Marshall Shepherd, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Georgia, interviewed by the author of this article. It is obvious that "fears deaths could begin to rise in the future as a result of sprawl and more people living in vulnerable residences such as mobile homes". Density in the South of America (yet not only this area exclusively) needs to be re-examined to face this growing issue…
A book: I am reading this book Triumph of the City; How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier By Edward Glaeser, specialist of urban economics who presents his survey of "how cities thrive and wither".
And the winner is…: Ali Musavi just unveiled his winning entry for the competition for Design matters 2 Ideas Competition. Participants were invited to design a building block with an inclusive school environment that uniquely enhances the quality of life for teens and adults with disabilities who participate in the Easter Seals VIP Academy in Sarasota, Florida. Check out archdaily's page to have access to Musavi's interesting entry.
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| © Ali Musavi. Originally appeared on archdaily |
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| © Ali Musavi. Originally appeared on archdaily |
I like: Amanda Levete Architects' EDP Foundation Cultural Center for the city of Lisbon, Portugal. It is due to completion by 2013…
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| EDP Foundation Cultural Center for the City of Lisbon © Amanda Levete Architects |
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