Civic Art and Remembrance

Civic Art, a necessary element of urbanism, stresses the importance of the public realm and as an extension, the role of the democratic city. A healthy combination of both acknowledges the private spaces which make up private property ownership with our responsibility to the civic institutions that establish our republican form of government.

The proposed Eisenhower Memorial has placed the role of monuments and how we remember our heroes at the front of architectural discourse, discussing issues of meaning, location within the city and identity. Lets take a look at how the architecture of memory can be more about placing making and defining our neighborhoods rather than the ego of the architect.

Doughboy Square, located in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lawrenceville, serves its dual roles of remembrance and civic art purpose well

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New American Frontier: The Braddock Initiative

Earlier this week, we published our report on CNU20 that took place in West Palm Beach. In it we deduced that New Urbanism is at a critical pivot point in its evolution. Conceived as an alternative to sprawl, which was the predominant development model for the second half of the 20th century in the United States, New Urbanism has matured into a fully developed paradigm, one that has reinstated walkability, mixed use and  neighborhood structure as the DNA for new development. 

However, New Urbanism has had its fair share of critics. We have been labeled as nostalgics, old fashioned, faux environmentalists and unaffordable, amongst other things. While most of these accusations continue to be publicly debated, there is one aspect of New Urbanism that we, as practitioners in the movement find particularly vexing ourselves: our best-known work has come from within the safe confines of highly controlled, master-planned environments. We have created an alternative to greenfield sprawl, but have done so largely upon greenfield sites in the form of new towns and resort towns.

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New Urbanism's Pivot Point

Adapted from "From Lab to Field" presented Wednesday, 9 May 2012

A recap of the 20th Congress for New Urbanism

We are at an critical juncture in our industry as architects, builders, craftsmen, and urbanists. The events and ensuing discussions at this year's Congress for New Urbanism in West Palm Beach reconfirmed that there is an emerging consensus around the reality that now is the time to evolve the new urbanism into its next logical iteration. 

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CNU20: Confessions and Dreams

CNU20: Confessions

CNU20: Dreams

First and Main Media captured responses and the general tone from the 20th Congress for New Urbanism in West Palm Beach, Florida, last week. We thoroughly enjoyed catching up with everyone and presenting The Braddock Initiative.

Social Media and the City

Comparison of Walk Scores: suburbs on the left / city neighborhood on the right

Can the Slate story on Walk Score, part of a series on America’s Pedestrian Problem, and more recently the CMU research project Livehoods, redefine the metics used in determining “quality of life” in America?

To students of urbanism the familiar story has been told over and over: post-WWII flight from the cities to the suburbs altered how American’s lived - generally from living “outside” your home to a more secluded, private interior sanctuary. The neighborhood evening stroll, theatre, coffee shop and playground were replaced by household rooms dedicated to gym equipment, surround sound home theaters (complete with popcorn machines), elaborate coffee makers, and backyard jungle-gyms.

For the majority of use this is how quality of life is currently defined.

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