History / Preservation

City officials and leaders are considering an adaptive reuse ordinance for industrial buildings, modeled on the one that helped spark downtown L.A.’s residential boom, to help push forward the sputtering vision of a "CleanTech Corridor."

October 19, 2012 - Los Angeles Downtown News

Preservationists have been outspoken in arguing for the protection of Prentice Women’s Hospital. Rather than bemoan Northwestern University's intransigence in finding a way to reuse the hospital, two powerful figures have put forth a way to save it.

October 18, 2012 - The New York Times

Rachel James speaks with historian Jennifer Gray about the impact that Disney's "particular brand of nostalgic, comforting architecture and urbanism" has had on the way people experience the city and professionals plan for it.

October 17, 2012 - SmartPlanet

Associate professor of design Karen Monzel Hughes, in moving from Cincinnati's much-acclaimed Mariemont to the once-struggling Over-the-Rhine, discovers that rebuilding and preserving are both critical facets of preservation.

October 17, 2012 - Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built & Natural Environments

Historian Daniel London argues that by "excavating a 'usable past'" urbanists can find relevant, cutting edge ideas for solving the seemingly unprecedented challenges of global urbanization.

October 16, 2012 - The Global Urbanist

A year after the historic Walter Reed Army Medical Center closed its doors, a mix of uses - from embassies to schools to a town center - are being envisioned for the 110-acre campus.

October 15, 2012 - The Washington Post

Sarah Goodyear attributes the appeal of NYC's High Line, and the recently opened Barclays Center, to not only smart urban design, but also the nostalgia of urban decay.

October 12, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Local officials in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, are pursuing a plan to build America's National Museum of Suburbia. Displays may include artifacts such as school lunchboxes, electric toasters and camping gear.

October 11, 2012 - The Wall Street Journal

Once a national hub of passenger rail service, St. Louis's majestic Union Station hasn't seen a train in five years. The impending sale of the station may provide the opportunity to bring a historic use back to one of the country's grand relics.

October 11, 2012 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Alex Steffen, a "leading voice in planetary futurism," muses on what he believes could be a way to move beyond NIMBYism and incremental urban planning, to provide an antidote to fundamentally broken city governance.

October 2, 2012 - Planetary Thinking

During the last two decades, New York City has continued to shed manufacturing jobs. But recent efforts led by the city, in partnership with private developers, are looking to retool some of New York's largest legacy sites for a new breed of tenant.

September 30, 2012 - The New York Times

As Chicago's River North area continues its transformation, the area's historic, behemoth Merchandise Mart has become a hub for high-tech businesses. The adaptive reuse success story was the largest building in the world when it opened in 1930.

September 27, 2012 - The New York Times

Montreal architect Vedanta Balbahadur writes about his hometown's fall from its status as Canada's premier city through the lenses of baseball and the built environment.

September 26, 2012 - Satellite Magazine

Most Montrealers haven't heard of pioneering architects Blanche Lemco van Ginkel and Daniel van Ginkel, without whom Old Montreal may not exist today. But with several events honoring the legacy of this visionary couple, that may soon change.

September 25, 2012 - The Montreal Gazette

Decaying and disused buildings litter many American inner-city neighborhoods. In Houston, one imaginative project turns potential into pride and empowerment by creating unique, new uses for old homes.

September 23, 2012 - Switchboard

Philip Kennicott reviews plans to modernize Washington D.C.'s aging Martin Luther King Memorial Library, the city's only building designed by famed architect Mies van der Rohe, and his only library ever constructed.

September 20, 2012 - The Washington Post

Scott Doyon takes on the oft-expressed gripe that Traditional Neighborhood Development somehow feels fake. Doyon sees value in incorporating the collective wisdom learned over generations, regardless of whether it's reminiscent of another time.

September 18, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Traditions must die hard in Detroit, where the region can't seem to shake its enduring geographic and racial divisions, reports Sarah Hulett.

September 17, 2012 - NPR

Providing a perspective not readily available from within the city's steep canyons of high-rises, an architectural tour of New York by boat, hosted by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, offers a unique lesson on the city.

September 17, 2012 - The New York Times

When the next iteration of the oldest military parade in the world celebrates the French Republic by marching down the Champs-Elysees, as it invariably does every Bastille Day, it will pass through what is increasingly becoming an American mall.

September 16, 2012 - The New York Times