Lost amid the protests and heavy-handed police response throughout Turkey is the original debate over the proposed reconstruction of an historic military barracks in Gezi Park. Feargus O’Sullivan says such debates are playing out across Europe.
O’Sullivan describes protests in Skopje against plans to clad a 1970s shopping mall in neoclassical colonnades and domes, controversial plans to rebuild Berlin's baroque City Palace, and several other projects that mirror debates taking place throughout the continent over "appropriating public space to construct ersatz historical monuments".
"So why is Europe currently so keen on playing historical dress-up?" he asks. "Widespread suspicion of contemporary architecture is partly responsible, though successful projects such as as I.M Pei’s Louvre Pyramid and Norman Foster’s Reichstag dome show that skillful modern insertions into historical sites can meet public approval. A sense of unease about Europe’s present is also at play. With faith in the European project’s future at low ebb, conservative governments are turning backwards to their nations’ pasts, even if all these buildings sometimes offer is big box shopping with imperial trimmings."
FULL STORY: Beware the Pseudo-Historical Retrofit Craze Sweeping Over Europe
Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
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Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
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Planetizen
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Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service