Landscape Architecture

The National Recreation and Parks Association is on a mission to fix up neglected parks around the country. Atlanta and D.C. are the first to benefit from their new program, "Parks Build Community."

June 6, 2011 - USA Today

Filmmaker Aaron Garcia uses narration from William H. Whyte's classic The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces to highlight the failings of the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall Plaza.

June 6, 2011 - The Better Block: A living Charette

Two architects submit a plan to Mexico City planners that includes bringing the Río Piedad back to life and revitalizing the city with green public spaces along its waters.

June 3, 2011 - The New York Times

Philadelphia is seeing a surge in new parks, as new public-realm projects are either opening or moving closer towards development.

June 2, 2011 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Landscape architect Laurie Olin says that to design well you have to be interested in how people behave. Johanna Hoffman gets in-depth with Olin about his design process.

June 2, 2011 - Johanna Hoffman

This piece from Places delves into the history of the campsite, their use of space, and their role in modern culture.

June 2, 2011 - Places

Planner Sharon Danks says that as playgrounds become less challenging due to concerns over liability, kids invent their own, far more dangerous uses for the equipment.

May 30, 2011 - Grist

This video from Public Architecture looks at three outdoor lighting displays and their impact on the public realm in San Francisco.

May 26, 2011 - Public Architecture

Sally Augustin stumbled upon a curved park bench at the heart of a public space, and found herself drawn into the brilliance of its curves.

May 24, 2011 - Metropolis Magazine

Landscape architect James Corner, whose eponymous firm designed the High Line, turns its attention to Seattle. Last week, Corner presented his plans for reorienting the city towards the waterfront.

May 23, 2011 - The Seattle Times

The Actual Cafe in Oakland, California proudly opened an extension of their space last Wednesday into a parking space, creating a parklet for customers. Later that evening, someone stole the whole thing.

May 23, 2011 - Oakland Local

Those are the building blocks of landscape architect Piet Oudolf, leader of the "new perennial movement" that strives to use only perennial plants. A new book showcases his work.

May 22, 2011 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

Urban design is increasingly linked with poor health conditions. Grist's Sarah Goodyear explains how cities are literally killing people.

May 21, 2011 - Grist

Developers in Mumbai will be allowed to build street furniture and sell advertising space on it as part of their projects, in accordance with a new law in the city.

May 20, 2011 - NDTV

Seattle is growing more dense, which is underlining the importance of the city's public spaces. But as this piece from Crosscut argues, the city's public spaces are mostly bleak and underused.

May 19, 2011 - Crosscut

Robert Campbell keeps hoping that the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway (the park built over the Big Dig site) will attract visitors. But even as it gets more beautiful, it still fails in terms of usage.

May 18, 2011 - The Boston Globe

Ryan Donahue of the Trust for Public Land says that it depends on age, health, time availability, quality of surroundings, safety, climate, and many other factors.

May 17, 2011 - City Parks Blog

Witold Rybczynski thinks not, saying that the success of the project's "landscape urbanism" is its remarkably dense and urban setting, not the hip design and landscaping.

May 17, 2011 - The New York Times

An article in The Architect's Newspaper describes post-Katrina redevelopment plans and calls the city a lab for architecture and planning.

May 11, 2011 - The Architect's Newspaper

A new public plaza is being built in Washington D.C., and this rundown from The Dirt highlights its people-focused design.

May 7, 2011 - THE DIRT