After a 16-year hiatus, construction has resumed on a gigantic North Korean hotel that some architects and engineers fear is so poorly built that it will never be occupied.
"Once dubbed by Esquire magazine as 'the worst building in the history of mankind,' the 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel is back under construction after a 16-year lull in the capital of one of the world's most reclusive and destitute countries.
According to foreign residents in Pyongyang, Egypt's Orascom group has recently begun refurbishing the top floors of the three-sided pyramid-shaped hotel whose 330-metre frame dominates the Pyongyang skyline.
The hotel consists of three wings rising at 75-degree angles capped by several floors arranged in rings supposed to hold five revolving restaurants and an observation deck.
[T]here [are] questions...about whether the hotel was structurally sound and a few believed completing the structure could cause it to collapse.
It would cost up to $2-billion to finish the hotel and make it safe, according to estimates in the South Korean media. That is equivalent to about 10 per cent of the North's annual economic output."
FULL STORY: 'Phantom hotel' freed from development limbo in Pyongyang
Pyongyang, North Korea Makes Room for Bike Lanes
It's easier to install bike lanes when the country is run by a dictator.
Think Lead Was Removed from Fuel? Think Again!
Leaded gasoline is still sold in Afghanistan, Algeria, Iraq, Myanmar, North Korea, and Yemen. Most think that the brain-damaging additive was banned in the U.S in 1995, but not for 167,000 piston-engined aircraft that use leaded aviation fuel.
What's It Like to Design for North Korea?
Middlemen, private jets, communication blackouts: providing design services to the world's most reclusive regime isn't easy. Mark Byrnes describes how one architecture and planning firm was selected to redesign North Korea's airports.
San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Has President Trump Met His Match?
Doug Ford, the no-nonsense premier of Canada's most populous province, Ontario, is taking on Trump where it hurts — making American energy more expensive.
Study: London ULEZ Rapidly Cleaning up Air Pollution
Expanding the city’s ultra low-emission zone has resulted in dramatic drops in particle emissions in inner and outer London.
San Jose Mayor Takes Dual Approach to Unsheltered Homeless Population
In a commentary published in The Mercury News, Mayor Matt Mahan describes a shelter and law enforcement approach to ending targeted homeless encampments within Northern California's largest city.
Atlanta Changes Beltline Rail Plan
City officials say they are committed to building rail connections, but are nixing a prior plan to extend the streetcar network.
Are Black Mayors Being Pushed Out of Office?
The mayors of New York, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh all stand to lose their seats in the coming weeks. They also all happen to be Black.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Resource Assistance for Rural Environments
City of Edmonds
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research