A beautiful August day was the chance for a visit to the Villa Savoye, to which I hadn’t been in years. A few weeks after my visit of the Le Corbusier show at MOMA, it was a real pleasure to connect with Corbu’s work in flesh and blood, as it were.
The Cities We Leave to Future Generations
After a period of spurning our cities, we are again becoming an urban nation.
For years, investments in highways, malls, and residential developments were focused on the suburbs. The infrastructure of America’s great historical cities, so often mired in fiscal difficulty, was left to decay.
Today we are seeing a resurgence of the urban spirit. We have woken again to the social benefits of city life. We appreciate the exchange and innovation, the cultural vibrancy, and the economic and environmental benefits of compact living. Large-scale development projects are underway in the city centers and city governments are again spending on urban infrastructure.
The Newly Pedestrianized Banks of the Seine
A week ago, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë inaugurated the new Place de la République. Last Wednesday, he was on the banks of the river Seine, inaugurating another emblematic project of his municipal administration, the newly pedestrianized banks of the Seine.
Continue reading The Newly Pedestrianized Banks of the Seine
The Unveiling of the New Place de la République
I described in a previous post how the place de la République has been a 150-year urban design headache. So when I visited the space on the day of its opening, after nearly two years of construction, what I wanted to know was if the urban design conundrum had finally been solved.
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Cosmopolitanism in the Culture and Planning of Second Empire Paris
This weekend I am in New York, speaking at Columbia University as part of the Urban History Association’s annual conference. I’ll be discussing the idea of cosmopolitanism as it relates to urban planning in the first years of the Second Empire (1852-1855). An excerpt of my talk appears below.
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Henri Labrouste
Henri Labrouste is not among nineteenth century architects best known by the general public. He is, however, one of architects’ favorite architects of the period. Last week an exhibition dedicated to Labrouste opened at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine. An opportunity, hopefully, to bring Labrouste to his rightful prominence.
Bologna
Photographs of Bologna by Stephane Kirkland
Rimini
Photographs of Rimini, Italy by Stephane Kirkland
Firenze
Photographs of Florence, Italy by Stephane Kirkland