“The current economic downturn is a mixed blessing for endangered buildings … Although more buildings are being neglected, fewer are threatened with demolition because development has slowed. In 22 years the trust has selected 211 sites worth saving and lost just 6 of them.”
New York Times
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“When nothing else is available, [New York Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan] will paint a street green, add a few large planters and bring in the chairs and tables. It may sound like trompe l'oeil planning, but as it turns out, what you see is what you get. If it looks like public space, it is public space.”
The Toronto Star
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“[The] commercialization and conventionalization of public space, tied to what are called “lifestyle centers,” and to real estate developers and city planning offices relying on a lot of clichés about what a good urban environment should be … There’s a sense that true urbanity and urbanism is much less formulaic and predictable, and more rough-edged. There’s that whole problem: how can you plan for spontaneity?
Metropolis
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“Most 'people' (that catch-all for 'the man/woman on the bus') do not want any development to happen anywhere near their own territory (but have neither the time or energy to do much about it). Most 'people' do not like contemporary architecture (at least not until it is built).”
Building Design
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“I have crossed it at dawn and in the middle of the night; I have crossed in rain and sun. I have let the steel wire of its ever-moving cables vibrate in my palm and I have felt a powerful connection to my city, and to the builders of what has rightly been called simply The Great Bridge.”
Building.co.uk
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