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Good ideas. Better cities.

CNU 20 leader

Tag: Brendan Crain

  • By the City/For the City: Making a Better New York

    For any New Yorker who’s ever imagined a better transit system or speculated that their park could be the next High Line, the Institute for Urban Design (IfUD) created By the City / For the City, a crowdsourcing project meant to draw attention to oft-overlooked sites and situations around the city.   (keep reading…)
  • An Interview with Alex Lehnerer

    Brendan Crain interviews Alex Lehnerer, author of Grand Urban Rules, which explores the history of contemporary urban form and code through an examination of the 115 rules that guide development in the fictional, Atlantis-esque city of Averuni.   (keep reading…)
  • A Vision for Detroit

    Brendan Crain identifies some specific strategies for redevelopment in Detroit—and some inspiration from around the world.   (keep reading…)
  • The Non-Legacy of the 2010 Expo

    Brendan Crain wonders why the upcoming Shanghai Expo can’t follow Vancouver’s lead and absorb the new structures into the urban landscape after the event is over.   (keep reading…)
  • “Glocalization,” Neighborhoods as Brands

    The average American sees several thousands of advertisements each day—the most commonly accepted estimate is 3,000.  It is no secret in our society that a large chunk of advertising and marketing efforts are directed at children ... Whether or not you think that advertising’s influence on young minds is positive or negative, no one can deny the fact that this massive onslaught of commercialism has some sort of effect, developmentally, on children.  And, since these children will, in a generation or so, be reshaping our cities, how might these developmental changes effect the urban environment?  Perhaps some clues are already rising to the surface.   (keep reading…)
  • Neighborhoods as Brands: Imagining the Globalocal Future

    The French city of Lyons is being reproduced on the outskirts of Dubai, presumably for the value of Lyons’ “cultural cachet.”  Can something as ephemeral and elusive as the “sense of place” of Lyons be copied and pasted onto a desert thousands of miles from the original?  Might it be possible that, in a world run by adults raised in virtual copies of real-world places refashioned, essentially, as brands, the wholesale reproduction of city neighborhoods could become commonplace around the world?   (keep reading…)
  • Playful City USA: Can a new playground initiative inspire safe adventure for kids?

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