Phone booths are an endangered urban species, joining the ranks of newspaper boxes, parking pay meters, and other urban elements whose original function has been replaced by technology and changing social behavior. A common thread runs through all these pieces of the urban landscape that are too quickly deemed to be obsolete: they contain a […]
Everything is a “last remaining” at some point. In 2016, the last remaining journalists still working on London’s “newspaper row”, Fleet Street, left. There are last remaining survivors from moments in history. Last remaining descendants of famous figures. Last remaining businesses in areas once filled with their trade. Newspapers love “last remaining” stories. The articles […]
The finish line is within sight for the Reprogramming the City book! The book will feature the most innovative projects from the five Reprogramming the City exhibitions and initiatives I’ve created to date, along with a curated selection of new projects that reprogram existing urban assets for additional use. Also included in the book will be […]
NatureStructure is a framework of ideas for a new generation of urban infrastructure that uses nature and natural systems as essential elements of the city. The project is being commissioned by the Boston Society of Architects Foundation and will premiere in Boston in May 2018. For too long, cities have sought to control nature. From […]
During recent talks in Oslo and Malmö, I’ve been showing how a simple shift in thinking can open awareness and generate new possibilities. My goal in that specific part of the presentation is to get audiences to expand their thinking about how existing urban assets could be used in different ways, but the “conditional thinking” approach is an […]
The course I teach for the University of British Columbia is being offered again this year as an online workshop, and registration is now open. As UBC describes it… In this workshop we look at the potential of reusing, repurposing, and re-imagining a wide variety of urban assets, including existing infrastructure, […]
Stockholm communication agency Le Bureau put together a video overview of their campaign for my Reprogramming the City initiative at ArkDes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design. The agency did a fantastic job of taking the central “What If…” catalyst behind the project and amplifying it across media, outdoor billboards and interactive displays, creating an […]