Putting the Public in the Right of Way: Streets as Urban Open Space

American cities are in the midst of a remarkable turnaround as urban living is growing more popular with young adults. This shift in preference is by no means limited to millennials, as empty nesters and even families with children are also opting for the vitality and convenience of urban environments. This is great news if we want to protect rural and wild places, reduce carbon emissions, and encourage healthier lifestyles. A challenge, however, is that it is difficult to retrofit our cities to provide sufficient open space for growing populations, especially in dense, built-out neighborhoods. With urban land values rising as remaining underutilized parcels are also eyed for development, acquiring new land for parks will only become more challenging. One solution is to repurpose streets, ...Read More

Article by Kaila Johnson Gordan Lederer Memorial, by NFO, in Čukur Hill in, Croatia. What comes to mind when thinking about a memorial? Most would perhaps say a statue, plaque, or some other singular structure aimed at commemorating a specific person or event. Memorials are erected to commemorate people, events, and significant happenings of times past. The Gordon Lederer Memorial is no different in that it commemorates a specific person and event: a Croatian photo- and videographer who was killed by a sniper while filming soldiers in the Čukur Hills. However, it does so by using the whole landscape as the memorial itself. In this particular location, photographer Gordon Lederer was killed by a sniper on August 10th, 1991, while filming Croatian soldiers in action on Čukur Hill in the Bani...Read More

Article by Elisa García Nieto Redevelopment of the Eastern Shore of Paprocany Lake, by RS+, in Tychy, Poland Ever since the first significant redevelopments of waterfront areas happened in the United States in the 1970s, post-industrial urban contexts around the world have followed the same path. Have you ever thought about how many project opportunities this means for landscape architects? The reintegration of these gaps into the urban fabric is a contemporary and strategic field, requiring us to rethink public spaces and urban relationships with the environment. This vision has demonstrated many positive transformations, such as those Yuliya Georgeva analyzed in her article 10 Cities That Are Reinventing The Relationship With Their Rivers. Redevelopment of the eastern shore of Paprocany ...Read More

Article by Eleni Tsirintani. The Resilient Ribbon, by Turenscape + MAP architects, in City of Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. Water is life, as cliché as that sounds. Landscape architecture projects value and include water to improve, enrich and develop a territory. However, producing a new mythology around water through which one might comprehend and design an area is a very original concept that deserves further and more detailed exploration. Turenscape and MAP architects have won first prize in the international competition for the development of the Kaban Lake System Embankments by shedding a new light on the water surfaces of the lake and treating them as a treasure that has just been found! Turenscape landscape practice is well-known for their special approach towards large scale landscape...Read More

Article by Agmarie Calderón Alonso The Soundwave, by Penda, in Xiangyang, Hubei, China. The Soundwave sculpture by Penda Architects at the Myrtle Tree Garden in Xiangyang, China takes your breath away. Made up of 500 purple pillars of varying heights, the installation pays homage to the rising and falling bars of a digital sound visualizer. The Fins, which form the rhythm of the sculpture, are cladd with perforated purple stainless steel panels. Through an electrolytic passivation process (anodized), the panels were colored in a bath of electrolyte and electricity, which keeps the main characteristics of the steel unimpaired and corrosion resistant. The Soundwave by Penda How this exercise in creativity came together is just amazing. Escape the chaos of the city and enter a world of sensor...Read More

Article by Yang Su Casa Sardinera, by RAMON ESTEVE ESTUDIO, in Jávea, Alicante, Spain. People are always fascinated by romantic and adventurous islands that offer a sense of escape from their stressful lifestyles. The Sardinera House, designed by RAMON ESTEVE ESTUDIO, is located in an appealing and valued Mediterranean landscape that has a profound connection with its society and has preserved its own character over time. Sardinera House sits on the top of a hillside surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, between EI Portixol and Cala Blanca. Casa Sardinera, by RAMON ESTEVE ESTUDIO, Spain The unique location inspired the design concept, which is described by RAMON ESTEVE ESTUDIO: “The original idea for the design was based on enjoying and enhancing the panoramic views of the setting, by creat...Read More

Article by Paul McAtomney Urbanization of Historical Downtown Ripoll, by Comas-Pont Arquitectes, in Ripoll (Girona), Spain.  Historically and culturally significant urban environments offer a myriad of challenges for the landscape architect. How does one intervene while retaining the fundamental characteristics — be they physical, cultural, or social — of a place? How does one link past traces of a site with an artful telling of the landscape for future urban life? These were the questions asked of architectural duo Jordi Comas and Anna Pont, coalescing to form Comas-Pont Arquitectes, when charged with the reurbanization and pedestrianization of the historical center of the industrial mountain town of Ripoll, which sits 100 kilometers north of Barcelona in the Catalan region of...Read More

Article by Luis Guísar. Shoemaker Green by Andropogon Associates, in University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA The Shoemaker Green project designed by Andropogon Associates, a landscape office in Philadelphia, turns the eastward area of the University of Pennsylvania into a transitional space between the historical fabric of the campus core and the new, modern spaces of its eastward expansion. The subject of the landscape intervention was a residual space inside the campus that incorporated three tennis courts and narrow pathways that were not functional for the university’s expansion. The university wanted to transform the tennis courts into a functional space that would also be transitional and sustainable. Shoemaker Green by Andropogon Associates The project divides the area into fou...Read More