cities

Struggling Cities Can Find a Voice Through Art

Accessible Spaces for Creativity Can Change a Community's Narrative from Within

In 2012, San Bernardino, California, filed for bankruptcy with more than $1 billion in debt. The city, about 60 miles east of L.A., is still climbing out from the devastation of the Great Recession. At 20 percent, San Bernardino County’s poverty rate is among the highest in the state. Yet the arts scene is flourishing. A poet and photographer recently joined forces for a public art project to explore residents’ experiences of their city. A new cultural center has asked students to submit art on what they love about San …

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Are Walkable Neighborhoods and Bike Lanes Only for the Creative Class?

Urban Planners Are Trying to Make Streets Safer and More Accessible. But Unfortunately Not for Everyone.

by Julian Agyeman and Stephen Zavestoski |

The “Complete Streets” concept in urban planning and design has been hailed as nothing less than a revolution. “North America is on the verge of a new paradigm,” writes Mobility …

Is the Sharing Economy Making Cities Less Cooperative?

Airbnb, Taskrabbit, and Other Apps Are Re-Shaping Urban Life—and Breaking Down Communities

by Julian Agyeman and Duncan McLaren |

These days every city claims to be a “smart” city, or is becoming one, with heavy investments in modern information and computing technology to attract businesses and make the city …

Sociologist and Photographer Camilo José Vergara

New York Belongs to Me, and I Belong to New York

Camilo José Vergara is a New York-based sociologist and photographer who photographs the same urban locations over time to document changing communities. Before participating in a panel on how people …

Urban Planner and Designer Melani Smith

Why Yes, I Am Busy Doing “Research”

Melani Smith is director of planning and urban design at downtown L.A.-based design firm Meléndrez; she’s currently working on the Figueroa Corridor Streetscape Project, which will link South L.A. and …

Is Downtown Finally Looking Up?

What Would It Take For Los Angeles To Have a Downtown That’s Considered World-Class?

 

Los Angeles, a place of constant reinvention, is always reinventing its downtown. For decades, those reinventions, and various big dreams for the city center, have been dashed. But the past …


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