City Details : The Path of Desired Travel
Some campus planners and park designers will let the users dictate where paths are to be made. Upon completion of the majority of construction they plan grass through the remaining fields. Over time pedestrians determine the course by wearing out the grass with their feet. Only at that point is the walkway constructed along this worn path.

Put on your architecture hat
You've grown accustomed to phoning in votes for your favorite singers and/or dancers thanks to shows like "American Idol," "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance" - and AIA Honolulu is hip to the jive. Continue reading Honolulu Star Bulletin.

Housing Picture Brightens in California
SAN FRANCISCO -- California's median price for existing homes rose 1.4% in April from March, marking the second consecutive monthly increase in housing prices and prompting some industry officials to declare that the state's long swoon in housing values could be at or near the bottom. Continue reading Wall Street Journal.

Consideration : Waterfront Residence Inn

This past month, a new high-rise hotel opened across Queensway Bridge from downtown. While certainly more memorable than other Marriot Residence Inns across the nation, it does not completely dispense with the “anywhere” airport adjacent aesthetic. The city facing architecture is emphasized by a dynamic glass element, with a grid of punched openings transitioning to the utterly blank port facing side. Muted primary colors and modest variations in the wall plane provide some interest in the building facades. The austere building design allows one to imagine a more dynamic feature on the skyline with just a half dozen adjustments. Instead it is left for your consideration.

Vincent Thomas bridge to close partially for bike ride Sunday
As many as 1,000 bike riders are set to pedal over the Vincent Thomas and Gerald Desmond bridges Sunday morning as part of the fight against diabetes. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Calatrava Strikes a Chord

This summer, Jerusalem inaugurated a new bridge by Santiago Calatrava that will be the centerpiece of a planned light-rail system connecting the Old City to the sprawling neighborhoods just over its walls. Continue reading Metropolis.

Renewal planned for downtown's Pacific Avenue
LONG BEACH - Downtown Pacific Avenue may have sat in the shadow of Pine Avenue for years, but newly elected 1st District Councilman Robert Garcia hopes to change that. Continue reading Press Telegram.

Meet the modern rowhouse

First-time buyers David and Jennifer Waxberg considered a single-family house. After shopping different new-home developments and various housing styles, though, they bought a rowhouse at The Plaza on New York in Aurora for three reasons, says David. Continue reading Chicago Tribune.

Proposal to Limit Vehicles on University Ave in Palo Alto Gains Support
In the past few weeks, Stanford University students have built support for a proposal to reduce parking, widen sidewalks, and eventually close eight blocks of University Avenue in Palo Alto to motor vehicles. Continue reading Street Blog San Francisco.

Honk, Honk, Aaah
Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s Transportation commissioner, manages to be equal parts Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses. As she prepares to close swaths of Broadway to cars next week, she is igniting a peculiar new culture war—over the role of the automobile in New York. Continue reading New York Magazine.

Mixed Use, Good Neighbors

If we examine those cities that have experienced revitalization over the past decade, a number of common themes emerge. One hallmark of recent urban revitalization has been investing in pedestrian-friendly infrastructure, dense residential development, arts districts, and improvements in public transit. Continue reading Long Beach Post.

Visions of a lush, green South L.A.
It takes time for new ideas to take root -- even when it's as simple as planting trees in a neighborhood smothered by concrete. Continue reading Los Angeles Times

Historic Architecture vs. Clean Energy

Preservationists are debating the merits of solar panels or other green features on historic buildings, according to Mark Huck, a restoration architect in California’s Office of Historic Preservation who contacted Green Inc. after seeing my post on homeowners associations blocking solar panels. Continue reading New York Times.

Making Grocers more Appetizing to Developers

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg's office announced an initiative to encourage developers to include grocery stores in new projects. Nevin Cohen, whose research focuses on urban food system, reviews the plan. Continue reading Planetizen.

The Architecture of Excess vs. an Architecture of Relevance
For the past twenty years the voice of the architecture profession has mainly been drowned out by the computer generated sky-piercing towers of luxury. Continue reading Huffington Post.

L.A. River Causes Bad Grades Along Coast
Heal The Bay’s Report Card said what many downtown residents could have told you for years — the pollution coming down the Los Angeles River is a big problem. Continue reading Downtown Gazette.

Developers see opportunity in car-dealer lots
With dozens of car dealerships in Massachusetts scheduled to be closed, real estate developers are looking to replace the soon-to-be-empty showrooms with stores, hotels, and office buildings. Continue reading Boston Globe.

Shining Cities on a Smarter Planet
If someone had been able to go into orbit around the Earth a century ago, he or she would have seen the light from 16 concentrations of a million or more people. Continue reading Huffington Post.

Times Square Plan’s Challenge: Lose the Cars, Keep the Grit

When New York City announced a plan to shut down parts of Times Square to traffic, New Yorkers’ reactions ranged from bemusement to mild hysteria.Despite reassurances from the Transportation Department that the changes would create a greener, more pedestrian-friendly city, some critics of the plan worried that it would sap the square of its chaotic energy. Continue reading New York Times.

No Vehicles, but Plenty of People on Broadway

Paul Ziemer and Pikkam So traveled to Times Square on Sunday from their home in Inwood, at the northern tip of Manhattan, and allowed their 14-month-old son, Benjamin, to do what few New Yorkers have ever done: Walk safely right down the center of Broadway in the middle of the day. Continue reading New York Times.

An urban jewel for downtown L.A.
The garden at the LAPD's new headquarters is drought-friendly and designed for lingering and enjoying. Continue reading Los Angeles Times.

Making It Happen
By developing their own projects, Jared Della Valle and Andrew Bernheimer have succeeded in New York without going through the “right” schools or firms. Now, just as the economy collapses around them, they are completing their first two buildings in Manhattan. Continue reading Metropolis.

Courtard Lofts Reuse Wins National Award

The awards just keep coming: now it’s the turn of Courtyard Lofts, the colorful, daring, North Pine loft complex, recently honored by none other than the American Institute of Architects (AIA) for its fine design. Continue reading The District

In German Suburb, Life Goes on Without Cars
Vauban, Germany, is an affluent new suburban community that differs from traditional suburbs in many respects. The most important difference is that cars are forbidden on most of Vauban's streets, and houses cannot have driveways or garages. Continue reading New York Times

In the Future, the City’s Streets Are to Behave
Imagine narrow European-style roadways shared by pedestrians, cyclists and cars, all traveling at low speeds. Sidewalks made of recycled rubber in different colors under sleek energy-efficient lamps. Continue reading New York Times

Asking the Right Question
Residents of Belmont Heights recently had the opportunity to weigh in on two new bike facilities proposed for their neighborhood. As part of a larger east-west corridor, the Department of Public Works has proposed a pair of bike lanes to be installed along Broadway, running from Nieto Avenue to Redondo Avenue. Continue reading Long Beach Post.

Why Has Globalization Led to Bigger Cities?
If the world is so flat, then why are cities growing so quickly, especially in the third world? Continue reading New York Times

ARRA Funding Stimulates Austin Federal Courthouse Project
Construction of a new, $107-million U.S. District Courthouse on a long-dormant block in rapidly redeveloping downtown Austin will soon get under way thanks to federal stimulus funds. Continue reading Architectural Record.

RDA votes to cover city on parking garage debt service
LONG BEACH - With the city facing a $54.8 million deficit over two fiscal years, redevelopment leaders Monday have decided to take on the $2.6 million cost of paying for the improvements and debt service of three downtown parking structures. Continue reading the Press Telegram.

Innovative Urban Design Approach Proposed For Auckland Streets
An exciting facelift is being considered for a number of streets in Auckland's city centre with the proposed introduction of shared space as part of the council's CBD streetscapes and open spaces upgrade programme. Continue reading Vox