Category Archives: Urbanism

Top Seven Reasons Behind the Shanghaiing of New York (#Dubai-on-Hudson)

by John Massengale Posted on October 29, 2014

Big Finance: Most people don’t realize that Big Finance is the engine driving the global movement that has the Mayors of New York, London, and Paris promoting shiny Starchitecture indistinguishable from the shiny Starchitecture in Dubai, Mumbai, and Shanghai (always in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Culture, Current, New York, The Other Kind, Urbanism | Comments Off on Top Seven Reasons Behind the Shanghaiing of New York (#Dubai-on-Hudson)

“And tell me what street compares to Mott Street in July” — August

by John Massengale Posted on August 29, 2014

IF you don’t know this line from the Rodgers and Hart song Manhattan—you should (and here it is in a medley sung by Ella Fitzgerald that combines two Rodgers and Hart songs, Manhattan and I’ll Take Manhattan. I’m calling Mott … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, New York, Pedestrian, Street Design, Street of the Day, Urbanism | Comments Off on “And tell me what street compares to Mott Street in July” — August

Ferguson, Missouri and the Cost of Sprawl

by John Massengale Posted on August 26, 2014

ENGINEER CHARLES MAROHN makes his usual insightful and interesting points in a post about Ferguson, Missouri on the Strong Towns blog (below). I happened to read the post just before reading an article in the Guardian that had many long quotes from … Continue reading →

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The 21st Century Will Be Different Than The 20th

by John Massengale Posted on July 6, 2014

We’re starting to see that people in the 21st century are rejecting many of the trends of the late 20th century. Just as architecture and urbanism in the second half of the 20th century were very different than they had been … Continue reading →

Posted in Bicycle, Classical, Culture, Current, New Urbanism, Pedestrian, Street Design, Urbanism | Comments Off on The 21st Century Will Be Different Than The 20th

A Sidewalk Is A Terrible Thing To Waste

by John Massengale Posted on July 2, 2014

IN 1919, the car hadn’t yet conquered West 57th Street in Manhattan. Together, the sidewalks for the pedestrians were still significantly wider than the roadway, and the modern detritus of the traffic engineer was nowhere in sight. MCNY image from “West … Continue reading →

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We used to make the countryside more beautiful, but now that we’re richer than ever we rarely do

by John Massengale Posted on June 1, 2014

Technology can supply some of our favorite and most-loved things, but most of the time, we use it in a way that inadequately expresses human experience and aspirations.

Posted in Architecture, Classical, Culture, Current, Good Kind, The Other Kind, Urbanism | Comments Off on We used to make the countryside more beautiful, but now that we’re richer than ever we rarely do

“Buildings endure. Fashion rarely does.” (comment at the Design Observer)

by John Massengale Posted on May 19, 2014

THIS IS WORTH REPOSTING because it was through this post that I met my friend Robert LaValva, who founded and runs the New Amsterdam Market. I made the following comment at Design Observer in response to a post on the … Continue reading →

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