As 2013 draws to a close, we at Urban Omnibus will be taking a short break from our regular publication schedule. When we’re back in the new year, we’ll be celebrating our fifth anniversary and kicking off another year filled with the art, architecture, policy, and activism — homegrown in New York — that offer new ways of understanding, representing, and improving cities worldwide. We’ll be looking at the soundscapes of iconic architecture, publishing the second installment in our series of Typecast articles, and more.
And now for a small request: each week UO brings you Features and Forum posts for free, without charge. UO is a project of The Architectural League of New York, a non-profit organization, so this content is supported in part by contributions from readers like you. In the midst of the barrage of giving requests you are undoubtedly weathering, please consider donating or becoming a member of the League (a great gift with many benefits!) to keep the ideas and strategies coming for stronger, smarter, and fairer cities.
And in between holiday festivities, be sure to catch up on some UO and Architectural League reading. Like Omnibus, the League also publishes weekly features — find some highlights from both below. Enjoy, and happy holidays!
Local Connections: The Red Hook WiFi Project
Tony Schloss and Jonathan Baldwin discuss how their initiative leverages locally controlled infrastructure, community-based applications, and youth capacity building to provide a platform for local communication and Internet access in Red Hook, Brooklyn.
Studio Report: Flux City
Chris Reed shares work from a Harvard GSD landscape architecture studio that considers how productive ecologies drive the development of urban form and uses Jamaica Bay as a case study for exploring the opportunities of richly fluid territories.
Vacant Lots
In 1987, the Architectural League launched a design study to examine the potential of small-scale infill housing to contribute to the city’s affordable housing portfolio. We look back at what was proposed, and what was built instead.
The City that Never Shouts
In the winning submission of our Fuzzy Math writing competition, Steven Higashide imagines a near future in New York, in which a new City agency — the Department of Externalities — monitors and evaluates the social and environmental effects of everyday actions.
Experimental Landscapes: Alexander Felson on Ecology and Design
Urban ecologist Alexander Felson proposes a new kind of ecological practice, one that moves from analyzing nature to shaping it and embeds scientific experiments into the design process.
Meeting the Demands of New York’s New Realities
An Architectural League feature showcases ideas from the design community and beyond that confront the challenges presented by our region’s vulnerability to severe storms and rising tides.