• Healing a troubled medical district

    Memphis Medical District demonstrates the power of anchor institutions to improve sense of place and the economy in surrounding neighborhoods, while avoiding displacement.
    At 2.6 square miles, the Memphis Medical District is a city-within-a-city that has suffered severe disinvestment in the last 50 years. The population, once more than 30,000, declined to less than 10,000 by 2014, when medical and educational institutions in the district agreed to partner with local...Read more

  • Your brain on streets

    The above images represent an analysis of two residential suburban streets, and answer the question of which one is likely to attract and interest more pedestrians. Aside from the fact that the one on the right has more sidewalks, the immediate human cognitive perception of these streets is quite...Read more

  • Form, not content, dictates the ‘smart’ city

    Traditional urbanism is the livable and sustainable alternative to what is being promised in breathtaking futuristic renderings of glass and steel structures.
    Lament: Those who learn from history are forced to live with those who do not. We suffer the consequences of the ignorant repeating known mistakes. Unspoken truths: Form has always been the primary interest of the architectural designer. Within the design professions, peer recognition is valued...Read more

  • Transforming infrastructure in a dense international city

    A vision for a brownfield in Hong Kong could be one answer to its housing shortage.
    As one of the densest cities in the world, Hong Kong has long suffered a shortage of housing and public open space. For the past 100 years, the city’s main urban development strategy came through land reclamation. But a movement to protect the Harbor has put a stop to most of these projects in the...Read more