Category Archives: Urbanism and planning

Fate of the Fane skyscrapers

Posted on March 5, 2017 by David Brussat

Got my paper this morning and was startled to read the headline “Trio of towers never stood a chance” on the front page. The story in the Providence Journal, by Kate Bramson, seemed to indicate that the project had been … Continue reading →

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City devitalization in France

Posted on March 4, 2017 by David Brussat

Towns and small cities in France have experienced in recent years something similar to what happened to towns and cities in America during the last half of the 20th century. In France they call urban renewal and suburban sprawl by … Continue reading →

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A Jane Jacobs cornucopia

Posted on February 22, 2017 by David Brussat

Here is an excellent review of recent books published by and about Jane Jacobs in the past year, which was the centennial of her birth. “What Jane Jacobs Saw,” by Michael Lewis in the upcoming March issue of First Things, … Continue reading →

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Le era (er, error) de Corbu

Posted on February 8, 2017 by David Brussat

Here is what Alistair Horne has to say about Le Corbusier in his book Seven Ages of Paris. It is on page 330. In my opinion, he lets the guy off too lightly. … [A]fter 1919 most new building shifted … Continue reading →

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Chace plans downtown digs

Posted on February 7, 2017 by David Brussat

When it was announced several years ago that Providence developer Buff Chace would purchase the Journal Building and the parking lot across from it on Fountain Street, he expressed the hope of erecting a new building on the latter site. … Continue reading →

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More from ‘7 Ages of Paris’

Posted on February 5, 2017 by David Brussat

Here are a couple more passages from Alistair Horne’s Seven Ages of Paris: The first two are from his section on the Second Empire: With so much borrowed from the past, was there (leaving aside the new apartment blocks) any … Continue reading →

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Haussmann’s urban removal

Posted on February 2, 2017 by David Brussat

Preservationists and architects should be enemies: the preservation of any old building postpones work designing a new building to replace it. Baron Haussmann’s demolition and rebuilding of much of old Paris in the third quarter of the 19th century created … Continue reading →

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Modernist fundamentalism

Posted on February 1, 2017 by David Brussat

Soon after I posted “General Motors’ America” yesterday, I yearned for a deeper understanding of the reason why GM so avidly embraced modernist concepts of design and planning. So it was good to receive from architectural theorist Nikos Salingaros a … Continue reading →

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General Motors’ America

Posted on January 31, 2017 by David Brussat

How did modern architecture boot classical architecture from its control of the design and planning establishments in America so quickly? After all, it took only about 30 years from the time modernist design hit the streets and the time, about … Continue reading →

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Amtrak’s R.I. rural removal

Posted on January 16, 2017 by David Brussat

If the description by two Charlestown, R.I., town council leaders of Amtrak’s plan for an alternate route through that town are accurate, the proposal must be stopped. It is no less than “rural removal,” same as the old “urban removal” … Continue reading →

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