Tag Archives: Michael Mehaffy

How modernism got square

Posted on June 8, 2023 by David Brussat

Editor’s note: Here is a post from December 2013, almost a decade ago, shortly after the Providence Journal booted my Journal blog from its roster of staff-written web logs, which is where the word “blog” comes from. I used to … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Landscape urbanism revisited

Posted on August 25, 2021 by David Brussat

*** Not long ago, in response to my post “Steuteville’s public square,” a pile of emails and comments was generated by my query as to whether something called landscape urbanism still exists. One email called for another look at its … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Landscape Architecture | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Salingaros: How cities heal

Posted on June 19, 2019 by David Brussat

Globetrotting mathematician and theorist Nikos Salingaros hits the nail on the head in his recent analysis of urban ills in “A Schizophrenic Approach to Building Cities,” published on the Meeting of the Minds website. Actually he hits many nails on … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Joint prize for dynamic duo

Posted on August 29, 2018 by David Brussat

My Traditional Building just arrived and reveals that Nikos Salingaros and Michael Mehaffy have received this year’s Clem Labine Award from the magazine. Congratulations to them both. Much of my education regarding how science affects architecture and urbanism comes from … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Fine wrinkles on Alexander

Posted on May 6, 2018 by David Brussat

Some very interesting commenters have responded to my post “Chris Alexander’s cosmos.” The title of Alexander’s most celebrated book, A Pattern Language, spoke so directly in a mere three words to my nascent views on architecture long, long ago that … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

More worst buildings of 2017

Posted on January 3, 2018 by David Brussat

Metropolis, the magazine dedicated to zany urbanism, has its “Top Buildings of 2017” issue out. The open-mindedness that can occasionally be seen at Metropolis – for example, it publishes essays inimical to modern architecture by Nikos Salingaros and Michael Mehaffy … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Humor | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Antidote to gentrification

Posted on June 17, 2017 by David Brussat

The other day, in “Mehaffy on ‘gentrification,” I posted on that sensitive subject, directing readers’ attention to a post by urbanist Michael Mehaffy, “Beware of Voodoo Urbanism,” on the blog Livable Portland. In a comment on my post, Steven Semes, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Preservation | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mehaffy on “gentrification”

Posted on June 14, 2017 by David Brussat

All change is bad. Take gentrification. Gentrification is when rich people suddenly take a liking to a poor part of town, move in, raise property values, and force longtime residents – that is, the poor – to move out. Right? … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

“Within Walking Distance”

Posted on June 2, 2017 by David Brussat

Philip Langdon’s new book Within Walking Distance, published by Island Press, uses six examples of walkable communities to show how they are made. No, unfortunately they do not arise spontaneously, at least not anymore, not since the postwar era, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 →

Posted in Architecture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments