Tag Archives: Urbanism

Beauty, Ma’am, if you can keep it

Posted on September 29, 2022 by David Brussat

Raised river walk of boardwalk with chain-link fencing, its ugliness mitigated by ugly building. (City) Forces are gathering to undo much of the good work done in recent decades to improve the city of Providence. Our beautiful new waterfront seems … Continue reading →

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Cleveland, fair and square

Posted on August 3, 2021 by David Brussat

My first visit to Cleveland revealed a city rich in history and in historical architecture, far beyond what I had expected. The downtown and beyond feature many more large, old, lovely buildings than Providence. For me and perhaps for readers … Continue reading →

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It’s truly a beautiful world

Posted on September 20, 2020 by David Brussat

Like everyone else, people I know send me stuff online that they get from people they know. Lee Juskalian, who used to work on development in Providence until moving to California a couple of decades ago, occasionally sends me photographs, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Photography | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

‘Ask Dr. Downtown’ revisited

Posted on August 22, 2020 by David Brussat

In my last post, “Modern Diner, USModernist,” I promised USModernist talk host George Smart (aka Mr. Modernism) to send him an example of my old “Ask Dr. Downtown” columns, from when I did a column of architecture criticism every Thursday … Continue reading →

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R. Crumb & Klaus’ urbanism

Posted on June 22, 2020 by David Brussat

Klaustoon’s Blog has been on my blog roll for years. His intricate sketches satirize the inside baseball among the modern architects, such as one he did on the Pritzker Prize of 2015, which I discussed in “Klaustoon pricks Pritzkers.” I … Continue reading →

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For one- or two-way streets?

Posted on July 22, 2019 by David Brussat

On a recent sojourn in (and above) Manhattan, Steve Mouzon sparked a Facebook conversation about the merits and demerits of one- and two-way streets. It unfolded at such a high level of thoughtfulness about streets (of either ilk) from so … Continue reading →

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Halloween in Providence

Posted on November 1, 2018 by David Brussat

Last night’s Halloween trick-or-treat scene near our little house on Providence’s East Side showcased the charms of our more modest nook of the Blackstone neighborhood. On account of its evident friendliness, our district is usually mobbed by families from other … Continue reading →

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Europe as museum for rich?

Posted on October 7, 2018 by David Brussat

The late Walter Laqueur, who died last week after a long career cataloguing the sins of communism, terrorism and the Holocaust, was quoted in his New York Times obituary asserting that the “possibility that Europe will become a museum or … Continue reading →

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L’Apogée, here we come!

Posted on April 9, 2018 by David Brussat

This afternoon’s meeting of the Downtown Design Review Committee was cut short when one applicant, the developer of a second ugly building on Canal Street next to the first one now under construction, begged off till next time. In its … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development, Providence | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

We dodged the HQ2 bullet

Posted on April 6, 2018 by David Brussat

Providence would have been slaughtered if Amazon had decided to build its second headquarters – HQ2 – in Rhode Island and its capital city. So for the loss of 50,000 well-paid jobs and sundry other benefits, we should not blame … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments