Tag Archives: Urbanism

Mittell: “Why I love Lviv”

Posted on January 26, 2016 by David Brussat

David A. Mittell Jr., of Boston, has visited Lviv 22 times, some of them while he was on the editorial board of the Providence Journal, where I first met him. He now writes independently, after a stint as editor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Other countries, Preservation, Providence Journal, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Bedford Falls or Pottersville?

Posted on December 26, 2015 by David Brussat

I saw George Bailey in Bedford Falls and Pottersville last night. You don’t see It’s a Wonderful Life on television as much as you used to. The film’s copyright lapsed for 20 years beginning in 1974. Last night I saw … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Book/Film Reviews, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Park or party at the Facade

Posted on August 21, 2015 by David Brussat

The convention celebrating the 125th birthday of, and all things relating to, H.P. Lovecraft hosted a party in the parking lot behind the naked façade, next to the Arcade, that is all that remains of the Providence National Bank Building. … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books and Culture, Development, Photography, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A high-rise schimflexicon

Posted on July 6, 2015 by David Brussat

H.L. Mencken assembled and published Menckeniana: A Schimflexicon, in which he collected all the abuse of his writing that he could find, mostly from newspaper reviews of his books. I have set myself a much easier but less amusing task … Continue reading →

Posted in Architects, Architecture, Art and design, Books and Culture, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

How to make cities better

Posted on June 25, 2015 by David Brussat

I spent the early morning hours today wondering what I could do to make cities more beautiful. Then I got up, went to my computer, and found this marvelous video of 14 minutes, “How to Make an Attractive City,” made, … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Art and design, Development, Urbanism and planning, Video | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Parsing historic and historical

Posted on June 4, 2015 by David Brussat

Many older cities greet drivers with highway signs that say, for example, “Entering Historic Providence.” The capital of Rhode Island was founded in 1636, and the state’s youngest municipality, West Warwick, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2013. Every city and … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture Education, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Column: Yes, alas, we have modernism in R.I.

Posted on October 23, 2014 by David Brussat

“God will provide,” my editor Bob Whitcomb used to say. This morning, as I struggled to find a column topic, He placed one right before my eyes, occupying the very space where my regular Thursday column in the Providence Journal … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Architecture History, Development, Preservation, Providence, Rhode Island | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

‘World Made By Hand’

Posted on July 31, 2014 by David Brussat

My column about Don Powers’ presentation at Boston’s Traditional Building Conference a couple of weeks ago, which comes amid a lengthy set of threads about real or fake building materials on the TradArch listserv, reminded Steve Mouzon (who also spoke) … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past, Books and Culture | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Greater Kennedy Plaza

Posted on July 15, 2014 by David Brussat

Here is a column I wrote last year about the nice proposal being frog-marched out of the picture: A greater Kennedy Plaza, yet again April 25, 2013 On Monday morning, my bus was at least 20 minutes late. Tired of … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Blast from past, Development, Providence, Urbanism and planning | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Aristocrification. Hilarious!

Posted on July 15, 2014 by David Brussat

Here’s a totally over the top piece from The Onion. What a sendup!

Posted in Architecture, Development, Humor | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment