Infrastructure and democracy

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Merten

The delayed construction of Heathrow Terminal 5 was the longest public inquiry in the history of the UK. This week the Planning Bill, proposed legislation to streamline decision on big projects like airports, will be voted. Environment campaigners say it will strip ordinary people of the right to object to major projects. Engineers and politicians warn for failure and lack of infrastructure aswell as unacceptable costs through delays caused by civic protests.

“It took four years, with 700 people giving evidence at a cost of £80 million to come up with the decision that the vast majority of people expected in the first place.”

Row threatens planning shake-up
By Sarah Mukherjee, BBC 24-06-2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/…

Heathrow airport - terminal 5

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Driving Detroit

Posted on June 16, 2008 by Merten

Detroit is famous for its automobile industries but also for its central wastelands. First the center, and then the first rings around the center have been abandoned by the population who moved to the suburbs. This means the city is hollowing out from the inside.
The project Driving Detroit explores 2.100 streets, 2.700 miles of the city, from downtown to 8 Mile. The drive is presented in photos and videos and clever mapping of recent buildings and abandoned ones.

http://media.freep.com/drivingdetroit/mcgrawsmap.html

Image Driving Detroit

Parole

Posted on June 6, 2008 by Merten

Website with user-created content, alphabetically arranged, on about any subject one can imagine in the field of architecture and urbanism. The interface leads you to projects, theories and subjects you never thought of before.

http://parole.aporee.org/work/…

parole

Ordos 100

Posted on May 29, 2008 by Merten

Image Ordos official website
This month in Ordos, inner Mongolia, starts the construction of 100 villas, on 100 sites of 1000 square meters, by 100 international architects. The group of architects that will design this new “Weissenhof Siedlung” is chosen by Herzog & de Meuron, under supervision of chinese artist Ai Wei Wei (Beijing). The group contains 22 offices in the US, 14 from Switzerland (mostly in Basel, hometown of Herzog). The selection has caused discussions among national architectural organizations, especially in countries that are not so well-represented, for example in the UK (1 national representative). The idea is to build the houses in 100 days.
Foto Moving Cities