Passinho and Pacification

As I listened to a Youtube video of a Passinho battle, with it’s rough and heavy funke soundtrack, something perfectly appropriate happened. A middle-aged acquaintance remarked sarcastically from the other Continue reading →

City Changer

For this post, I wanted to quickly share a very interesting initiative from UN Habitat: I encourage you to take a look! There are some quite interesting posts and projects on Continue reading →

Notes of Caution

This week I wish to repost Gautam Bhan and Arindam Jana’s commentary from the Economic and Political Weekly, cautioning us about the way in which the Indian slum census is Continue reading →

When moving forward means going backwards: deteriorating sanitation in Tajikistan

[Photos above; Top left: bathroom space where toilets used to be in an apartment in Farkhor. Top right: current pit latrines used] A couple of weeks ago I had the Continue reading →

Shift in Venezuela?

Can we be optimistic? post by Silvia Soonets Last weeks have been really complicated in Venezuela. We have been protagonist of the news all around the world. The situation is Continue reading →

BORDER STRADDLING [PART 3] :: NEW SHAPING INFLUENCES [1]

See Part 1- Introduction See Part 2-The urbanization of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez New city shaping influences began to emerge, supplementing the colonial designs, particularly on the US side Continue reading →

The Old Gang in the “New” Neighborhood

In 1995 and 1996 I lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil while doing fieldwork and research for my Masters of Architecture thesis. One of my research sites was a small favela Continue reading →

Knowing the Favela

The current paradigm of ‘favela integration’ in Rio de Janeiro requires that the favelas themselves become an object of knowledge. That is, favelas cariocas must be constructed as knowable before Continue reading →

Housing Without Developers

  Last week Studio X Mumbai held a day long workshop provocatively titled “Housing without Developers”. As elaborated on their website, the workshop tried to challenge the seeming inevitability of Continue reading →

Trash for Light

Talking about initiatives worth following, I would add the Light Recicla program to the list. In this program, a provider of electricity in Rio de Janeiro – called Light – Continue reading →

URBAN POLICY FOR DUMMIES

Post by Marines Pocaterra The urban policy has been so neglected in many countries, that it has become a mockery of urban planning. Sometimes based on rigid zoning restrictions that Continue reading →

The First 3 Things I Learned: What Were Yours?

Last week I was involved in the penultimate critique for a 4th year design studio. I love participating in critiques for the shear volume of creative outcomes I get exposed Continue reading →

Medellin, the most innovative city 2013

Around 2005, Medellín, begun to attract  international eyes for its urban interventions on public space, public equipement and particularly, with regard to ‘slum upgrading (the city’s Metrocable system is one Continue reading →

Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Gurgaon is Haryana’s largest city and is located 30 kilometers south of Delhi. Over the past 25 years the city has grown to become an icon of ‘urban India’. Most Continue reading →

Los Angeles’ First Parklets Installed

Earlier this month, Los Angeles got itself its first parklets. Located in Downtown Los Angeles, the parklets are the first two of the four parklets to be installed as a Continue reading →

Building Low Income Housing Markets

After a two hour train journey from Dadar station and a rickety ride in a private white shuttle van I was finally standing in front a construction site, picturesquely located Continue reading →

Bringing solutions to flying toilets

The other day, as I was having breakfast I discovered a very interesting story on Peepoople, a company that has been working on bringing solutions to flying toilets in Kenya’s Continue reading →

Parks from many, parks for all

Recently, the Espacio Foundation published a new book, Interventions in Public Spaces in Sucre Municipality” (Intervenciones de espacios públicos en barrios del municipio Sucre). The book documents a program set Continue reading →

Pacification and 24 Hour Surveillance in Rocinha

The favela pacification process is well under way in Rio’s favelas–the process of reclaiming territory once run by drug gangs such as The Comando Vermelho, Terceiro Comando, and Amigos dos Continue reading →

URBAN STRADDLING :: The urbanization of Ciudad Juarez + El Paso

See Part 1- Introduction As the urbanization of sister cities, such as El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, is extremely interesting – starting with their singular origin to their development as Continue reading →