From the era of VHS-tapes and terrible house music: one hour of Bijlmer-criticism in handy documentary format. Starring Pi de Bruijn, Wouter Vanstiphout, Ashok Bhalotra and others, the initial utopianism and following social disappointment that is the Bijlmer are being dissected – multi-culturalism, social segregation and how to deal with unwanted side-effects of backfiring utopianism are main topics of discussion. As relevant as it ever was it seems..

In a conference at LSE last week, invited panelists explored the themes and implications of the writings of prominent sociologist Richard Sennett. In conversation with architects, academics and policy analysts, Professor Sennett led a multi-disciplinary discussion of civic space and the role it plays in the city.

"It’s time the federal government stopped encouraging sprawl," Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan declared this morning before the Congress for the New Urbanism.

About a half hour’s drive north of Ramallah, construction has begun on the first planned Palestinian city. Surrounded by sleepy hilltop villages and terraced olive orchards, Rawabi, which means “hills” Arabic, is being marketed as a green and affordable alternative for the Palestinian middle class.

“Unlike any other in Palestine, Rawabi will be characterized as a modern, high-tech city with gleaming high-rise buildings, green parks and shopping areas,” boasts a fancy brochure published by the Bayti, the Qatari-Palestinian company developing the project. With features like underground parking garages and American-style mortgages, Rawabi would appear to have more in common with Israeli cities like Modi’in than with nearby Palestinian cities like Ramallah.

SHANGHAI, May 8 (Xinhua) — At the Shanghai Expo’s Barcelona Pavilion in the Best Urban Practice Area, images of Barcelona’s past and present are projected onto big mirrors. They show how the city’s "old town" was preserved even as city expanded.

"The city of Barcelona is an exemplary model showing a harmonious existence between new city areas and old ones," Ye Zhenzhen, a Chinese staffer working at Barcelona Pavilion, said.

David McWilliams is the man who coined the phrase "ghost estate" when he wrote about the first signs of a disastrous over-build in the Irish Republic back in 2006.

Now, it is a concept the whole country is depressingly familiar with. Most Irish people have one on their doorstep - an ugly reminder, says the economist and broadcaster, of wounded national pride.

BRASILIA — Brazil’s futuristic capital Brasilia celebrates its 50th anniversary Wednesday, but the architect behind many of its grandiose concrete buildings says he is sad the city fell short of his egalitarian vision.

A new town comprising 2,228 housing units, in addition to schools, hospitals, shopping malls and other civic facilities, is coming up in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region. The town, called Al Hailiyah, is being built by Abu Dhabi Municipality and the Town Planning Department to provide free houses for UAE nationals in the emirate.

The Forum Esplanade Barcelona (google maps link) and especially the photovoltaic power plant - developed on brownfield seafront land in 2004 as part of Fòrum Barcelona 2004 - is the poster child of green planning initiatives. The plant (by Martínez Lapeña - Torres Arquitectos) is said to be the largest urban solar structure in Europe, with a surface of 10.500 m².

Latvia has sold an entire town once used by the Soviet military as a base.

The deserted town formerly known as Skrunda-1 was auctioned off to a Russian firm for $3m (£1.9m) - about 10 times its list price, officials said.

In an interview with SPIEGEL, German architect Albert Speer Jr. says Dubai’s Burj Khalifa tower is purely a vanity project and argues that the emirate is an example of failed urban planning.

Many urban types like to portray Jane Jacobs as opposing just about any kind of new development or change in the structure and historic character of neighborhoods. But that’s not accurate according to Roberta Brandes Gratz’s new book, The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs. Reviewing the book in Metropolis, George Beane notes:

Eastern Germany has seen its cities shrink since the fall of the Berlin Wall as people leave to find work elsewhere. But now a state-sponsored project suggests that "city islands," urban green zones and huge outdoor art could be part of the solution.

Croydon gave the world Kate Moss, but can it ever be sexy? An exciting team of young planners are set to revive the south London suburb and blaze a trail for all British towns, writes Rowan Moore.
Recently the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games announced that they had completed their "food vision". I won’t dwell on what this was, but it was final proof that the word "vision" has suffered drastic devaluation. Once it applied to the experiences of exalted saints and prophets, which inspired dazzling paintings and books of the Bible. Now it means something slightly stronger than "memo"

In the parched moonscape of the Abu Dhabi desert, plans for the world’s first carbon-neutral city are disintegrating. Masdar City was the centerpiece in Abu Dhabi’s attempt to transform itself from oil powerhouse to the Silicon Valley of renewable energy. Global financial woes, however, are undermining the project’s ambitious scope and putting its 2016 completion target in doubt. Developers are now planning to test-drive a portion of the city in 2013 and base further development on commercial response.

This is the fourth post in a series of visual studies on Moscow’s public park system. The previous sections are Public Parks in Moscow (introduction), Tracing the Paths of Revolution (pre-Soviet background), and Imagining the Socialist City (ideas for transforming the urban environment following the October Revolution). The current focus is urban development under dictatorship, between 1928 and 1953. As with the previous posts, this will keep evolving as I gather more information.

Urbanization doubtlessly has been the most significant demographic trend in the world for at least a century and promises to become even more significant in the future. The trend began in the United States and Western Europe as people moved by the millions from the countryside to the urban areas, where employment and a better life were possible.

The idea was ambitious: a city without a landfill or cars, producing its own renewable electricity and generating zero carbon emissions. Originally announced in 2005, the project was presented as a template for future urban design in China, and generated a significant buzz. Over time, however, it began to appear as if a shifting political landscape would sink the project, and the criticism began, some of it intimating that Dongtan was never really meant to become reality.

SOM recently unveiled plans for a new urban center in Beijing’s Dawangjing District that will feature an integrated heating and cooling solution designed to reduce energy use and carbon emissions. The new development will include a central park that utilizes a geothermal heat-exchange system to help passively heat and cool all of the district’s buildings.

Lhamoizing Dungkhag in Dagana will soon have a proper town. With April set as deadline to start survey, the search for a suitable site is on.
Currently, Lhamoizingkha does not have a proper town. There marketplace has no concrete buildings and all the 32 shops are on government land.
People of the dungkhag proposed a place near Majiga on, about 600 metres towards the border from the present town, to Works and Human Settlement Minister Yeshey Zimba during his visit to the dungkhag earlier this year.
The minister said that building a town near the bor der might not be beneficial to the local people. He added that security issues might be a problem if the town was planned near the border.

Store Town is located in Zhuji City, Zhejiang Province, the northern part is known as “hardware village” reputation, with a total area of 105.7 square kilometers, the resident population of 61000, alien population of ultra-50000, jurisdiction over 69 administrative villages and 2 neighborhood. Town shops and convenient transportation from the Hangzhou area, Xiao Shan International Airport, less than 40 minutes to Hangjinqu highway linpu exchange I just 10 minutes away.

In recent years, shops Town adhere to the “upgrading of industrialization and integration into the international, to promote urbanization and modernization” development strategy, rapid and healthy economic and social development, and in 2003 the province’s comprehensive economic strength among the most developed townships No. 6, the province’s total economic output ranks No. 2. A small town built area of nearly 10 square kilometers, population 50000, is the central town of Zhejiang Province, one of one of the key towns of the country.

From the idea of “garden city”to the “new urbanism”theory, people have been chasing after an ideal way of living for over a hundred years. With the advancement of lifestyle, the international living mode---fashion town, has crept into our life.

Throughout the world, from North America to Europe, from the River Walk in Saint Antonio to the Glass Island in Venice, a kind of cultural art and culture industrial district where people live beside the water has become a tourist destination and a place where world-class art gathers. It covers a wide range of industries and integrates natural landscape, liberal arts, modern business and tourism.

In many cities in Europe, this kind of creative community has already been a part of the city’s charm. China, who is exploring a contemporary international living mode to meet people’s needs, is about to have one.

India’s biggest major planned skyscraper CBD outside Mumbai, Gujarat’s and India’s tallest commercial skyscraper, Gujarat’s first major commercial skyscraper, and one of the biggest single megaprojects in India!

Take a man-made island, roughly twice the size of Hampstead Heath. Fill it with state-of-the-art schools, hospitals, apartments, office buildings and high-end cultural amenities. Import architectural features from around the world, including New York’s Central Park and Venice’s canals, make English the lingua franca, and hang a sign at the gates that says: "Welcome: we will change the face of business."

The master plan for the Gia Lam area is based on a desire to retain the qualities and resources of the area, but at the same time set out the strategies for a natural and sustainable urban growth. The plan recognises the importance of securing a continuity for the local community in the turbulent process of developing and modernizing the area.