Modernist architecture dissolves the city. This is a heat map of where people fix their gaze while looking at this cityscape. The only faint signs of attention are a traffic sign and a blade sign announcing Parking. Nothing is of note. Nothing is interesting. The city dissolved. Wow this took off. Thanks to all who RTed. Let me properly introduce myself: I guide towns, downtown/main street district managers, nonprofits and developers to use the power of their storefronts and create the best possible version of their streets. storefrontmastery.com

Islamic architecture takes a lot from both Persian/ Greek influences, and adds a layer of color that makes it unique and beautiful.

One element that stands out is the riad: an interior garden within a house or a palace. Gardens are of great importance in Islamic architecture, as is providing a proper enclosure to frame them.

https://twitter.com/izurietavarea/status/1286700238242295816?s=21

As is more frequent lately, the NYT misses a basic mark. The premise of the story is that a city with dozens of millions of people needs a single vision, a master plan and centralized decision making is a failed one. Or destined to fail, rather. nytimes.com/2022/01/20/wor… “Delhi’s new draft Master Plan for 2041 envisions a megacity where unauthorized slums are razed and replaced with tall buildings with affordable housing units.”

Unauthorized slums teach more lessons about economics/efficiency than any authorized planning or architecture school.

If you allow, me I'll tell you the story of how I went from architect to therapist. Not quite the bumpy road you'd imagine but a fun, fun ride.

Thread ahead 🧵👇 A month ago (gasp!) I was in Flint MI learning how Placemaking can organize a killer art and music scene and become legendary. It may not solve most problems but def legendary stuff.

Paris is a new city. In the 1850s the city's boss, Baron Georges Haussmann, tore down most of the medieval city and created the beloved system of boulevards that intersect as in a spider web. Haussmann created a sort of form-based code that gave us most of what we appreciate in "Modern" Paris. (not the Tour Montparnasse. That is a piece of crap. And so is most of La Defense). Grand limestone ground floors, beautiful upper floors and small attic apartments.

I’ve always thought a bit radical that New Urbanism and Smart Growth be equated to “communism”.

I have come to fear communism not because of bike lanes but because of shortages, secret police, re-education camps and absolute lack of freedom.

https://twitter.com/ad_mastro/status/1417271216553988102

The assumption that everything must be read in terms of asymmetrical relationships and assuming ill will, yet solved by the biggest asymmetrical relationship of them all, and by folks who magically surrender their ill will is naïve, to say the least.

Though not mentioned in the Gospel, Church Scholars agree there are seven deadly sins: gluttony sloth, lust, greed, envy, wrath and pride.

Which one is gonna kill your city?
🧵 Thread Gluttony: too much parking, too many drive thrus, too many big box stores.