The School of Architecture + Planning at MIT announces a major new research initiative called the Center for Advanced Urbanism that will tackle planning, design, construction and retrofitting of urban environments for the 21st century.
To tap into creative design solutions and explore ways to spur development in a new downtown “Arena, Arts and Entertainment District,” DUSP alum Jeff Fugate (SM/MCP, 2007), President and COO of the Lexington (KY) Downtown Development Authority, organized an international competition to design a new downtown park.
At a recent ceremony of at the Royal Overseas League in London, Professor Eran Ben-Joseph's book ReThinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking was nominated for a National Urban Design Award as one of six top books in urban design from 2012.
In their remarks about the book, the judges noted:
Architect, engineer, geometer, cartographer, philosopher, futurist, inventor of the famous geodesic dome and the dymaxion car, and one of the most brilliant thinkers of his time, Fuller was renowned for his comprehensive perspective on the world's problems. For more than five decades he developed pioneering solutions reflecting his commitment to the potential of innovative design to "do more with less" and thereby improve human lives. Now more relevant than ever, this film captures Fuller's ideas and thinking, told in his own words. 80 minutes.
Five cities. Five taxicabs. A multitude of strangers in the night. Jim Jarmusch assembled an extraordinary international cast of actors (including Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Beatrice Dalle, and Roberto Benigni) for this hilarious quintet of tales of urban displacement and existential angst, spanning time zones, continents, and languages. Jarmusch's lovingly askew view of humanity from the passenger seat makes for one of his most charming and beloved films. 128 minutes.
Urban Planning Film Series
Chronicles the bare-knuckles race for Mayor of Newark, N.J. between Cory Booker, a 32-year-old Rhodes Scholar/Yale Law School grad, and Sharpe James, the four-term incumbent and undisputed champion of New Jersey politics. Directed by Marshall Curry. Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary (2005).
Part of the MIT Urban Planning Film Series, a mostly-weekly series showing documentary and feature films on topics related to cities, urbanism, design, community development, ecology, and other planning issues. Free. Open to: the general public.
Boston's Chinatown started on Harrison Avenue around 1880 to serve as the center for the Chinese in the Greater Boston area. Today, Chinatown has evolved into an active residential neighborhood and a vital commercial and services center for Greater Boston.
Tunney Lee was born in Taishan, Guangdong, China; grew up in Boston's Chinatown; and attended the Quincy School and Boston Latin. Professor Lee is retired from MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and from the Department of Architecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Stephen Kennedy (MCP’12) and Alice Shay (MCP’12), co-founders of the
Speaker: Dr. Jinhua Zhao, Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia; Discussant: Prof. Ralph Gakenheimer, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Ten MIT students had an experience of a lifetime as they joined officials from around the world for the fifth and final meeting to finalize the new Minamata Convention on mercury in Geneva, Switzerland. They were joined by their instructor, Noelle Selin, an assistant professor of engineering systems and atmospheric chemistry. The students blogged about their experiences at http://mit.edu/mercurypolicy.The panelists will share their experiences of seeing international environmental policy-making in action and their thoughts on the final