bbc audio interviews with architects
Dammit, if I can't find a circle of pretentious bastards in LA, I'll make my own.

The Eiffel Tower is burning.

Sadly, not really a big deal: CNN.

The Lost Prophet of Architecture
vs Christopher Alexander

The Third Place
"The social scientist Ray Oldenburg talks about how humans need a third place, besides work and home, to meet with friends, have a beer, discuss the events of the day, and enjoy some human interaction. Coffee shops, bars, hair salons, beer gardens, pool halls, clubs, and other hangouts are as vital as factories, schools and apartments ["The Great Good Place", 1989]."

For the record, I don't think online communities can be talked about as any kind of replacement. I don't think Joel does, either; the "third place" stuff is mostly a hook for what he wants to write about online communities. I'm more interested in reading Bowling Alone now, though.

Better: What is a third place?

Update: more fuel for my hatred of zoning laws. "The newer neighborhoods have developed under the single-use zoning imperative -- which makes these critical, informal social gathering places illegal."

Those wacky pattern language people! "This book [Salingaros, 'Principles of Urban Structure'] addresses the needs of professional urbanists who wish to understand how and why cities are successful or not, depending on their form, components, and substructure. It marks the beginning of a revolution in urban science."

Skimming...I understand his hostility to modernism, but modernism isn't just Le Corbusier, it's also Frank Lloyd Wright and Joyce. Modernism doesn't have some nihilistic, anti-human agenda at its core.
(author homepage)