The unique spatial patterns of Rio de Janeiro: on topography, spontaneous architecture, and fashion

metropolis. The solution is this. The metropolis must contain a large number of different subcultures, each one strongly articulated, with its own values sharply delineated, and sharply distinguished from the others. But though these subcultures must be sharp and distinct and separate, they must not be closed; they must be readily accessible to one

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Building is a journey into randomness. By venturing mindfully through a wealth of data, collective histories, and economic considerations, there are remarkable synchronicities to be discovered.

No neighborhood or district, no matter how well established, prestigious or well heeled, and no matter how intensely populated for one purpose, can flout the necessity for spreading people through time of day without frustrating its potential for generating diversity. Furthermore, a neighborhood or district perfectly calculated, it seems, to fill o

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Great cities are not like towns, only larger. They are not like suburbs, only denser. They differ from towns and suburbs in basic ways, and one of these is that cities are, by definition, full of strangers. To any one person, strangers are far more common in big cities than acquaintances. More common not just in places of public assembly, but more

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What makes pop-up cities particularly fascinating is how they’re redefining the very nature of innovation hubs. Traditional tech hubs like Silicon Valley succeeded by concentrating talent in one location, but they’ve begun showing clear limitations: astronomical living costs that exclude diverse perspectives, visa restrictions that keep global tale... See more