Designing for Humanity in a Car-Centric City
Architect Ana Lasala shares what has worked (and almost worked) in six LA urban design projects.
https://getty.edu/news/ana-lasala-s…
Private Worlds
Public goods underpin democracy. The billionaires and technofascists ruling our new gilded age threaten to rob us of the things we hold in common.
https://placesjournal.org/article/p…
Zohran Mamdani and Mahmoud Khalil Are in on the Joke
What it feels like to laugh when the world expects you to disappear.
https://newyorker.com/news/essay/zo…
Dateline January 2026: Mayor Mamdani Unveils His Affordable Housing Plan!
For reasons that defy credibility, New York State continues to pass on collecting the Stock Transfer Tax that would, if collected, reap over $14 billion a year in new tax revenue. Because of heavy lobbying by Wall Street, the tax has not been collected since 1981.
https://commonedge.org/dateline-jan…
His Modernist Ideas for L.A. Living Were Dismissed. Now, They Could Be a Blueprint for Rebuilding
If Gregory Ain’s vision for a city filled with housing like his Avenel Cooperative had won out, “we would be in a radically different place.”
https://dwell.com/article/gregory-a…
How ‘Gay’ Became an Identity in Art
Two groundbreaking exhibitions in Chicago explore the shift in portrayals of same-sex attraction. They are being staged at a fraught moment.
https://nytimes.com/2025/07/12/arts…
Zohran Mamdani Is Making History. When Will Top Democrats Catch On?
Mamdani won a record-setting primary victory, and unions, grassroots Democratic groups, and savvy elected officials are rushing to back him. Now it’s the establishment’s turn.
https://thenation.com/article/polit…
Susan Weil: About Time
The title of the Susan Weil retrospective at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center at Borough of Manhattan Community College not only suggests the belated recognition of the ninety-five-year-old’s work, but also speaks to the question of “aboutness.”
https://brooklynrail.org/2025/07/ar…
The Work of Caring for My Daughter Will Never Be ‘Efficient’
Moving words from a pal in New York.
https://theatlantic.com/family/arch…
Radburn, New Jersey and the Utopian Origins of the American Suburbs
An introduction to Radburn.
https://architizer.com/blog/inspira…
Finding a Family of Boys
Leaving Brooklyn for a new life as a college student in Manhattan was in itself an act of becoming.
https://newyorker.com/magazine/2025…
“Giving Up Is a Great Source of Happiness”: 30 minutes with author Geoff Dyer
If you ever wondered how Dyer got this way, the 67-year-old writer’s new memoir, Homework, is a good start.
https://interviewmagazine.com/liter…
Don Bachardy reflects on his artfully queer life
In his retrospective at The Huntington, Don Bachardy, at 91, gets his flowers and reflects on a lifetime of queer art.
https://out.com/out-exclusives/gay-…
Your Hip Surgery, My Headache
Getting Hugh home after his hip replacement involved a thick cushion and a car with legroom. “Ow!” he said whenever I tried to help. “You’re making everything worse!”
https://newyorker.com/magazine/2025…
The American Paradox: Bigger Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Better
The community characteristics found in villages are scaled up for the cities. Size of space affects behavior. And behavior of course produces culture.
https://commonedge.org/the-american…
Ben Shahn, the Lefty Artist Who Was Left Behind
Shahn was an American phenomenon, but a new retrospective suggests that we’ve come to prize his politics over his accomplishments.
https://newyorker.com/culture/the-a…
Knitting and Crafting as Subversion of Neoliberalism
Knitting down the system.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=JZsGjQu…
The Potential Beauty and Wonder of Storefront Displays
Pal James Rojas takes it to the street, well the street window.
https://commonedge.org/the-potentia…
William Kentridge Reflects on What It Means to Be a South African Artist
“I think my experience of South Africa has been that one has to keep an optimism and a pessimism together, and neither by itself is accurate.”
https://nytimes.com/interactive/202…
Richard Saul Wurman: “There’s a Louis Kahn Cult, and I’m a Member!”
“In a sense, I’m an amateur, a dilettante, I don’t do anything particularly well, but I see patterns between things,”
https://commonedge.org/richard-saul…
‘The Cole Porter of Literature’: Writers and Artists Remember Edmund White
In these reflections, colleagues, friends and admirers recall his risk-taking, his generosity and his insatiable taste for gossip.
https://nytimes.com/2025/06/05/book…
The Very Gay Life of Edmund White
Remembering Edmund White.
https://nytimes.com/2025/06/05/opin…
Artificial Intelligence and City-Making: The Potential for New Synthesis
Pals Rocky Hanish and John Parman extend the discussion about AI to include urban morphology.
https://builtformjournal.org/index.…
No Straight Road Takes You There by Rebecca Solnit review – an activist’s antidote to despair
Hope is no casual platitude in this inspiring collection of essays; it’s the realistic mindset with which to approach existential challenges
https://theguardian.com/books/2025/…
Design Hospitality at Placewares
I just heard that Kevin Leigh Lane passed away. He was well known in design circles. I interviewed him and his then partner, Shev Rush, when they took over Placewares from the Lyndons.
https://kennethcaldwell.com/design-…
These People Used to Live Here?
Before the Chelsea Hotel got swanky, a long-term resident captured the louche building—and its iconic guests—with a black-and-white-film camera.
https://newyorker.com/culture/photo…
