It looks so simple from a distance...

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LGBT history month and the Built Environment

My colleague Chris Edwards has written an interesting post on his personal blog about the contributions of the LGBT community to the various built environment professions.

It's well worth a read and coincides with LGBT history month... There's also a slide show:

LGBT Architects

Europe's Shrinking Cities...

Prior to a week in Berlin later this month with fellow UCL students coming up with a new spatial plan for Hauptbahnhof, two interesting links about Europe’s shrinking cities have come my way…

 

Firstly (with thanks to my mate Adam Coombs) – Fred Pearce’s Guardian article on ‘The population crash’: ‘Across Europe, we are having fewer babies. In many places, such as the deserted town of Hoyerswerda in east Germany, the falling birth rate is already taking its toll’.

 

And Secondly – LSE’s work on ‘Phoenix Cities’: ‘Cities which were brought to the brink of ruin just 20 years ago after the collapse of manufacturing industry are completing an extraordinary comeback. A study of seven major European cities - including Sheffield and Belfast – has found they are successfully rebuilding their environment, economy and society from a low point of industrial decay and unemployment’.

 

I wonder if cities that are today facing falling and aging populations, plus recent economic turmoil, can turn around based on successful strategies for cities affected by industrial decline 20-30 years ago? And if not, if there are any cross-over lessons or re-applications that might of help?