It’s  snowing across the entire US (well–not true, but might as well be)  and you’re on Christmas break which means you spend your days eating, watching LOST in bed, and avoiding taking that next step towards whatever vague post-grad plans you have. But you’re on vacation! You don’t need to do shit!!  So take the procrastination a step further and take a look at  the top 100 blogs in the world! I’m particularly privvy to #97… Architecture, yeah!

check it twice

A wise man once said that it’s never too early to start your Christmas list. AMEN.

“The Center for Land Use Interpretation is a research-based educational organization that produces public programs about the built landscape of the United States from its sites in Los Angeles, Utah and the Mojave desert, with an upstate New York location opening in 2006. The Center’s aim is to increase and diffuse information about how the nation’s lands are apportioned, utilized and perceived. Recent examples of their work include a two-day Tour of the Monuments of the Great American Void by bus and the exhibit Immersed Remains: Towns Submerged in America. This book takes readers on a tour through the strangely unfamiliar land that Americans live in, demonstrating that we can understand ourselves and the nation by examining the clues on display all around us, often clearly visible but ignored. Each chapter explores a different topic, from an in-depth look at Ohio (“the most all-American state”); through scale shifts in model landscapes, exemplified in the three largest hydraulic models in the world; and law-enforcement training environments that simulate public space. Readers can dive into the hidden and enchanting world of show caves, where America is on display underground; and come up into the Great Basin, a zone covering most of Nevada, and portions of Utah, California, Oregon, Idaho and Mexico, whose network of watersheds has no outlet to the ocean. Following lines and edges, through cities, suburbs, small towns and wide-open spaces, the Center guides us upstream, toward the heart of another America—the same, but different.”

Curitiba 101

“We cannot be dependent on the car. I’ve repeated this saying many times, but I feel it is very appropriate: The car is like our mother in-law. We have a good relationship with her, but we cannot let her conduct our lives. In other words, if the only woman in your life is your mother in-law, then you have a problem.”

Learning from Lerner is an interesting article about the world-famous “green” city of Curitiba in southern Brazil (I went there!!!!). Not only is it a good read, but it’s a nice, simple introduction to the city, it’s principles, and the visionary mayor who kick started the sustainable city revolution way before anyone even knew what the hell that idea was all about.