urban planning – human-centered and historically informed (introduction)

My fourth year visiting Rotterdam as a member of the International Advisory Board to the Mayor of this city and port, the largest in Europe, second only globally to Shanghai. New construction – Maasvlakte 2 (and 1) – enormous artificial extensions of the port facilities out into the north sea. Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb with members…

Song Dong | YBCA

Song Dong at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Dad and Mom, Don’t Worry About Us, We Are All Well is a large-scale installation called Waste Not. It comprises over 10,000 items ranging from pots and basins to blankets, bottle caps, toothpaste tubes, and stuffed animals collected by the artist’s mother over…

Revs at Stanford – launched

The Revs Program at Stanford was launched this week with a conference at Stanford’s Arillaga Center. Over 300 came along to a day of talks and displays celebrating automobility. We were in the company of an extraordinary artifact sitting outside on the patio – a famous 1930s Bentley (chassis B35AE) raced by Yorkshireman Eddie Hall….

petrified forest

The Petrified Forest is playing at the wonderful Stanford Theatre (1925 restored cinema showing Hollywood movies). In todays Guardian – an evocative “Country Diary” set in Borth, near Aberystwyth, west Wales, where we used to live. Another petrified forest on the coast and taking us back to the days of the Welsh epic sagas. Photo…