We have a Sidewalk Challenge milestone to report: Joshua Poe wins our first Sidewalk Challenge prize: a Broken Sidewalk sewer cover magnet. He was the first to correctly identify last week’s sidewalk as 16th Street looking south between Market and Jefferson streets next to the St. Patricks Apartments building.
You too can have your own Broken Sidewalk magnet for being the first to correctly identify this week’s sidewalk in the comments below. (The rules: Leave a real email so we can get in touch if you win; No repeat winners for four months; Comments must be left on this news roundup.) Good luck!
And now on with the week’s top urbanism stories in the news:
Rhythms of the connected city. Adam Greenfield, deeply missed since his move to England, writes us again, this time about Henri Lefebvre and how to differentiate between the processes of urbanization and cities, simply one of the physical byproducts on these forces. Speedbird
Introduction: The Promises and Limits of Progressive Cities. Michael Kazin presents a hopeful warning about our cities and the progressive political coalitions they could provide. DISSENT
Privatized offshore cities: the new climate apartheid. Interested in sustainable, resilient cities? This is the bizarro world version of everything you’ve ever dreamed of! boingboing
Iowa Urbanizes as Large Farm Operations Put Small Towns Out of Work. Global Site Plans does an excellent job here pinpointing the emphasis of urban change. It’s not population, but rather a set of processes that change the urban metabolism. Sustainable Cities Collective
The Future of Finance for Cities and Urban Infrastructure. In 2015 the million dollar question remains: “How or will we fund our infrastructure?” Do International Financial Institutions provide an answer? Sustainable Cities Collective
The Connection Between Successful Cities and Inequality. Richard Florida makes the claim that inequality is an inherent quality of urban agglomeration. CITYLAB
Solidarity, PA. By embracing what some might label as ‘Solidarity Economy’ strategies, Reading, PA is attempting what no other city in America has tried: a focus on collective ownership, energy efficiency, public banking, a local food shed, urban agriculture, and re-municipalization of jobs. DISSENT
Send in The Wall: A Tale of a Forbidden City. City borders, walls, and the unurban process of segregation. thisbigcity
Southwestern Parkway at Shawnee Park
Northwestern parkway at entrance to Shawne Park