Heritage Forum

By Suzanne Jacobs It doesn’t take an urban planner to know that an overabundance of modern condos, glassy office buildings, chain stores, and highly successful residents of a certain skin tone does not a great city make. (And someone should tell that to the developers...

Vox:  energy & environment Updated by Joseph Stromberg   This article is part of a series about the past, present, and future of commuting in America. For people who are constantly stuck in traffic jams during their commutes, there seems to be an obvious...

Fastcodesign.com: From autonomous vehicles to building codes, Sidewalk Labs is thinking about problems and solutions that could shape cities for centuries - by Diana Budds When Google's city-focused innovation company, Sidewalk Labs, launched in June of 2015, few...

arstechnica.com - by Annalee Newitz   Imagine a high-density city, and you probably think of something like Mega-City One, full of pollution, poverty, and huge, ugly housing projects. But the reality, according to new research in urban studies, is that...

The Guardian Resilient people: Can local community cooperation be scaled up to create a participatory city? Neighbourhood-led pilot project the Open Works thinks so.. In February 2014, a pilot project was launched in West Norwood, south London, mobilising 1,000 people...

The Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE) launched seven seminal reports on growth in South Africa. Everyone of these reports are significant. We enclose the report on growth in cities. Stellenbosch is technically already a city more than it is a town. It is in any case part part of […]

…So here is my first concrete recommendation for turning Pittsburgh into the next Silicon Valley: do everything you can to encourage this youth-driven food boom. What could the city do? Treat the people starting these little restaurants and cafes as your users, and go ask them what they want. I can guess at least one thing they might want: a fast permit process. San Francisco has left you a huge amount of room to beat them in that department….

Stellenbosch’s tree heritage is in danger because they have become a danger

The Chilean Alejandro Aravena has been named the winner of the 2016 Pritzker Prize.

Having an open plan office was a new idea in the office of The Barbarian Group, a digital advertising agency in New York. There is only one table for all of the 140 workers. In addition, there is space for about 35 visitors.

Neighbourhood renovation often is a loaded term. Gentrification, as it is also called, brings new life and investment to old, dilapidated neighbourhoods. The improvements, on the other hand, push up the property prices and residents who have lived there for many years are often forced out because they cannot afford the new prices.

An erstwhile South African architect, Brian Vermeulen, is one of the winners of the Building Design for British architecture in 2016. The partnership Cottrell & Vermeulen won the overall gold award and also the award for education architect of the year for a new library and resource centre for Brentwood, an independent school in Essex.

The Serpentine Gallery annual summer pavilion, designed by a well-known architect, will this year be surrounded by four summerhouses.

Recent statistics show that ethnic groups no longer prefer to live in areas inhabited exclusively by people of the same race. This is true for London as well as many of the cities in the USA.

The northerly town of Kenilworth has announced twelve finalists in a design competition for a public toilet.

The role of horses and mules during the Anglo Boer War is well documented. But, asks Handré Brand on Litnet, who knew that two farms in the Koelenhof area provided the British with horses during this war?

Professor Todd Welch, renowned town planner from Stellenbosch, passed away. Professor Welch will be remembered for his perfectly crafted pencil notes in the margin, fine observation and genuine attention to detail, outspoken principled views on controversial issues…

The Cape Institute of Architects recently made awards to two new developments in the town. The Institute’s merit awards are announced every second year.

This year the awards go to a new home by Johann Slee, and changes by Revel Fox and associates to the Oude Werf hotel. Two years ago there were two winners from Stellenbosch as well: changes to 101 Dorp Street by Johann Slee; and changes to the Greater Stellenbosch Development Trust school and the AmaZink community centre in Kyamandi, by Jan Klinger.

A Municipal tender was just released for the redesign of the Klein Libertas theatre that recently burnt down.

The new Information Technology building at Stellenbosch University is the greenest building on campus.

This building designed by Elements Architecture embraces energy efficiency and renewable energy; good indoor environmental quality; and further innovation.

Read more about the design of the building:

Times Square in New York, one of the most famous places in the modern era, is receiving a facelift. The city council wants to ensure that the ‘Bowtie’, as the city’s residents refer to it, retains its outspoken and leading spirit, but also addresses the needs of an informal urban space successfully.

Read more and see photographs

Ten years ago, when many Stockholm streets became closed to traffic, about 70% of the residents opposed the move. Today this enjoys the support of the vast majority of people who work and live in the Swedish capital.

Discover how Stockholm became a pedestrian city

The London School of Life, founded by writer and philosopher Alain de Botton, distin-guishes six principles that affect the attractiveness of a city.

Why do we not accept it as the norm, rather than the problem? Informal settlements, or squatter camps, if you like, might be a democratic solution that authorities should investigate to find solutions for urban planning

“It is a moral position with specific curatorial challenges …” Structures that retain unpleasant memories, such as the Bastille or the Berlin Wall, are often destroyed. Is their conservation necessary?