Where the Chicago Accent Comes from and How Politics is Changing it (Chicago Mag)

"In a lengthy PowerPoint presentation, Labov shows how the Erie Canal moved the New England settlement stream west along the Great Lakes (separate settlement streams moved southwest from Pennsylvania and west from the coastal South). So, in some part, momentum carried an entirely separate linguistic culture along that narrow band."

World of Chicago (NBC 5)

'Father of carbon trading' predicts growth in clean-tech startups (Crain's)

"Crain's met with Mr. Sandor recently to learn more about why he's betting the Midwest -- and Chicago in particular -- will grow to become the next Silicon Valley of clean technology and other green businesses."

Top Architectural Record award for Guangzhou Opera House? Really? (Archinect)

"Promoting clearly flawed design as the “best” we have to offer is demeaning and makes us look ridiculous to people outside the architecture subculture. This is how we lose power in the larger society and become marginalized as a discipline."

The Unprecedented Urban Dynamic in Pennsylvania's Voter ID Law (Atlantic Cities)

"As many as 280,000 voters in Philadelphia may need to get an ID between now and November to have their votes counted."

Mayor Emanuel says Chicago economy is booming (Op-Ed in the Sun-Times)

"We are not riding a national trend; our strategy for economic growth is creating our own trend. Because we are not resting on our strengths but investing in them, companies have the confidence to invest and grow in Chicago."

Wiel Arets named Dean of The Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture (Cityscapes)

"Arets, who was dean of the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam from 1995-2002, will join IIT this fall and will lead an academic program originally shaped by the vision and work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe."

The Creative Class' 10th Birthday (The New Republic)

"At the same time, Stauber says, Florida’s regional determinism overlooks the role that specific decisions and investments have played in making some places thrive. It’s no accident, for one thing, that many of his most “creative” cities are home to public universities. Why assume that new investments might not prop up other places as well?"

Second Nature City - 2009 Masters of Architecture Thesis

Open publication - Free publishing

Nice to find this on the web - it was better than I remember it. Very happy - hope others find it interesting.

Chicago's economy improving faster than other major cities (WBEZ)

According to a new report, Chicago's had the largest decline in unemployment in the last year among the top ten metro areas in the nation. The report comes from Austan Goolsbee, the University of Chicago professor and one of President Obama's former economic advisors.

A Cluster Grows in Chicago (Richard Longworth)

"There's been a run of good news for Chicago recently which, apart from giving Mayor Rahm Emanuel some happy headlines, tell us something about the nature of global cities, about the shape of this new economy, and about who wins and who loses."

American Violence and Southern Culture (Chicago Mag)

"Part of Lemann's thesis, not that he ignores the effects of segregation and concentrated poverty, is that the divide between city and backcountry was also brought north: "Every aspect of the underclass culture in the ghettos is directly traceable to roots in the South -- and not the South of slavery but the South of a generation ago."

Is Detroit Becoming Michigan's Next Suburb?  (The Detroit News)

"The native Detroiters, tired of the struggle and lack of change, see problems, while the new Detroiters — armed with energy and excitement — see possibilities."

Chicago Regional Unity? Milwaukee Takes The Lead (Richard Longworth)

"Milwaukee already has set itself up as the freshwater capital of the world with its Water Council and the new Freshwater School at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Chicago's City Hall and other leaders are just beginning to take notice: water companies in the city have formed a trade group called Blue Tech Alliance. The job now is to get these players around the same table, to enable the two cities to leverage their water-based assets to create a global freshwater center that could be an investment magnet in an increasingly arid world."

"The Power of the Post-Industrial City" (Don Carter, Pittsburgh TED talk)

Chicago Creating more Jobs than Most U.S. Cities (NBC)

"Right now there are 28,000 more people with jobs in Chicago compared to a year ago, and the number of workers looking for a job dropped by almost 20,000.

Houston was the only U.S. city that created more jobs than Chicago."

Visionary Proposals of the Chicago River's South Branch (Chicago Journal)

"Organized by Chicago-based Skidmore Owings & Merrill and the Friends of the Chicago River (the museum’s parent organization), the exhibit is a culmination a semester-long project by a group of Harvard University architecture and urban planning graduate students."

Batman and Gotham (Atlantic Cities)

Image Credit

Drought, Ethanol & Shrinking Airports (Richard Longworth)

It's heresy to say this in the corn-growing areas of the Midwest, but ethanol is a boondoggle. Its long-term viability depends on continued high and stable prices for two of the planet's most volatile commodities, corn and oil.

Chicago Increasing Pedestrian Space with Mini "Parklets" (Architects Newspaper)

"QCDC is a Bronzeville-based non-profit that is partnering with the city to pilot a portion of Make Way for People known as People Spots. People Spots essentially expand sidewalk seating onto portions of the street sometimes referred to as "parklets."