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Nearly 6,000 planning practitioners and scholars converged in Philadelphia last week for the 99th annual national conference of the American Planning Association (APA). A theme evident in many of the 300 seminars was how U.S. cities are grappling with what one presenter termed the “post-Federal” era: the current climate in which municipalities can no longer rely on federal monies but must instead secure philanthropic and corporate support to help resolve social and infrastructure problems. Green space, many speakers agreed, is a critical asset that cities may use to their benefit. Environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy gave the conference’s keynote. He contended

Paris is one of the world’s cultural capitals, but a key offering is missing from its menu: a state-of-the-art symphony hall. That’s about to change. Earlier this month Jean Nouvel was selected as the winner of an international competition to design the Philharmonie de Paris, a music complex that will be the future home of the Orchestre de Paris. Images courtesy: Ateliers Jean Nouvel Slated to open in 2012, the new complex will be located in the Parc de la Villette. In addition to providing a contemporary performance space, the Philharmonie de Paris will be the city’s first full-fledged professional

Editor’s note: New this week, with the unveiling of the redesigned ArchRecord.com, you may read the news digest below—or listen to it, plus other news headlines from ArchRecord.com, as a podcast. Click the play button to begin | Click here to download Is Frank Gehry’s Manhattan debut a “minor mood piece” or a “milky hulk”? Take your pick of these less-than-flattering phrases to describe his IAC office building in Chelsea, which Newsday critic Justin Davidson reviewed on April 15. “Instead of being a marvelous mirage, it’s only an office building wrapped in a gimmick,” he wrote of the white-glass-clad structure.

Bint Jbail is a small town in southern Lebanon. Labeled a Hezbollah stronghold, it was especially hard hit by Israeli air strikes during last summer’s war—more than 2,500 houses were damaged and 800 completely destroyed. But when Howayda Al-Harithy, an associate professor of architecture at the American University of Beirut and a member of its postwar reconstruction unit, arrived shortly after the August 14 cease-fire, she found reason for hope. Photo: © Gabriela Bulisova Photo: © Jessica Dheere As a preservation expert, Al-Harithy saw that much of Bint Jbail’s historic fabric had survived. On returning to Beirut, she asked her

In the absence of concerted federal leadership, cities and states have been taking the lead in addressing the issue of climate change. But now, with the help of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the federal government is stepping up to the plate. The day after his State of the Union speech in January, President Bush signed Executive Order 13423, which mandates green building targets for all executive branch agencies. Topping a long list of goals, it calls for a 3 percent annual reduction in energy intensity, defined as energy consumption per square foot of building space, and increased use

Ask David Childs, of Skidmore Owings & Merrill, what he thinks the most important project in New York City is right now and his reply might surprise you—not the Freedom Tower, as you might expect, but the relocation of Penn Station from its current site under Madison Square Garden into a McKim Mead & White post office across the street. Click above to watch a video of some of New York's most influential architects discussing the city's future. “It’s the centerpiece of New York, it’s the front door,” Childs says. “It’s the piece that ties us together along to the

With the ambitious goal of reducing its greenhouses gas emissions 30 percent by the year 2030, the City of New York recently completed an inventory of its carbon output from buildings and transportation—and the results weren’t pretty when it comes to buildings, which contribute a whopping 79 percent of the total emissions. The audit is the most comprehensive ever undertaken by a city. Its findings came as a surprise to some observers, given that New Yorkers, with their tiny apartments and extensive mass transit network, produce about one-third the carbon per capita compared to the national average. Given the city’s