LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE IN THE NEWS HIGHLIGHTS (MARCH 16-31)

A new public square in the Fawwar refugee camp in the West Bank, June 2014 / Adam Ferguson/The New York Times/Redux via NY Review of Books

Municipality Updating Anchorage’s Dated Land Use Plan – Alaskan Public Media, 3/17/16
“The most-recent projections – which have been adjusted since the price of oil has declined – anticipate Anchorage’s population will grow between 15,000 and 45,000 people within the next 25 years.”

A Closer Look at Oceanwide Center’s Proposed Public Open Space – Hoodline, 3/22/16
“The team behind the massive office, hotel and residential development proposed for First and Mission streets, Oceanwide Center, has grand plans for their open space requirement. If approved, 47 percent of the project’s ground-floor area will be privately-owned public open space, accessible to anyone.”

Why Landscapers Are Planting Crops on the Arch Grounds – The St. Louis Dispatch, 3/22/16
“Crews planted about 400,000 last fall. By the end of October, tufts of bright green had sprouted in unruly rows all over the national park. They’ve now largely decomposed. But they did what they were supposed to: They sent their thick tap roots almost two feet deep. They froze this winter and died. And they left hundreds of thousands of long, skinny holes in the ground, softening soil that has been compacting for decades.”

Shade Plants: Gardening in the Dark – The Chicago Tribune, 3/24/16
“Sunlight is overrated. Sure, lilacs, and lavender need hours of sunlight to thrive. But give us shade plants such as hostas, ferns, tree peonies, and lacecap hydrangeas luxuriating in a dappled shade, and we’re over the moon.”

Child’s Play – The Hindu, 3/25/16
“Sourav Kumar Biswas, while studying landscape architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, wrote, ‘By placing children as the focus of our planning and design processes, we will be designing for those who are the most vulnerable. A neighborhood that improves the ability of children to move and play freely while growing up without health risks is also one that is safe for women and accessible to the old.’”

The Craving for Public Squares – The New York Review of Books, April Issue
“The twenty-first century is the first urban century in human history, the first time more people on the planet live in cities than don’t. Experts project that some 75 percent of the booming global population will be city dwellers by 2050.”

A Sunken Skyscraper in Central Park Is the Worst Idea in History – CityLab, 3/26/16
“Never mind that tearing up Central Park is a non-starter. Set aside the fact that it’s one of the most beloved parks in the world. Disregard all the structural and infrastructural reasons why it would be next to impossible to strip Central Park down to bedrock.”

Lynn Wolf; Brought Color and Zest into Lives of Others – The Boston Globe, 3/30/16
“Ms. Wolff, who combined a seriousness of purpose with a serious pursuit of fun, died March 20, the day after turning 60, in Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers of cancer that had metastasized. She had lived in Boston for many years.”