San Francisco is the city veiled in fog, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean, known for its precipitous hills. Now, more often than not, the city is uttered in the same breath as Silicon Valley and skyrocketing rent prices. Those who have left their hearts in San Francisco at one time or another, may be astonished...

Santiago Calatrava’s work explores the significance of place and its human context by considering both topographical and cultural landscapes. In this sense, Calatrava believes that it is fundamental to form a relationship – a feeling and sense of spirituality – with a physical site. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on...

One of the earliest areas where you see a social influence on wallpaper are designs with innovations in mobility. As people began exploring America’s scenic wonders in the 1820s, many Americans satisfied their wanderlust with river excursions, and the Hudson valley became a major destination. It was around this time manufacturers started printing designs that...

2013 National Design Award winner Margie Ruddick is recognized for her pioneering, environmental approach to urban landscape design, forging a design language that integrates ecology, urban planning, and culture. Ruddick fosters the idea of nature in the city through projects including New York's Queens Plaza, and Trenton Capital Park on the Delaware River. Ruddick's international...

Artist Shinique Smith has been commissioned by the MTA's Arts for Transit program to integrate her art-inspired design into architectural elements of the Mother Clara Hale Bus Depot. John Reddick will speak with Smith about how this project evolved, and how this public structure will incorporate contemporary innovations in building technology and art-related enhancement. The...

Janette Sadik-Khan is this year's National Design Award winner in the Design Patron category. Hear her speak about what design means to her. The National Design Awards were conceived by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum to honor lasting achievement in American design. The Awards are bestowed in recognition of excellence, innovation, and enhancement of...

Over the next months while the Design with the Other 90%: CITIES exhibition is on display at the United Nations Headquarters in New York several individuals whose own research explores the exhibition’s subject matter have been invited to write blog entries sharing their insights, related research and projects. – Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially...

A recent article by Urban Gardens features New York City designer Marco Antonio Castro Cosio. As part of his graduate thesis at New York University the designer presented a project that “aims to reclaim the forgotten space on the tops of city buses, while enhancing the quality of urban life by proliferating green spaces on...

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By the year 2050, about 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers with much less space and resources available to support the current personal automobile, sprawl, and highway infrastructure-focused transportation paradigm. Speakers Dickson Despommier, Dan Albert and Sue Zielinski will present their visions for the future of cities that include models for...

Over the next two weeks on the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog, students from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team blog their impressions and inspirations of the current exhibition,‘Why Design Now?’.     This year the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Triennial: Why Design Now? explores topics of sustainable design. Current...

Over the next two weeks on the Cooper-Hewitt Design Blog, students from an interdisciplinary graduate-level course on the Triennial taught by the Triennial curatorial team blog their impressions and inspirations of the current exhibition,‘Why Design Now?’.     If there is one design on view at the 2010 Triennial that affects the lives of every...

Why? Mobility on-demand and shared use are alternatives to private car ownership, and CityCar is a concept vehicle that combines the two. This two-passenger electric car can be made available from a network of urban parking zones, where users swipe a card and take the first fully charged vehicle. It provides a non-polluting, noise-free, energy-efficient,...

2010. Director/editor: Brian McAllister. Courtesy of: Institute for Transportation & Development Policy. Guangzhou Bus Rapid Transit (GBRT) is a sustainable high-capacity transportation system that saves its passengers 32 million hours of commuting time a year by using infrastructure improvements such as dedicated bus lanes, intermodal integration with subway lines, a bike-sharing system, pre-ticketing smart card,...

2010. Editors: Juan Osorio Salas, Telemedellín, Universidad EAFIT–Medellín, Colombia, Urbam Medellín, Center for Urban and Environmental Studies, EAFIT. Courtesy of editors. New public transportation and elevated cable cars, coupled with the design of social and physical interventions through the Integral Urban Project, have successfully transformed Medellín into an inclusive city for all of its residents.