Take advantage of some downtime this summer to refresh your RSS feeds and favorite bookmarks! Here’s a list of some of our favorite go-to websites for analysis and commentary on the topics close to our program: architecture, urban planning, cities, development, the humanitarian sector and social impact design. We’d love to add to this list, so please add your own favorites in the comments section!
Aidspeak – The blog of humanitarian social network AidSource, it covers a range of topics related to international development written by a host of well-known development bloggers.
Architecture in Development – A user-generated database of community-led design projects and a platform that invites the world to research collaboratively the cultural, social, economic and various contexts behind architecture projects.
Affordable Housing Institute Blog – Where staff and associates of the Affordable Housing Institute explore affordable housing issues worldwide.
CityLab – Analysis, original reporting, and visual storytelling focused on the biggest ideas and most pressing issues facing the world’s metro areas and neighborhoods.
Cities Project NPR – NPR’s series on urban life in the 21st century. Each article is accompanied by a short podcast feature.
Failed Architecture – Examines architecture not just from an architectural discourse, but as a product of the political, economic and social conditions of its time. Advocates for more holistic, 360-degree observations that lay bare the downsides of urban development and architecture in order to learn from past and contemporary failures.
From Poverty to Power – A conversational blog written and maintained by Duncan Green, strategic adviser for Oxfam GB and author of ‘From Poverty to Power’, on topics including economics, aid, politics, climate change, global finance, gender, human rights, conflict and security.
Guardian Cities – Everything about cities.
Guardian Development – News and analysis about global development issues.
Impact Design Hub – Online resource for architects, designers, makers, and others committed to working in public interest, social impact, humanitarian, and community design.
Metropolis – A leading voice at the intersection of architecture, design and culture.
NextCity – Daily coverage of the leaders, policies and innovations driving progress in metropolitan regions across the world.
Polis – A collective blog about cities worldwide. In operation since 2009, it features eclectic content that integrates theory and practice, observation and engagement, research and development, critique and creativity.
Popup City – Explores citizen-led initiatives and temporary projects by people hoping to make their cities better.
Project for Public Spaces – Blog of the nonprofit planning, design and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities.
The Funambulist – A blog by Leopold Lambert on the “Politics of Space and Bodies” and the relationship between architecture and power.
The Global Urbanist – Urban affairs and urban development issues in cities throughout the developed and developing world, covering planning, governance, economy, communities, environment, and international.
Urbanophile – Blog of urban analyst Aaron M. Renn, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an opinion-leading writer and speaker on a mission to help America’s cities thrive and find sustainable success in the 21st century.
Urb.im – A global community working for just and inclusive cities that connects practitioners in 23 cities and throughout the world to establish an international community of practice and learning, sharing ideas and experiences in order to innovate, replicate, and scale working solutions to the problem of urban poverty.
Volume – Going beyond architecture’s definition of ‘making buildings’, it reaches out for global views on designing environments, advocates broader attitudes to social structures, and reclaims the cultural and political significance of architecture.