I've always been partial to architectural mountains—from the Mayans to Bruno Taut—so I was delighted to see the hilly design that Beijing-based MAD Architects has proposed for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Chicago.

What are the factors—political, social, or environmental—that architects should consider when deciding if they should turn down or resign from a job? Rendering: courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects The al-Wakrah stadium by Zaha Hadid will be one of the featured venues at the 2022 World Cup complex in Qatar. Since January 2012, almost 900 workers have died during construction on the complex, according to The Guardian. Photo © AP Photo/Pat Sullivan The death chamber at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville was the site of an execution in May 2008. Some organizations are asking architects to refuse jobs that involve designing

It's time for New York and other cities to connect urban planning to social equity. Image courtesy Related Companies The 26-acre Hudson Yards development, above, envisions 13 million square feet of commercial and residential space, plus shops, restaurants, a luxury hotel, a cultural venue, and a park on Manhattan's west side. Dear Mayor Bill de Blasio: Along with many other architects and urbanists, I'm looking forward to your taking office this month as mayor of New York City, and working to implement the theme of your campaign, the elimination of the increasingly radical disparities that underlie that 'tale of two

A recent book by New Urbanist authors revives an old battle with Landscape Urbanism. Photo © Iwan Baan The High Line in New York, designed by James Corner Field Operations with Diller Scofidio + Renfro, is criticized by Andres Duany for being too expensive and over-designed. It's hard to keep up with the musical deck chairs in the disciplines these days. The boundaries of architecture, city planning, urban design, landscape architecture, sustainability, computation, and other fields are shifting like crazy, and one result is endless hybridization–green urbanism begets landscape urbanism, which begets ecological urbanism, which begets agrarian urbanism–each “ism” claiming

Emily Talen, Co-editor, Landscape Urbanism and its Discontents: Dissimulating the Sustainable City Readers: Michael Sorkin sounds tired, and who can blame him? This master of critique has made a career out of eviscerating buildings, architects, fellow writers, and anyone who rubs him the wrong way. How unexpected of him to now propose a why-can't-we-all-get-along harmony when so many are already lying dead on the Sorkin battlefield. We too would like to move on from this old and distracting debate. Unfortunately, while Mr. Sorkin tries to reinvent himself as the great peacekeeper, billions are wasted on efforts to ruralize the city.