Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 5hIf you visit our website between today and Saturday October 17, you may see this pop-up window. It’s not an ad; it’s not a paywall. We hope you’ll take a moment to pause and read, and to consider the growing importance of repair to our cultures and economies, our ecosystems and ecologies. 030
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 22hTen books. Ten capsule reviews by esteemed critics in the fields of architecture, landscape, and urbanism. Don't miss our latest Bookshelf roundup, which you can browse in this thread or read in full at placesjournal.org 060
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 22hIn his review of Izzy Kornblatt's book on the photographic work of Denise Scott Brown, Hugh Campbell remarks on the pleasures of its open-ended compendiousness. "It is arguably the very lack of editorial direction which gives this book its unrestrained and generous quality," he writes.placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 010
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Jaffer Kolb reviews INSURGENT PLAY by Duncan McDuie-Ra, a "slim and sincere book" that is perhaps itself too disciplined: "When scholars name the informal and explain the radical, they risk creating ever wider rifts between what is regulated and what is anarchic."placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 100
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Deepa Ramaswamy reviews THE HOMEGROWN CITY by Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava: "These essays are informed by political theory and history, but they shine when the light falls on the authors’ own experiences and intimate exchanges in the cities where they have worked." (@versobooks.bsky.social)placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 110
Reposted by Places JournalUniversity of Pittsburgh Press @upittpress.bsky.social · 14/10/2026"This deeply researched book on the spatialization of Fordist industrial practices in the second industrial revolution in the United States is long overdue." Terrific review of Fordism and the City by Jay Cephas in @placesjournal.bsky.social! placesjournal.org/article/book... 052
Reposted by Places JournalMichael Schaub @michaelschaub.bsky.social · 14/10/2026It was an honor to get to review Mark Lamster's book about Dallas architecture, "Welcome to Paradise City," for @placesjournal.bsky.social: placesjournal.org/article/book...placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 061
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Mark Lamster's WELCOME TO PARADOX CITY is "a portrait of a city that looms large in the American imagination," writes @michaelschaub.bsky.social. "Dallas is a tricky subject and rewards close attention. This book is as approachable as a guidebook but immeasurably richer." (@deepvellum.bsky.social)placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 121
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026@malini.bsky.social reviews THE DIVIDED CITY by architect and media scholar Amy Murphy: "Attentive to the entanglements between place and moving image, Murphy 'cross-maps' pivotal moments in the history of 20th century urbanism with their representation on screen." (@illinoispress.bsky.social)placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 122
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026RACIST BY DESIGN, a new book from eminent historian Kelly Lytle Hernández about the U.S. immigration machine, is "an exceedingly useful resource," writes Laura Barraclough. "The research is exhaustive, the evidence impeccably assembled, the argumentation bulletproof." (@wwnorton.com)placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 110
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Claire Zimmerman offers praise for Jay Cephas's FORDISM AND THE CITY, which positions Fordism as inherently anti-urban. "This insightful history helps pinpoint some of the predatory practices of technological capitalism, spawned in the North American industrial city." (@upittpress.bsky.social)placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 121
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026A new book from Claudia Horn examines the ecological dimensions of Rosa Luxemburg's economic theories. For readers looking for an entry into Luxemburg’s thinking about capitalism, and who enjoy thinking with and looking at flora, this book is for you, writes Juliana Spahr. (@orbooks.bsky.social)placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 110
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026David Serlin reviews BROKEN WORLDS, DISABLED KIN by @kellyfritsch.bsky.social & @anneemcguire.bsky.social, who "rebut the solution-oriented approaches that typify design for disability...Being disabled kin together is how we manage the effects of living in a broken world." (@uminnpress.bsky.social)placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 164
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Dr. Fadi Shayya calls @forensicarchi.bsky.social founder Eyal Weizman's new book UNGROUNDING "essential reading for anyone dedicated to human rights. It shows how the Israeli state spatially organizes genocide and how architecture’s methods can reconstruct and contest its material traces."placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 121
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14/10/2026Our latest book review roundup includes new work by Eyal Weizman, Kelly Lytle Hernández, and Mark Lamster. Izzy Kornblatt sifts through Denise Scott Brown’s photographs, disability scholars Kelly Fritsch and Anne McGuire discover a kinship with broken infrastructure...and that’s just half of it:placesjournal.orgBookshelf: Fall 2026 | Book Reviews in Places JournalRecent books on 'ungrounding' in Palestine, cinematic cities, urban playgrounds, disabled infrastructure, pressed flowers, and more. 1195
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Don’t miss these important reads from our archive, in honor of International Repair Day coming up this Saturday 🧵 040
Reposted by Places JournalPlaces Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Saturday October 17th is International Repair Day, when communities around the world will gather to celebrate the power and promise of repair. Most repair organizations focus on household goods and appliances. But just as important, we believe, is the repair of our built and natural environments. 13816
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026This Repair Day, we hope you’ll (re)read these timely essays in Places — and perhaps even participate in an upcoming repair-related event near you, which are being organized by repairday.org. How can we begin to put the world back together?repairday.orgInternational Repair Day - Repair Day 072
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026More recently, Places editor Nancy Levinson brought renewed attention to a thesis from preservationist James Marston Fitch, who argued that reuse of existing buildings should be prioritized over new construction. "At once simple and radical, his argument is more relevant than ever," Levinson writes.placesjournal.orgArchitects in WonderlandDecades ago, James Marston Fitch argued that reuse of existing buildings should be prioritized over new construction. His thesis is more relevant than ever. 1103
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026With rising interest in ethics of repair, we published a narrative survey featuring dispatches from nearly 100 scholars, designers, and activists around the world. "Field Notes on Repair" offered a barometer of attitudes toward repair and its role in our cultures, economies, and ecosystems.placesjournal.orgField Notes: RepairScholars, designers, planners, activists, and artists share observations on practices of repair, reuse, preservation, maintenance, and care. 172
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026In 2024, our series Repair Manual posed a difficult question: How might the design professions, premised on carbon-hungry growth, make the paradigm shift from building the world to repairing the world? In five essays, scholars explored what such a sociotechnical transformation might require.placesjournal.orgRepair ManualHow might the design professions adapt to the paradigm shift from building the world to repairing the world? 172
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026In a close reading of the survival film All Is Lost, architects Kiel Moe and Daniel S. Friedman offered notes on broken world design and life at the end of modernity. Just like Our Man clings to his failed boat, they write, "we find ourselves adrift, clinging to the wreckage of our failed projects."placesjournal.orgAll Is Lost: Notes on Broken World DesignJ.C. Chandor's elegiac film tells the story of one man’s struggle with nature. For designers, it's also a persuasive parable about our collective struggle with life at the end of modernity. 152
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Repair thinking has long animated this journal. In 2018, we published @shannonmattern.bsky.social's influential “Maintenance and Care,” which offers a “working guide to the repair of rust, dust, cracks, and corrupted code in our cities, our homes, and our social relations.”placesjournal.orgMaintenance and Care: Fixing a Broken WorldA working guide to the repair of rust, dust, cracks, and corrupted code in our cities, our homes, and our social relations. 1206
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13/10/2026Saturday October 17th is International Repair Day, when communities around the world will gather to celebrate the power and promise of repair. Most repair organizations focus on household goods and appliances. But just as important, we believe, is the repair of our built and natural environments. 13816
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 10/10/2026Next Saturday, October 17th, for International Repair Day, hundreds of events will bring people together to celebrate the power and promise of repair. Repair thinking has long animated this journal. Read on for some of our essential reads on the repair of our built and natural environments.mailchi.mpA Reading List for International Repair DayRepair thinking has long animated this journal. Here are our essential reads on the maintenance and care of our built environment. 02917
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 09/10/2026"Some will argue that I am asking too much of data, that a number is but one index and will never represent the full scope of loss. That may be true; yet given how the DINS count determines compensation amounts and rebuilding timelines, we need better methods of tabulating wildfire devastation."placesjournal.orgWhat the Count MissesWildfire recovery tends to overlook damage that can’t be measured. In Altadena, the number of buildings that burned in the Eaton Fire says little about what residents really lost. 062
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 07/10/2026"Knowing how many buildings burned, and how much of each building burned, is essential; but it tells us nothing about what the buildings were used for, who depended on them, and by what miracle of persistence they existed at all." Nicole Lambrou, on "What the Count Misses" in wildfire recovery:placesjournal.orgWhat the Count MissesWildfire recovery tends to overlook damage that can’t be measured. In Altadena, the number of buildings that burned in the Eaton Fire says little about what residents really lost. 032
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Wildfire recovery tends to overlook damage that can’t be measured. In Altadena, the number of buildings that burned in the Eaton Fire says little about what residents really lost. “A structure loss count that allocates no value to social infrastructure is dangerously incomplete.” — Nicole Lambrouplacesjournal.orgWhat the Count MissesWildfire recovery tends to overlook damage that can’t be measured. In Altadena, the number of buildings that burned in the Eaton Fire says little about what residents really lost. 061
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 06/10/2026Wildfire recovery planning in the U.S. is almost always driven by the number of buildings that burned. But in Altadena, this count says little about what was actually lost — about the social services and care infrastructures — and about all those whose lives depended on them. From Nicole Lambrou:placesjournal.orgWhat the Count MissesWildfire recovery tends to overlook damage that can’t be measured. In Altadena, the number of buildings that burned in the Eaton Fire says little about what residents really lost. 053
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026When a violent mob drove Punjabi settlers from Bellingham, WA, in 1907, the city became a flashpoint for exclusionary rhetoric and new carceral practices of detention and deportation. @rozinaali.bsky.social examines nativist hostilities in the Pacific Northwest at the turn of the century:placesjournal.orgA Riot in BellinghamWhen a violent mob drove Punjabi settlers from Bellingham, Washington, in 1907, the town became a flashpoint for exclusionary rhetoric and restrictive immigration. 074
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 30/09/2026When a violent mob drove Punjabi settlers from Bellingham, Washington, in 1907, the city became a flashpoint for exclusionary rhetoric and restrictive immigration. For An Unfinished Atlas, @rozinaali.bsky.social writes about the anxieties that fueled nativist hostilities at the turn of the century.placesjournal.orgA Riot in BellinghamWhen a violent mob drove Punjabi settlers from Bellingham, Washington, in 1907, the town became a flashpoint for exclusionary rhetoric and restrictive immigration. 062
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Benjamin Mehigan is the recipient of the latest On the Brinck | Places Prize, our ongoing collaboration with the SA+P @unm.edu. Mehigan's project will focus on the Roadless Rule, and the impact its rescission would have on millions of acres of public land in Arizona, New Mexico, and across the U.S.placesjournal.orgBenjamin Mehigan Wins 2026 On the Brinck | Places PrizeMehigan's project will focus on the Roadless Rule, and the impact its rescission would have on public lands in the U.S. — including 2.7 million acres of forests in Arizona and New Mexico. 041
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 19/09/2026From our September newsletter: Mireille Roddier, on air-conditioning and the distribution of comfort; Linda Quiquivix, on the limits of North America; and Jen Rose Smith, on the tale of a blind man and a loon.mailchi.mpMetabolic Rifts. Imaginary Mexico. Arctic Storytelling.On air conditioning and the distribution of comfort; the limits of North America; and the tale of a blind man and a loon. 064
Reposted by Places JournalPlaces Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026A tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic tells of a blind man who, with the aid of a loon, kills a woman he feels has wronged him. @sprucehen.bsky.social writes about the elusive nature of language, and the intricacies of a story that's been passed down orally for generations.placesjournal.orgBlind Man and LoonA tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic reveals the elusive nature of language, and has come to shape many Native connections to place. 0104
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026A tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic tells of a blind man who, with the aid of a loon, kills a woman he feels has wronged him. @sprucehen.bsky.social writes about the elusive nature of language, and the intricacies of a story that's been passed down orally for generations.placesjournal.orgBlind Man and LoonA tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic reveals the elusive nature of language, and has come to shape many Native connections to place. 0104
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026A tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic tells of a blind man who, with the aid of a loon, kills a woman he feels has wronged him. The story reveals the elusive nature of dAXunhyuuga’, the Eyak language, and the intricacies of a legend passed down orally for generations.placesjournal.orgBlind Man and LoonA tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic reveals the elusive nature of language, and has come to shape many Native connections to place. 0101
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 15/09/2026A tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic tells of a blind man who, with the aid of a loon, kills a woman he feels has wronged him. It is unsurprising that this bird, expert diver and water navigator, with its singular call, has come to shape so many Native stories of place.placesjournal.orgBlind Man and LoonA tale shared by Native peoples across the circumpolar Arctic reveals the elusive nature of language, and has come to shape many Native connections to place. 031
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 11/09/2026After 9/11, thousands of tons of steel debris from the WTC was gifted to memorials around the country. "This relic steel is imbued with conflicting emotions: it's an emblem of closure, organizing civic attention at sites of solace, while also encouraging militarism and a fascination with strength."placesjournal.orgRelic SteelAfter 9/11, the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. catalogued hundreds of pieces of steel debris. Much of it ended up in small municipal memorials in office parks and parking lots around the country. 041
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 11/09/2026In the aftermath of 9/11, the Port Authority gifted 1,800 pieces of steel debris to municipal memorials in the U.S. and abroad. "These installations physicalize and parcel out the memory of the towers and their destruction," wrote Samuel & Max Holleran. "They are imbued with conflicting emotions."placesjournal.orgRelic SteelAfter 9/11, the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. catalogued hundreds of pieces of steel debris. Much of it ended up in small municipal memorials in office parks and parking lots around the country. 040
Reposted by Places JournalPlaces Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 11/09/2026The U.S. just had its hottest summer on record. As did France, and Spain, and the UK. This past August was Earth’s hottest ever recorded. Reflecting on a summer of heat waves, Mireille Roddier shares how she’s kept her home cool, without A/C, and what such practices teach us about planetary care.placesjournal.orgNot CoolKeeping a Parisian apartment cool during record heatwaves can teach us how to more sustainably manage the energy flows of cities, economies, and the planet. 02010
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 11/09/2026The U.S. just had its hottest summer on record. As did France, and Spain, and the UK. This past August was Earth’s hottest ever recorded. Reflecting on a summer of heat waves, Mireille Roddier shares how she’s kept her home cool, without A/C, and what such practices teach us about planetary care.placesjournal.orgNot CoolKeeping a Parisian apartment cool during record heatwaves can teach us how to more sustainably manage the energy flows of cities, economies, and the planet. 02010
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 09/09/2026"We need to remember the everyday caretaking practices that predate constant access to easy energy," Mireille Roddier writes. "Keeping heat out demands the same care as keeping my plants alive." On the limits of air conditioning, and the need to realign our expectations of comfort indoors:placesjournal.orgNot CoolKeeping a Parisian apartment cool during record heatwaves can teach us how to more sustainably manage the energy flows of cities, economies, and the planet. 081
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 03/09/2026"Energy cannot be decoupled from capital, nor from its inevitable dissipation as heat. The further I displace this expenditure, the more I can ignore it or pretend it can be offset. I can try to make my thermal waste someone else’s problem, as if we were not all bound together." —Mireille Roddier 071
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 03/09/2026"Some have calculated that, were each Parisian housing unit to be equipped with air conditioning, the city would gain additional 5-10ºC during heat waves, rendering the entire capital uninhabitable." Mireille Roddier, on what the thermodynamics of one apartment can teach us about planetary care:placesjournal.orgNot CoolKeeping a Parisian apartment cool during record heatwaves can teach us how to more sustainably manage the energy flows of cities, economies, and the planet. 0196
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Not only will such changes improve our sensorial lives, Soper argues; they can also help inspire an “alternative politics of prosperity” premised on sustainability. (3/3) From the Places Archive:placesjournal.orgThe Trouble with ConsumptionThe contradictions between capitalist needs and ecological imperatives are impossible to ignore. How might the tenets of alternative hedonism foster new mandates for radical political change? 020
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 02/09/2026Soper reminds us that conscientious resistance to consumer culture needn’t feel like a burden. In fact, she writes, “alternative hedonism dwells on the pleasures to be gained by adopting a less high-speed, consumption-oriented way of living.” (2/3) 130
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 02/09/2026As Labor Day sales multiply and retailers tempt you into purchasing all manner of things you do not need, consider this essay by the British philosopher Kate Soper, part of her argument for “alternative hedonism.” (1/3)placesjournal.orgThe Trouble with ConsumptionThe contradictions between capitalist needs and ecological imperatives are impossible to ignore. How might the tenets of alternative hedonism foster new mandates for radical political change? 1114
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 02/09/2026“The better we understand energy flows at the scale of an apartment, the more wisely we can manage them in service of a livable metropolis or planet.” @mireio.bsky.social on how she keeps her Parisian apartment cool, without AC, during record heatwaves—and what it’s taught her about planetary care:placesjournal.orgNot CoolKeeping a Parisian apartment cool during record heatwaves can teach us how to more sustainably manage the energy flows of cities, economies, and the planet. 1131
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 02/09/2026"I need to lower my metabolism not only to match my neighbor’s, but also that of my neighbor’s neighbor, and theirs, until we are again operating within earth’s carrying capacity at every scale, from the apartment to the globe — until our collective metabolisms approximate that of nature." 0132