Taksim Square – Gezi Park Protests, İstanbul | IMAGE CREDIT | Alan Hilditch

Turkish Prime Minister Is Practicing Landscape Architecture Without a License | Professor Sadik Artunc, FASLA, RLA | The Dirt
“The proposed plans do not seem to give even a cursory thought to the needs of pedestrians. They do not offer any significant design elements for the human scale. Perhaps another unstated objective of the PM is to minimize and eventually remove the monument to the Independence War…”

Landscape architect Peter Walker, who designed the Nasher garden, strongly denounces Museum Tower and its ownership | mgranberry | Dallas News
“Peter Walker, the much-heralded landscape architect, who designed the garden of the Nasher Sculpture Center, came out ferociously in defense of his project on Thursday.”

Researcher to study, develop public ‘healing spaces’ | Cornell Cornicle
“A Cornell researcher leads a team that was recently awarded a $750,000 National Open Spaces Sacred Places (OSSP) Award from the TKF Foundation to design, build and research spaces in Joplin, Mo., and in the New York City metropolitan area – that will focus on healing aspects of the human-nature interaction in the wake of disaster.”

Portland’s new tree code is a wise investment in our urban forest: Guest opinion | Meryl Redisch | Oregon Live
“Building the new tree code involved more than five years of work, city resources and community participation. The explicit goals set by citizen stakeholders for developing a new code were to streamline regulations, improve customer service, protect trees better during development and in general, and ensure compliance.”

Building Hyperdensity and Civic Delight | Vishaan Chakrabarti | Design Observer
“Sound urban development is the lynchpin of the hyperdense environment. Yet public advocacy for high-density development is extraordinarily low, primarily because its merits are misunderstood.”

Atkins to develop Eco-Low Carbon Urban Planning Guidance in China | Atkins
“Atkins has won an important new commission to develop guidance for eco-low carbon (ELC) urban planning in China. Funded by the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office Prosperity Fund and led by Atkins’ sustainable planning team in Beijing, the project involves working with both national government agencies and city governments and is aimed at providing a key, high profile reference point for ELC urban planning in China. ”

Ten Sustainable Ideas to Transform Cities | This Big City
Sustainia 100 is a catalogue of transformative ideas for sustainability – a “one-stop toolbox for sustainable solutions,” if you will. A new ‘toolbox’ is put together annually by the Danish organisation Sustainia,

NYC presents the City’s long-term plan to further prepare for the impacts of a changing climate
“A Stronger, More Resilient New York”, a comprehensive plan that contains actionable recommendations both for rebuilding the communities impacted by Sandy and increasing the resilience of infrastructure and buildings citywide.”

IMAGE CREDIT | Taksim Square – Gezi Park Protests, İstanbul | by Flickr User Alan Hilditch