World Wide Wednesday: Buffalo, Los Angeles and Palma

Each week we will be focusing on blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues.

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• Construction of a major Canal side redevelopment plan in Buffalo could begin by June of next year according to Buffalo’s Business First Magazine. The $300 million project (funded with both public and private money) would transform a 20-acre stretch along the city’s lower Main Street “into a mix of canals, shops, restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues”.

• A recent article in Wired Magazine looks at the politicization of infrastrucutre spending in the United States. The “transportation-heavy” American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is receiving a major backlash from Americans fearful of government waste and overspending. The article muses on the consequence of this anti-spending campaign “for a country that simply must invest heavily in infrastructure” to survive.

• Los Angeles Downtown News has compiled a list of the city’s 10 largest development blunders over the past decade. From unused rail stations to empty parks and vacant buildings the list provides an excellent lesson in how not to plan cities.

• The Polis Blog looks at attempts to revitalize the Corea neighborhood in Palma, Spain “a group of 26 …..buildings known for delinquency, drug use and social conflict…” asking whether revitalization can ever ameliorate (rather than just mask) a community’s social and economic woes.

Photo of abandoned Hall of Justice in Los Angeles by Joe Decruyenaere