Arts
Architecture
Journalist Tom Friedman reflects on 28 years of reporting.
Human-centered architecture puts user needs at the center of the buildings in which people work, play, learn, and heal, recognizing that design decisions play a potent role in mental and physical wellbeing. In clinical settings, health-promoting spaces are easy for patients and visitors to navigate, let in natural light, minimize intrusive noise, and foster respect for hum...
The spaces in which societies undertake to care for their citizens — ranging from health facilities and schools to prisons — have across time shaped fundamental architectural ideas. What do the spaces we build say about our priorities, including our commitment to equal access? What resources are needed to provide dignity and parity around key resources, including the most...
The word city is not exactly synonymous with nature. Yet increasingly, urban landscapes offer innovative canvases for designers and artists who use ecology and horticulture as their medium. As the bustling field of landscape architecture makes its way into everything from infrastructure projects like the High Line to commercial stores lining Fifth Avenue, how are these des...
Philosophers debate the nature of beauty, and poets write tributes to it, but how does science answer the age-old question of whether beauty is in the eye of the beholder? The growing field of neuroaesthetics seeks to illuminate our understanding of how our brains respond to people, places, and things we find beautiful. Designers and architects are now using what science t...
Before signing the $1.2 trillion dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, President Biden put Mitch Landrieu in charge of executing its vision. In this role, the former New Orleans mayor oversees the biggest investment in American infrastructure in generations. With promises of generating millions of high-paying jobs, fixing supply chains, and repairing America’s roa...
From San Antonio to Boston, Los Angeles to Cincinnati, and thousands of communities between, the power of place is about unearthing collective purpose and capital — and how the Aspen Institute helps build that capital. Hear from visionaries who zero in on historical traumas to rebuild trust and a sense of community, from an expert tapping new sources of capital to fuel ent...
From purple mountain majesties to cities built on coastlines, American landscapes are as diverse as the people that inhabit them. How does our relationship to the outdoors define us as individuals and as a nation? In his new PBS show “America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston,” comedian and civic educator Baratunde Thurston explores this question, uncovering America’s compl...
Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic Paul Goldberger shares an entirely new look at the history of baseball, as told through the stories of the stadiums where the game is played. Reminding us that baseball’s history is a mirror of our cultural history, Goldberger explores how America’s favorite pastime has shaped our cities, both physically and psychologically. Sti...
From churches and libraries to parks and offices, the space we inhabit affects how we interact with others. How these spaces are designed, and ultimately used and maintained, are part of an established social infrastructure that determines our feeling of connectedness with one another. Spaces that are aesthetically impoverished deter interaction, while those that are invit...
Africa is having a creative moment. Architects, fashion designers, illustrators, furniture designers, jewelers, and others are collecting a continent’s worth of influences and showcasing them on a global stage. Organizations are stepping forward to champion the notion that creativity and design have the power to fuel an economic revolution. One such organization, Design In...
In Palaces for the People, New York Times best-selling author Eric Klinenberg believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, bookstores, churches, synagogues, and parks where crucial, sometimes life-saving connections, are formed. In this eye-opening and uplifting session, Klinenber...
Acoustics, intimacy, clarity: One could argue that how and where we listen to music is as important to the experience as the music itself. “The orchestra has to feel the audience, the audience has to feel the orchestra,” said architect Frank Gehry on his design of the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, which opened in 2017. “When they do that, the orchestra plays better, and th...
Leonardo da Vinci's boundless curiosity renders him perhaps the greatest creative genius.
Innovation is the driver of economic growth in the global economy, and cities and metropolitan areas are the wellspring of innovation. But the benefits of innovation and the resources that support innovation do not always reach all corners of the metropolis, and this exacerbates economic and social divisions that hinder our economy and weaken our communities. We can bridge...
Across the nation, cities and metropolitan areas, and the networks of pragmatic leaders who govern them, are taking on the big issues that Washington won’t—or can’t—solve. They are reshaping our economy and fixing our broken political system.