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Places Journal

@placesjournal.bsky.social

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Architecture, landscape, urbanism. Independent nonprofit public scholarship on the built environment. Free & accessible to all. Read: http://placesjournal.org Sign up: placesjournal.org/newsletter Donate: https://placesjournal.org/donate/

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Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · Nov 20

We publish independent public scholarship on buildings, landscapes and cities, combining the immediacy & accessibility of journalism with the depth of academic research.

This journal is animated by the conviction that the environment is public, and writing about it should be public, too.

Join us!

Reposted by Places Journal

Marthine Satris @msatris.bsky.social · 7h

This essay on place making in a pluralist city, valuing memory and identity and acknowledging fracture, but also moving toward a collective rebuilding and repair, is vital reading. It's about Homs in Syria, but no city can design its way out of history: placesjournal.org/article/mapp...

Memory Maps of Homs, Syria

A mapping workshop with refugees from Homs, Syria, illuminates the complexity of rebuilding after war.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 6h

The shutdown of the federal government has entered its second week.

In 2019, during a shutdown lasting 35 days, Nancy Levinson wrote about how a shutdown reveals the unsung work of the federal civil service — and the peril of tasking unqualified people with project management of the United States.

Two recent books offer compelling perspectives on the debate between private interest and public good. They also raise provocative questions about an activist agenda for the design disciplines.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 8h

“After the Syrian civil war ended in 2024, transition leaders begun talk of reconstruction. But whose Homs do they want to rebuild? …We have to learn to see the city how others see it, drawing maps, starting from the places we know best and filling in the spaces between through careful negotiation.”

Hand-drawn, birds-eye view map of Homs created during a mapping workshop.

A hand-drawn map of Homs with text bubbles describing different parts of the city.

Destroyed buildings in a pile of rubble near the Al-Hamidiyeh neighborhood, Homs.

Syrian refugees gather and raise flags in a plaza in Berlin.

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 23h

"The City and the City and the City"
by Ayham Dalal

A mapping workshop with refugees from Homs, Syria, illuminates the complexity of rebuilding after war.

Read more: placesjournal.org/article/mapping-homs-syria-rebuilding-after-war/

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 1d

A mapping workshop with refugees from Homs, Syria, asked participants to draw their neighborhoods from memory, bridging gaps between houses to generate a shared image of a city destroyed by war. To rebuild justly, residents will need to understand this pluralist city as others have lived within it.

Memory Maps of Homs, Syria

A mapping workshop with refugees from Homs, Syria, illuminates the complexity of rebuilding after war.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 2d

Sincerely,
A Places editor who was just reading an article—in a newspaper!—and could not make it to the end because the sheer quantity of pop-ups made it unreadable. This editor is grateful to stand behind a site that publishes freely accessible content without undermining the experience of reading.

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 2d

You can’t visit many sites on the web these days without being bombarded by ads, pop-ups, and paywalls.

We’re happy to report that there is absolutely nothing to interrupt you when you read an article on placesjournal.org. No ads, no pop-ups, no distractions. A rare luxury in online reading today.

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 3d

Featured:

“Landscape as Resistance in the West Bank” by Hubert Murray: placesjournal.org/article/batt...

“A Militant Way of Living” by Ivonne Santoyo-Orozco: placesjournal.org/article/coop...

“Hippie Modernism” by Greg Castillo: placesjournal.org/article/hipp...

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 4d

“From the Archive” is a monthly dispatch of Places articles, recommended by the editors.

This month, we consider essays on resisting displacement, erasure, and hegemony, feat. a housing cooperative in Mexico City; environmentalists in the Palestinian village of Battir; and Bay Area design radicals.

On Resistance: Recommendations from the Archive

Three essays consider spatial tools with which to resist displacement, erasure, and hegemony.

Reposted by Places Journal

Michael Luongo @michaelluongo.bsky.social · 4d

fascinating piece in @placesjournal.bsky.social l placesjournal.org/article/batt...

Landscape as Resistance in the West Bank

Under mounting political and ecological stress, environmentalists in the Palestinian village of Battir are working to protect a 4,000-year-old agricultural landscape.

placesjournal.org

Reposted by Places Journal

Andy Adams @flakphoto.news · 6d

Love this. Photo folks👇📸

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 8d

Evelyn Hofer’s portrait of Gaelic football players says as much about the setting as it does her subjects. Her camera captures four athletes in jewel-toned jerseys and an Ireland in slow transition from colony to nation.

From Hugh Campbell, the latest in our new and ongoing series, “In a Picture”:

In a Picture: “Phoenix Park on a Sunday, Dublin”

Evelyn Hofer’s portrait of Gaelic football players says as much about the setting as it does her subjects. Her camera captures an Ireland in transition.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 7d

Photographs are often seen as transparent stand-ins for whatever they depict. A new series in Places aims to draw attention to images + other 2-D representations as visual artifacts in and of themselves.

In short, visually driven essays, authors consider a single image with a strong sense of place.

In these short, visually driven essays, authors consider a single image that depicts or suggests a strong sense of place.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 7d

"Although it can undoubtedly be considered a group portrait, there is no mention of the subjects in the original title. Only the place and time are registered. The darkening corners reveal the camera being pushed to its limit ... to achieve a closeness to the subjects and openness to the setting."

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 8d

Evelyn Hofer’s portrait of Gaelic football players says as much about the setting as it does her subjects. Her camera captures four athletes in jewel-toned jerseys and an Ireland in slow transition from colony to nation.

From Hugh Campbell, the latest in our new and ongoing series, “In a Picture”:

In a Picture: “Phoenix Park on a Sunday, Dublin”

Evelyn Hofer’s portrait of Gaelic football players says as much about the setting as it does her subjects. Her camera captures an Ireland in transition.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 8d

Evelyn Hofer’s portrait of Gaelic football players says as much about the setting as it does her subjects. Her camera captures four athletes in jewel-toned jerseys and an Ireland in slow transition from colony to nation.

From Hugh Campbell, the latest in our new and ongoing series, “In a Picture”:

In a Picture: “Phoenix Park on a Sunday, Dublin”

Evelyn Hofer’s portrait of Gaelic football players says as much about the setting as it does her subjects. Her camera captures an Ireland in transition.

placesjournal.org

Reposted by Places Journal

Nezka Pfeifer @asknezka.bsky.social · 8d

‘In architecture,’ Fitch wrote, ‘there are no spectators: there are only participants.’ @placesjournal.bsky.social #FutureArchive placesjournal.org/article/arch...

Architects in Wonderland

Decades ago, James Marston Fitch argued that reuse of existing buildings should be prioritized over new construction. His thesis is more relevant than ever.

placesjournal.org

Reposted by Places Journal

The Syllabus @the-syllabus.bsky.social · 10d

A New Dealer turned Columbia preservationist who helped save Grand Central, this piece traces how James Marston Fitch tied design to democracy and opposed suburban sprawl, urban renewal, and privatized luxury.

By Nancy Levinson in @placesjournal.bsky.social

Architects in Wonderland

Decades ago, James Marston Fitch argued that reuse of existing buildings should be prioritized over new construction. His thesis is more relevant than ever.

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 11d

Our Sept. newsletter: Boyce Upholt, on community energy hubs in New Orleans; Nancy Levinson, on the legacy of architect & preservationist James Marston Fitch; a new installment of “Bookshelf”; and a Reading List drawn from the Library we curated for the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Read & sign up!

September 2025 Newsletter: How do we organize power?

Plus, more of the latest longform public scholarship from Places Journal. Sign up today. It's free!

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 13d

Yes! It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14d

Since 2015, more than one hundred communities across the South have removed, relocated, or modified Confederate monuments.

"The weight of the objects was never solely symbolic," sociologist David Cunningham writes. "Their material imprints remain heavy, even when their places now appear as voids."

Monumental Juxtapositions

Since 2015, more than one hundred communities across the American South have removed, relocated, or modified Confederate monuments. In many cases, their symbolic — and material — imprints remain.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 14d

Since 2015, more than 100 communities across the American South have removed, relocated or modified Confederate monuments. Some have been replaced, but in most cases, only scars mark the ground where a statue once stood. How are these symbolic and material imprints reshaping sites of public memory?

Monumental Juxtapositions

Since 2015, more than one hundred communities across the American South have removed, relocated, or modified Confederate monuments. In many cases, their symbolic — and material — imprints remain.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 19d

“Broken world thinking is not about anticipating, or learning from, failure. It is a habit of mind that thinks through the next states and effects of our systems as the very basis of design. In modernity, to break is to fail… Broken world thinking is optimistic about the inevitability of breakdown.”

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 19d

From the Archive:

A review essay on “All Is Lost,” a survival film starring the great Robert Redford lost at sea, in a solo struggle with nature.

“The film is a parable about our collective struggle with life at the end of modernity, as our fragile certainties are giving way and breaking down.”

All Is Lost: Notes on Broken World Design

J.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.

placesjournal.org

Reposted by Places Journal

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 19d

From the Archive:

A review essay on “All Is Lost,” a survival film starring the great Robert Redford lost at sea, in a solo struggle with nature.

“The film is a parable about our collective struggle with life at the end of modernity, as our fragile certainties are giving way and breaking down.”

All Is Lost: Notes on Broken World Design

J.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.

placesjournal.org

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 19d

From the Archive:

A review essay on “All Is Lost,” a survival film starring the great Robert Redford lost at sea, in a solo struggle with nature.

“The film is a parable about our collective struggle with life at the end of modernity, as our fragile certainties are giving way and breaking down.”

All Is Lost: Notes on Broken World Design

J.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.

placesjournal.org

Reposted by Places Journal

Daegan Miller @daeganmiller.bsky.social · 20d

Oh, wow! Thrilled by this, and a huge thanks to both @longreads.com, which has done so much to make the web a place for good writing, and @placesjournal.bsky.social, which is one of the preeminent venues for anything even remotely related to place, landscape, space, architecture, etc.

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 20d

“A Map of Radical Bewilderment” by @daeganmiller.bsky.social is featured this week on @longreads.com, in a Reading List on cartographic power and possibility.

A good reminder to return to Miller’s essay, which makes the argument that we can wander in a landscape without insisting it be profitable.

Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 20d

Left behind in the digital era is a rich store of essays on design that have limited cultural presence because they aren't online. In our ongoing series "Future Archive," we republish these texts, with new introductions.

Here's Nancy Levinson, on the simple yet radical ideas of James Marston Fitch:

Architects in Wonderland

Decades ago, James Marston Fitch argued that reuse of existing buildings should be prioritized over new construction. His thesis is more relevant than ever.

placesjournal.org