'Urban Lovers' looks westward

The Urban Lovers electronic newsletter, produced by A Vision of Europe in collaboration with CIVICARCH-University of Ferrara, Italy, is always a joy to look through. It presents views of beautiful traditional places in Europe, images of other places yet to be built, and a series of engaging features — the Postcard of the Month, the Monster of the Month, the Demolition of the Month, and the Shopwindow of the Month among them. 

It's inevitably a pleasure to immerse oneself, if only via a computer screen, in several centuries of the achievements of Europe.

But the latest issue, available here, mostly looks toward the US. Its Project of the Month is Plan El Paso 2010 by Dover, Kohl & Partners (a Texas plan that was earlier presented in the Oct.-Nov. 2010 New Urban News, available here). The Book of the Month is The Language of Towns and Cities by Washington architect Dhiru Thadani (New Urban Network's review of what we called an "astonishing 'encyclodictionary' is available here).

This month's Masterpiece of 20th Century Architecture is Cass Gilbert's Woolworth Building in New York. There's also brief information on Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company's proposal for block-by-block redevelopment in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (New Urban Network's Jan. 26 coverage of the Haiti proposal is available here).

Of course, there are also dispatches from Europe: A protest against demolition in Dumfries, Scotland; an example of beautiful use of the grid in San Sebastian, Pais Vasco, Spain; and a Michelangelo exhibition in Milan among them. Links to other sites abound. Making things simpler for Americans, most of the content is in English.