How to Reprogram the City is a 40-page self-guided collection of insights, examples, and exercises to help people discover the untapped potential in their own city. Based on dozens of workshops held around the world, this is the first time the Reprogramming the City methodology has been documented in workbook form. The toolkit provides people with the tools to address a pressing problem: the new reality facing cities is one of limited resources. Whether financial, spatial, or material, the content of cities is finite. Yet the context of that content – how we use the assets we already have – is where the opportunity exists to respond to increasing urban needs using limited resources. The dozens of workshops I have led in numerous cities have honed my abilities to get people to think outside the box – to move their thinking from “this is” to “this could” – and shown me the most effective way to provide them with the tools to improve life in their city using what they already have. It has been, and continues to be, a tremendous privilege to work with groups of people from numerous cities on repurposing urban objects to do more with the structures, surfaces and systems in their city. I realized though that a toolkit can reach far more people than I am able to. In short: it is time to open up the opportunities that urban resourcefulness can create. This toolkit is meant to serve as a companion to the Reprogramming the City book. The book is a global overview of how the urban landscape’s untapped potential is being utilized to improve life in cities using what already exists in new ways.

NatureStructure: Infrastructure for Nature is a collection of projects that represent a new generation of nature-centric design and infrastructure. Infrastructure designed for nature that nurtures and restore ecosystems and employs nature and natural processes to address the problems human development has created for itself. “As cities reckon with the impact of a changing climate and activities that have created ecological change go unabated, there will be more of a need to consider organically inclined architecture….this response, and instinct to repair, is what NatureStructure is all about.” – CURBED.COM

Report presents a series of analyses and recommendations for fostering the role of culture for sustainable development. Drawing on a global survey implemented with nine regional partners and insights from scholars, NGOs and urban thinkers, the report offers a global overview of urban heritage safeguarding, conservation and management, as well as the promotion of cultural and creative industries, highlighting their role as resources for sustainable urban development. Report is intended as a policy framework document to support governments in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Urban Development and the New Urban Agenda.

Why dig deeper into the earth when tons of metal lay dormant beneath the city? Why exploit distant countries for scarce resources when they can be recovered from the waste cities produce every day? 50 Ways to Mine the City is an exploration of ways in which the city's outputs, byproducts, and under-utilized assets can be recovered, reimagined, and used in new ways. It reveals how innovators are transforming the function of the city from a consumer of resources to a generator of them.Featuring a diverse range of projects from around the world, this book creates a global narrative of how the circular economy, urban mining, and resource recovery are coming together to create a more sustainable and resourceful future.

Equal parts design inspiration and travelogue, this book highlights the rapidly growing adaptive reuse movement Cool Is Everywhere is a photographic survey of the adaptive reuse design movement in America’s coolest cities. Michel Arnaud has been studying the spread of urban life into smaller towns for years now, looking at how today’s architects are blending the past with the present in exciting ways. These cities’ and towns’ residents are rethinking the usage of available architecture and repurposing it. Explore the arts and design district of Richmond, Virginia, where an old department store was turned into the beautiful Quirk Hotel. Journey to Greenville, South Carolina, home to a synagogue that became a church that became a private residence. Cool Is Everywhere highlights remarkable designs that have transformed ordinary buildings into works of art. From North Adams, Massachusetts, to Oakland, California, join Michel as he explores the skyscrapers and quaint neighborhoods that led him to believe that cool is, in fact, everywhere. North Adams, Massachusetts MASS MoCA Greylock WORKS Greenville, South Carolina Terry Iwaskiw and Melinda Lehman Residence The Anchorage Art & Light Gallery West Village Lofts at Brandon Mill ArtBomb Studio Buffalo, New York Darwin D. Martin House Complex Buffalo RiverWorks Northland Workforce Training Center Hotel Henry Urban Resort Conference Center at the Richardson Olmsted Campus Thin Man Brewery Oakland, California Equator Coffees Café Creative Growth Art Center Mei-Lan Tan and Victor Lefebvre Studio and Residence Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello Backyard Cabin Tassafaronga Village’s Pasta Factory Temescal Alleys Portland, Oregon Portland Japanese Garden Jean Vollum Natural Capital Center Swift Hi-Lo Hotel The Zipper Cincinnati, Ohio 21c Museum Hotel Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art Urbana Café Findlay Market Hughes Residence at Artichoke Curated Cookware Collection Neil Marquardt and Lauren Klar Residence MadTree Brewing Company Rhinegeist Brewery Hotel Covington Richmond, Virginia Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia American Civil War Museum at Historic Tredegar The Markel Center at Virginia Commonwealth University Quirk Hotel Mobelux Todd and Neely Dykshorn Residence Blue Bee Cider Birmingham, Alabama Pepper Place Brat Brot Gartenbar Sloss Furnaces Back Forty Beer Company Innovation Depot MAKEbhm Cheryl Morgan Residence Studio Goodlight and Liesa Cole and Stan Bedingfield Residence David Carrigan Residence Woodlawn Cycle Café Nashville, Tennessee Marathon Village Frist Art Museum Vadis Turner and Clay Ezell Residence David Lusk Gallery Elephant Gallery and Studio Noelle, Nashville Old Glory Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bob Bingham Studio Mattress Factory Michael Olijnyk Residence at the Mattress Factory City of Asylum Ace Hotel CLASS Community Service Center Omaha, Nebraska Howlin’ Hounds Coffee Gallery 1516 Kaneko Steve and Julie Burgess Residence Maria Fernandez Residence Boiler Room Restaurant Todd Simon Residence Denver, Colorado Union Station The Source Hotel and Market Hall Il Posto Denver Central Market Family Jones Spirit House Austin, Texas Seaholm Power Plant The Contemporary Austin Austin by Ellsworth Kelly Central Library, Austin Public Library Garage 979 Springdale in East Austin Marfa, Texas Barbara Hill Residence Wrong Gallery Ballroom Marfa The Chinati Foundation/La FundacioÌ?n Chinati

In every city, the urban spaces that form the public realm—ranging from city streets, neighborhood squares, and parks to public facilities such as libraries and markets—account for about one-third of the city’s total land area, on average. Despite this significance, the potential for these public-space assets—typically owned and managed by local governments—to transform urban life and city functioning is often overlooked for many reasons: other pressing city priorities arising from rapid urbanization, poor urban planning, and financial constraints. The resulting degradation of public spaces into congested, vehicle-centric, and polluted places often becomes a liability, creating a downward spiral that leads to a continuous drain on public resources and exacerbating various city problems. In contrast, the cities that invest in the creation of human-centered, environmentally sustainable, economically vibrant, and socially inclusive places—in partnership with government entities, communities, and other private stakeholders—perform better. They implement smart and sustainable strategies across their public space asset life cycles to yield returns on investment far exceeding monetary costs, ultimately enhancing city livability, resilience, and competitiveness. The Hidden Wealth of Cities: Creating, Financing, and Managing Public Spaces discusses the complexities that surround the creation and management of successful public spaces and draws on the analyses and experiences from city case studies from around the globe. This book identifies—through the lens of asset management—a rich palette of creative and innovative strategies that every city can undertake to plan, finance, and manage both government-owned and privately owned public spaces.

Although rarely explored in academic literature, most inhabitants and visitors interact with an urban landscape on a day-to-day basis is on the street level. Storefronts, first floor apartments, and sidewalks are the most immediate and common experience of a city. These "plinths" are the ground floors that negotiate between inside and outside, the public and private spheres. The City at Eye Level qualitatively evaluates plinths by exploring specific examples from all over the world. Over twenty-five experts investigate the design, land use, and road and foot traffic in rigorously researched essays, case studies, and interviews. These pieces are supplemented by over two hundred beautiful color images and engage not only with issues in design, but also the concerns of urban communities. The editors have put together a comprehensive guide for anyone concerned with improving or building plinths, including planners, building owners, property and shop managers, designers, and architects.