Elsewhere

A Garden of Many Voices: The Civic Garden Center at the 2013 Home & Garden Show: all about this year’s Civic Garden Center display [also, my friend worked on it and wrote this article, so I'm doubly proud].

Cincinnati Canstruction 2013: large-scale sculptures made of canned goods are currently on display in downtown Cincinnati; check out an online preview at CincyWhimsy and vote for the People’s Choice Award this weekend. All food will go to the Freestore Foodbank.

Tower Place Mall – feb 25th, 2013: just some photos of a seemingly abandoned mall.

Horseshoe Casino Fails to Deliver on Urban Design: unsurprising observations about the new casino in Cincinnati.

Succulents Don’t Suck: Umba Box likes our 10 Seed Bombs with Slinger!

Michigan Will Take Over Detroit: I think we all saw this one coming.

Berlin Wall Protests Stall East Side Gallery Demolition Work: demolishing a chunk of the Berlin Wall to make room for luxury housing sounds like a less-than-stellar idea.

Elsewhere

Something Lost: in Over-the-Rhine, a sweet Paramount Vodka ghost sign has been painted over. Thanks, guys…

Grand Central, a Cathedral for Commuters, Celebrates 100: happy birthday to Grand Central Terminal!

Ed Koch’s Legacy in Hip-Hop: Koch was my first NYC mayor; a week after his death, this is a must-read.

Lawns into Gardens: more people are digging up their lawns to plant fruits and vegetables and encountering city opposition in the process, with Orlando being the latest incident.

Gentrification as an End Game, and the Rise of “Sub-Urbanity”: “creative class enclaves are increasingly being appropriated into the domesticated lifestyle embodied by traditional suburbia.”

Swabian Invasion? Scorn for Eastern Berlin’s Well-Heeled Newcomers: on gentrification in Berlin.

Infographic: NFL Fans According to Facebook: fun with data.

Spektrum Eins by Matthias Heiderich

Spektrum Eins is a new series of images by Berlin-based photographer Matthias Heiderich. Each photo is filled with color, its crop and composition turning the subject matter into pattern and shape.

Subway Map Art by Lineposters

There is so much map-based art out there these days that I might tire of it soon, but not just yet — the Brooklyn-based duo behind Lineposters makes beautiful, cleanly designed screenprints of subway systems in different cities.

City Maps and Guides by Herb Lester Associates

Working with myriad designers and illustrators, London-based Herb Lester Associates publishes useful, sometimes unusual maps and guides for the world’s great cities. Above is a collaboration with Oslo-based designer Peder Bernhardt on a fun “Swinging London” hankerchief for the store A Bathing Ape.

Snow Blind by Matthias Heiderich

Hello, winter! This is the perfect day to share the series Snow Blind by Berlin-based photographer Matthias Heiderich. I wish winter in Cincinnati were this dreamy and snowy.

City Illustrations by Vesa Sammalisto

Vesa Sammalisto is a Finnish-born, Berlin-based illustrator whose geometric, brightly colored, retro-inspired work focuses heavily on cities and maps. An illustrator after my own heart!

Elsewhere

Sunday Walk: CityKin explores Cincinnati.

Charley Harper Artwork in Todd Oldham’s House: tons of eye candy in an awesome treehouse in the woods of Pennsylvania.

Before I Die: a participatory installation in New Orleans by the always amazing Candy Chang.

If These Knishes Could Talk: “a film about the New York accent.”

Build the Town: bad-ass building blocks by Ladislav Sutnar.

Berlin’s Guerrilla Gardeners Cultivate Rebellion: yes.

Exotic Bodega Cats Caught on Tape in Their Natural Habitat: just that.

Elsewhere

Monster Art: creation meets destruction as art-covered cars will be demolished tomorrow at the Auto Parts Monster Jam at PBS in downtown Cincinnati.

America’s Attack on Lemonade Stands: troubling facts include the following — “kids in Strongsville, Ohio, said a handful of teenagers, including two boys sporting skinny jeans and blue hoodies, stole at least $13.50 from their lemonade stand.”

Motown Blues: Foundations and Government Struggle for Solutions and with Each Other: what happens when foundations with a lot of power try to tackle urban problems in troubled Detroit.

Painting the Town: an intersection in Berlin becomes the site of guerrilla art.

At Summer’s End, 7 Shops Will Vanish From Coney Island’s Boardwalk: sad, inevitable news about changes in Coney Island.

Spaniards Urged to Swap Cars for Lifetime Tram Pass: an interesting program in the city of Murcia in Southern Spain.

Using Twitter and Flickr Geotags to Map the World: just that.

Crumpled City Maps by Emanuele Pizzolorusso

How cool is this? Designed by Berlin-based Emanuele Pizzolorusso for Palomar, Crumpled City Maps are soft, yet hard-wearing, waterproof and meant to be creased and crumpled. Unlike traditional paper maps which can be awkward to deal with, these maps can easily be crammed into your pocket or the special carrying pouch, without having to worry about refolding it along the original creases.