Neighborwoods by Aymie Spitzer

The Brooklyn-based designer Aymie Spitzer has created Neighborwoods, a series of maps that are drawn by hand and then laser-engraved into unfinished aromatic cedar. Here are Brooklyn, Philadelphia, London, Barcelona, and Paris.

The Magnificent Map of Rap Names by Pop Chart Lab

Brooklyn-based Pop Chart Lab is a collaboration between a book editor and a graphic designer whose goal is “to render all of human experience in chart form.” No big, right? Shown here, The Magnificent Map of Rap Names features 636 rap names screenprinted with gold ink on 39″x27″ black paper. It’s not a map in the cartographic sense, but it’s close enough for me.

Autocomplete Exhibition Catalog by VisuaLingual

The exhibition I organized at Visionaries & Voices, Autocomplete: A Collaborative Coloring Book Exhibit is on view in the V&V Gallery through the end of June, and the catalog is now available for purchase online.

Area Code Project by Mike McQuade

Philadelphia-born, Chicago-based designer Mike McQuade initiated the ongoing Area Code Project — a series of posters celebrating various area codes. Thanks to Ludacris for introducing this topic in a most appropriately cheesy way!

Love Letter to Brooklyn by Stephen Powers

Philadelphia-born, NYC-based Stephen Powers, a.k.a. ESPO, recently painted these typographic murals in Brooklyn as part of his Love Letter series, which started in Philadelphia and continued in Syracuse.

Elsewhere

Holiday Gift Guide: Goody Two-Shoes: our seed bombs in Foam Magazine.

Vine Street Circa 1973: courtesy of Fuck Yeah Cincinnati.

Mercer Commons Design Gets Thumbs Down: the struggle to add appropriate infill to the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati.

What’s Your State Good at?: Ohio “currently ranks first in the production of Swiss cheese.” Who knew?

It’s a Google Streetmap of History: How Our Famous Landmarks Looked Up to 170 Years Ago: British streetscapes, now and then.

A Hope VI Gallery: examples from Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia, Knoxville, Portland, San Francisco, and St. Louis.

Swedish Treehouse Hotel Imitates Shapes Both Real and Imagined: bizarre but respectful architecture suspended among trees in the Swedish village of Hrads.

Elsewhere

Avondale Pride: check out the process behind this new Cincinnati mural by our good friend and talented painter Cedric Michael Cox.

Youngstown: 5chw4r7z shares photos of his hometown.

Emergency Architecture: Occupy Caracas: life in a high-rise squat.

Flowers of War: Seed Bombing Gets Political: urban gardening in Brighton & Hove.

High Line Inspires Philly: Philadelphia jumps on the elevated park bandwagon.

Evicted Coney Island Businesses Get New Lease: for the moment, some good news for Coney Island.

Looking Back at How It Used to Be: 70′s New York: a collection of fascinating old videos.

Illustrations by Jim Datz

Philadelphia-educated, Brooklyn-based illustrator Jim Datz has a really charming style that hearkens back to the whimsy of mid-20th century Modernism with its happy colors, intricate line work, and hand-drawn letterforms.

Hartman Rock Garden in Springfield, OH

The Hartman Rock Garden in Springfield, OH was a completely accidental find for us on a recent outing, and I’m so glad we came across this labor of love. The project dates back to 1932, when H. G. “Ben” Hartman was laid off from his job and started filling his garden with structures and figurines made of broken stone, pottery and mirror bits.

Elsewhere

Touring Cincinnati: your guide to Cincinnati walking tours.

Welsh ‘Hitler House’ Causes Internet Stir: in Swansea, a humble house may or may not look like Hitler.

Looking Back at the Warriors: City of Strangers on one of my favorite films.

Shit City: a webcomic series about the adventures of three artists who move to the least beloved city in the US; “The Solution” provides a nice introduction to the concept.

City of Ruins: looking at Camden, NJ.

Why Are You on My Train?: just that, in video form.

Architecture City Guide: Philadelphia: just that.