Looking In, Looking Out
From Balliol’s quadrangles to European housing blocks and rural Spain, this essay reflects on how buildings turn inward or outward – and what those choices reveal about community, care, and place.
Trickling Up in Cambridge
The 2025 residential zoning reforms in Cambridge Massachusetts were intended to increase supply and, in an overheated market, provide more affordable access to low-and middle income families. Some parts of the new regulations are proving successful, others, in the neighbourhoods, disastrous. It is time to reform the reforms.
White Supremacy in Peril
Many Americans have been puzzled at the priority given to white South African farmers as immigrants to the United States. What follows is a brief thumbnail history by way of explanation.
Iberian Reflections
Philosophical epigrams on Spanish and Portuguese visitor information plaques invite some contemplation
On not breaking eggs driving over a ploughed field
A plea for simple design, a democratic technology that restores agency to the user.
The Wrestling Match
What we are living through is a wrestling match of a scale ‘never seen before’, a great spectacle of Suffering, Defeat and Justice, at the center of which is La Grande Salope, he with the tie that descends to his nether parts. And in this spectacle of excess the crowd cheers on.
A day in the life at a Palestinian community center
The occupation of the center in the Aida refugee camp in the West Bank by Israeli troops was just the latest disruption for the Palestinian workers. But it was eye-opening for me.
Sombra en la Plaza
Montánchez, un pequeño pueblo de Extremadura, España, ha gastado 100.000 euros en un dosel de sombra en la plaza principal que compromete la belleza arquitectónica del lugar. Pero más allá de la arquitectura y el diseño urbano hay otras cuestiones en juego que afectan directamente al futuro de este pueblo con una población en descenso.
Shade on the Plaza
Montánchez, a small village in Extremadura, Spain, has spent €100,000 on a shade canopy in the main plaza that compromises the architectural beauty of the place. But beyond architecture and urban design there are other issues at stake that directly affect the future of the village with a declining population.
Naboth’s Vineyard
What happens when you take someone else’s land by subterfuge - in blank verse.
Máquinas en el Jardín
Aprovechar el viento para producir energía sin duda moderará el daño ambiental y social que se desarrolla a nuestro alrededor. Pero, ¿a qué costo para las economías y ecologías rurales? https://placesjournal.org/article/maquinas-en-el-jardin/
Calle Doctor Fleming
Dr. Alexander Fleming, the ‘inventor’ of penicillin, is commemorated in streets and statues in Spain. Why?