James brought me a caterpillar the other day.  Never having met him before, I was impressed with this 10 year old’s gumption in bringing an insect on a milkweed leaf, unsolicited, to the office of the executive vice president of the hospital.  I was even more impressed when he started to talk.  James, who has spina bifida, has spent a lot of time at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.  But he’s pretty unimpressed with our clinics and operating rooms.  What gets him going is the park-like space across the street on the County Grounds.  Once the home of the Milwaukee County School of Agriculture and Domestic Economy, Asylum for the Insane, TB sanitorium, and poor house, among other things, the County Grounds is now largely occupied by the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center, UW-Milwaukee Innovation Campus, a golf course, and stormwater detention ponds.  But pockets of the grounds remain undeveloped, including the

VPUU Khayelitsha / CST South Africa

One legacy of South Africa’s fragmented, racially-segregated society has been incredible violence. To change that story, the city of Cape Town and the German Development Bank are harnessing the power of design. Through an inventive program, Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU), these players and many local non-profits are transforming Khayelitsha, one of the most dangerous townships in South Africa, into a safer, more livable place. At the World Urban Forum in Medellin, Colombia, the team behind the VPUU program said since the development of this 5-year, $11 million, community-driven project, murders are down 33 percent in Harare, one section of the township, and 22 percent in Khayelitsha overall. Furthermore, almost 90 percent of the area’s 250,000 residents say living conditions have improved.

The city assembled a team of local planners, urban designers, landscape architects, and architects to create four “safe nodes,” each…

The Chandelier Tree / This Is Colossal

The Chandelier Tree / This Is Colossal

For ages, trees have been a favorite subject of landscape painters. Their material has long provided substance for sculptors and crafters. Now, some contemporary artists are rediscovering the artistic effects that can be achieved with the humble tree. And, showing clear appreciation, these artists aren’t damaging the trees.

This Is Colossal tells us that Adam Tenebaum, a Los Angeles-based artist, was recently bequeathed a number of large chandeliers by a lighting-loving ancestor. Unfortunately, they were too large for his house, so he decided to create The Chandelier Tree, a one-of-a-kind installation in Silver Lake.

Here’s a documentary about the piece:

In Potsdam, Germany, street artists Daniel Siering and Mario Shu transformed an average-joe tree along a road into a startling illusion.

Daniel Siering and Mario Shu / Street Art Utopia

They wrapped the…

Pause / Shawn Lani via The Architect’s Newspaper

San Francisco has long been a test bed for innovation when it comes to its streets. With their Pavement to Parks program, the city showed how low-cost parklets and pop-up plazas can make streets much more welcoming, creating new street life where there was once only cars. Now, the city is experimenting with what they call Living Innovation Zones (LIZs), public-private spaces that also feel like design installations. The city thinks these places can become “catalysts for exploration, innovation, and play.”

The idea of the LIZ program is to express in physical form what San Francisco is all about: innovation. San Francisco sees the LIZs as a way to demonstrate the “economic and technological movements that define San Francisco today.” These public installations are people-friendly monuments to the city’s “creative expression and DIY spirit.”

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said the…