Is the new greening of the cities problematic?
A Guardian article on some of the problem – social and structural – associated with the recent attempts to “green” major metropolitan areas.
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All the bairns o' Adam 
I posted some of these earlier but the here is a link to an article that does a good job of articulating the current debate between New Urbanism and Landscape Urbanism.
http://bettercities.net/article/street-fight-landscape-urbanism-versus-new-urbanism-14855
I don’t think that either is perfect as a model. To be more accurate, I don’t there is a perfect model for approaching the planning and design of cities. Current cities, especially the larger ones are far too nuanced to be encompassed in any single model. Although Landscape Urbanism essentially argues for a “systems thinking” approach to planning and design which is probably the closest thing I can think of that would constitute a model that can be applied universally.
The highline works because its a linear, pedestrian only network stretched through one of the densest urban environments in the world. I think Kunstler is way off there. As a piece of urban infrastructure and design it does exactly what it should – bring value and continuity to disjointed urban environments.
Le Corbusier’s radiant city plan was never truly given the chance it deserves. I think it would work as urban environment. Unfortunately, the plan was used all too often (in the US) only when building social housing projects that were destined to fail no matter what the architecture was like.
The Garden City may be a good idea on some level but a terrible design.
Thanks for the link – that’s really helpful, and thanks also for the thoughtful commentary.
Very interesting article… As many cities in the U.S. (and across the world) try to “green the city” many don’t think of the long term effects. By changing one aspect of an area, another is effected. Just because you use the word “green” doesn’t mean its always a good idea…