Will Cleveland's Medical Mart exemplify good urbanism

Hard to tell from the latest rendering of the facility, which is now under construction. Steven Litt gently wonders if the ultimate design will give rise to a great civic building that anchors a great civic space.

Cleveland's call to action for quality design

Steven Litt compiled this roundup of Cleveland's 2010 art and architecture highlights. Humbly, he did not include mention of Designing A Better Cleveland, the thoughtful "mini-primer" he published in October to help raise the standards of civic design in the city. The guide, relevant to urban-making efforts far beyond Cleveland's borders, will no doubt be remembered as an important and timely tool in the campaign to make the city a better place to live.  An excerpt:

To the extent that Cleveland fails to make the most of public and private investments in buildings, highways, bridges, streets, parks and waterfronts it will waste opportunities, fail to compete effectively with its peers and damage its economy. Everyone, in other words, has a stake in good design.

Maybe in 2011 the designers of select aforementioned development "highlights" will read the booklet. (Looking at you casino team.)