On the dawn of our fourth season, your hosts recap their favorite ‘casts of 2023, a live dramatic reading of Unfrozen’s 2023 Spotify Wrapped stats, and get on and off the soapbox as we stare down the barrel of 2024.
Intro/Outro: “Trying Not to Think About Time,” by The Futureheads
Unfrozen’s 2023 Spotify Wrapped Stats:
o Most Popular Episode: “Show Me the Bodies” with Peter Apps
o Most Shared Episode: “Untimely Meditations, Virtual Repatriations,” with Era Merkuri and Martin Gjoleka +
After School Newsletter by Casey Lewis
Unfrozen’s Favorites of 2023:
o Attending the Venice Biennale during previews,
including Sir Peter Cook’s assertion that, while at their event and on their payroll, NEOM would be less than half-built and eventually devolve into shantytowns
o “Moving the Monolith, Speed-Running the Follies,” with Andreea Ion Cojocaru and Nick Kauffman
o “The Atlas of Space Rocket Launch Sites,” with Brian Harvey and Gurbir Singh. Greg was channeling Geoff Manaugh’s BLDGBLOG
o “Smaller Cities in a Shrinking World,” with Alan Mallach
o “Renewing the Dream” with James Sanders
o NEOM meets the Metaverse at Aquellum + Zaha Hadid’s Minas Morgul tower, Discovery at Trojena
o You won’t have Charlie Munger to kick around anymore
o CES is underway, and so is the metaverse rebranding
o Want work? You need to kneel before the PIF
o Are architects and engineers really building the
future for Saudi’s young? Or are they just taking the money and running?
Half the world’s population will vote in 2024
No election scheduled in Canada, but in 2025, things are looking topsy-turvy:
o Canada is “three NIMBYs in a trenchcoat” right
o Households now owe more in mortgage debt than Canada’s entire GDP
o Pierre Poilievre and the Canadian Conservatives seem to be the only ones taking the housing crisis seriously, and the kids are listening
o CHMC can’t just straight-up build affordable housing – why?
But it’s good real estate vibes in the US once
rates get cut...
You can build it – but who will insure it?
Will San Francisco exit its doom loop in 2024?
What cities will pull ahead?
o Gensler doubles down in its hometown + Shvo to the rescue at the Transamerica Pyramid
Greg draws a picture of the work-from-home,
AI-driven, obesity-drug-taking hellscape called America
People are competing for walkable urbanism
everywhere because we can’t seem to build any new housing
Could consumer branding of residential real estate boost housing construction?
o Welcome to the Neighborhood! Wall Street Designed It
o Culdesac– build-to-rent walkable urbanism in Tempe, AZ
o WeWork’s Adam Neumann starts Flow
Easton Town Center, Columbus
Retrofitting Suburbia, Ellen Dunham Jones and June Williamson
Engagements Preview 2024:
“Don’t Believe the Hype: Cities are Alive and Well,” University of Maryland Baltimore, 22 February
“Using Augmented Reality to Drive Inclusive City Development,” SXSW, Austin, 10 March
Smart City Expo USA, New York, 22-23 May
CTBUH International Conference, London and Paris, 23-27 September
