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.
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Intro/Outro: “Trying Not to Think About Time,” by The Futureheads
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Discussed:
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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 +
Chidi Nwaubani
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After School Newsletter by Casey Lewis
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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
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2024 Doomscroll:
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?
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Half the world’s population will vote in 2024
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No election scheduled in Canada, but in 2025, things are looking topsy-turvy:
o Canada is “three NIMBYs in a trenchcoat” right
now
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?
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But it’s good real estate vibes in the US once
rates get cut...
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You can build it – but who will insure it?
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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
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Greg draws a picture of the work-from-home,
AI-driven, obesity-drug-taking hellscape called America
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People are competing for walkable urbanism
everywhere because we can’t seem to build any new housing
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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
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Dead mall resurrections
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Easton Town Center, Columbus
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Retrofitting Suburbia, Ellen Dunham Jones and June Williamson
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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
Listen On
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From Railyards to High-Rises
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Horror in Architecture
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We're Back, Miss Us?
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