Places Journal

06/03/2026

What can plastic fragments found in an animal’s digestive tract tell us about the waters it has traversed? Guts are an accumulation of places, an overlapping geography that stretches across time and paths traveled. A forensics of guts, then, is less about classification than it is learning how to see.

For “An Unfinished Atlas,” Max Liboiron, director of CLEAR, writes about the different world animals reveal through their movement and appetites.

What can plastic fragments found in an animal’s digestive tract tell us about the waters it has traversed?

05/28/2026

We’re thrilled to welcome Monash Architecture and the University of Washington College of Built Environments into Places’ international academic partner network.

Both schools share the journal’s commitment to public scholarship on the built environment, and their focuses on urgent issues in the design disciplines — including advancing housing and social justice, and addressing the challenges of climate change and environmental repair — aligns closely with Places’ mission to promote equitable cities and resilient landscapes.

Monash University will be represented on the Places Partner Council by Head of Architecture Erik L’Heureux; the University of Washington will be represented by Dean Ken Yocom.

We’re thrilled to welcome the Department of Architecture at Monash University and the College of Built Environments at University of Washington into Places’ academic partner network.

05/26/2026

How did rhubarb, the ancient Chinese drug once worth $100,000 a pound, make its way to kitchen tables in the American Midwest? The story of the pie plant, like that of a Lumbee man who devoted his Iowa backyard to it, must be pieced together, carefully, across time.

For An Unfinished Atlas, Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz writes about the social history of rhubarb, and about her grandfather, James Marvin Lowry.

How did rhubarb, the ancient Chinese drug worth $100,000 a pound, make its way to kitchen tables in the American Midwest?

05/19/2026

Texas and Lebanon lie at nearly the same latitude; the same constellations travel through their night skies along kindred arcs. In both places, darkness is an ecological commons turned strategic military and scientific asset. To hold these nights together is to see how an ethos of preservation at home aids devastation abroad.

In Texas and Lebanon, darkness is an ecological commons turned strategic military asset.

05/09/2026

Recent essays in Places on the removal of benches from public spaces; the Chicago Pedway as work-in-progress; and the carceral infrastructure of warehouses.

Our May newsletter:

Recent essays on the disappearance of the public bench; the Chicago Pedway as work-in-progress; and the carceral infrastructure of warehouses.

05/05/2026

The Chicago Pedway is a question that the city asked and left unanswered about how truly public urban space might be shaped below the streets.

Once envisioned as a major meeting place for Chicagoans — the next frontier of the American shopping mall, coupling public infrastructure and private retail — this subterranean network has only ever been a work in progress.

The Chicago Pedway is a question that the city asked and left unanswered about how truly public urban space might be shaped below the streets.

05/01/2026

We were saddened to learn of the death of Donlyn Lyndon, an influential architect, longtime UC Berkeley professor, and cofounder of Places Journal. He died in his home at Sea Ranch on April 5, aged 90. Places board member and Berkeley professor Harrison Fraker, who knew Donlyn well as a colleague and friend, shared with us his recollections.

We were saddened to learn of the death of Donlyn Lyndon, an influential architect and cofounder of Places. Harrison Fraker, who knew Donlyn well as a colleague and friend, shared with us his recollections.

04/25/2026

Weekend Dispatch: Recommendations from the Archive.

Remembering Prince, 10 years after his death; the forgotten legacy of London Underground visionary Frank Pick; and the abandoned Karachi Circular Railway.

mailchi.mp/placesjournal/from-the-archive-4-25-26

04/23/2026

A collaboration between Places Journal and the On the Brinck program at the School of Architecture + Planning at University of New Mexico, this prize supports ambitious public scholarship focused on the Southwestern region of what is now the United States.

Accepting proposals now through July 17th!

Call for proposals: 2026 On the Brinck / Places Prize on the American Southwest.

04/21/2026

Benches are microcosms of an expansive debate about who belongs in urban public spaces. When they are removed or made uninviting, we lose more than just a place to rest; our relationship with civic space becomes more grudging and utilitarian, and we forfeit opportunities for civic connection.

“Through the bench, we enter the polity,” writes journalist Gabrielle Bruney. Her essay is produced in collaboration with the Arts and Culture Program at Columbia Journalism School.

Benches are microcosms of an expansive debate about who belongs in urban public spaces. When they are removed or made uninviting, we lose more than just a place to rest.