Source: Getty/Downtown Arlington

The Power of Placemaking

Why the social, political, and emotional dimensions of public spaces matter, and how people themselves play a central role in creating them.
Landscape garden showing the foot path, lawn area, benches, water feature and pavilion on background. This sketch created, drawn in pen and marker.

Landscape Architecture: A Reading List

A survey of classic and contemporary works revealing how cities, materials, power, and ecology shape landscapes—and how design can create healthier, more just places.
A series of images in color block colors, including a map, a photo of a group of people digging, and an architectural mockup of a park landscape

Designing for Community and Climate in Los Angeles

How can we design public spaces that help people thrive and connect—with each other and with their environment?
The Musical Games by Anne Young

The Hidden History of Women Game Designers

Nineteenth-century women turned music lessons into interactive entertainment, complete with spinning wheels and ivory counters.
A view of the landscape seen along the Golden Gate Trail in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington.

The Promise and Problems of Public Lands: A Reading List

Discover key research on U.S. public lands through scholarly works exploring conservation, Indigenous knowledge, and public policy.
Cross Reference image

For the Love of Gamers and Goals, It’s Cross Reference!

Or maybe this week’s puzzle is really about Greek salad and gulleys.
Humans shown in their relationships with their pet animals, including a man trying to teach his crow the principles of language and children snail racing.

Learning about Language: An In-Class Activity

A scholar of the medical humanities shares ideas for helping students discover how language shaped past cultural attitudes—and still shapes them in the present.
Confident students use work together on a science assignment. They are analyzing something with a microscope.

Assimilation and National Identity in the Classroom

How do we recognize and celebrate diversity and cultural belonging in the classroom?
Black and white photograph of Augusta Baker seated at a desk with papers spread out before her.

The Legendary Children’s Librarian of Harlem

Raised in a family of storytellers, Augusta Baker continued that tradition, imparting a love of books to readers of all ages.
Cross Reference image

Urgent Notification: It’s Time to Play Cross Reference

This month’s crossword puzzle kindly requests your attention.