黑洞社区

In all good record shops

News has reached us that the planning campaign group formed out of the Garden City movement of the early 20th Century - the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) - is to bring out its own album of songs, to 鈥渞econnect鈥� with the movement鈥檚 past commitment to 鈥渁rt and literature.鈥� All of which makes me wonder which songs will be on the TCPA鈥檚 album? I presume Oasis鈥� 鈥渢he Masterplan鈥� will be there, along with Starship鈥檚 鈥淲e Built this City鈥� anthem, and Sam Cooke鈥檚 1964 soul classic, 鈥淎 Change (of use) is Gonna Come鈥�. I鈥檓 sure the TCPA would welcome further suggestions 鈥�

Pastures new

Struggling to attract residents to your housing development? Why not try putting a cow in front of the building. That is one of the novel proposals being looked at by Urban Splash founder and chairman Tom Bloxham for the Brewhouse residential project in Plymouth. He told the Movers and Shakers property networking event in London last week that one of the applicants for a ground floor retail outlet is proposing to put a Friesian cow outside his cafe to produce milk to put in his customers鈥� coffee. If it gets the punters moo-ving in Bloxham won鈥檛 complain.

Coming to America

As the US presidential campaign built to its climax of a Barack Obama victory on Tuesday, 12 lucky UK A-Level students experienced the final stages of the campaign first hand. The students were sponsored by educational charity the Transformation Trust and contractor Wates to work with campaign staff for either the Democrats or Republicans in the swing state of Florida over the final 10 days of the campaign. The students were chosen from hundreds of applicants after demonstrating an interest in US politics. There can be few better places to watch history in the making.

Out from the crowd

In domestic election news, architect and former RIBA president George Ferguson will learn next week if he has become Bristol鈥檚 first mayor. Ferguson, who is said to be second favourite behind the Labour candidate, has also given voters an insight into his red trousers - an eccentricity that marked him out as RIBA president. 鈥淭here came a point about 25 years ago when I was in a room with a body of men in suits and I just thought to myself - I don鈥檛 want to be one of these. I have got a pair of red trousers at home, I will wear those,鈥� he told the Bristol Post. 鈥淭hen there came a point when people would remark if I didn鈥檛 wear them, so they sort of stuck.鈥� Not literally, I hope, George.

Out of credit

If the financial crisis had not given you enough reason to distrust bankers, engineer Alan Baxter, senior partner at Alan Baxter & Associates, provided another at a New London Architecture event to highlight the development taking place in Farringdon and Smithfield, last week. Baxter, whose office is in the area, recalled how when he set it up many years ago his bank manager said the area would 鈥渘ever have any value鈥�. As Baxter pointed out, with Crossrail and Thameslink set to bring a third of England鈥檚 population within 45 minutes commute, it鈥檚 likely he鈥檒l have the last laugh.