Fontevraud Abbey is a religious building hosting a cultural centre and situated in the Loire Valley (France), an Unesco World Heritage Site. Today the Fontevraud Abbey invite young artists ( here dancer & motion designers ) to reappropriate this historical place through their discipline.

[Source: Welcome to Fontevraud]

James Gulliver Hancock, an illustrator originally from Australia currently based in Brooklyn, New York is attempting to draw all the buildings in New York. Love his early work.

[An] holistic approach to illuminating cities has come to be known as a lighting master plan. While few cities outside Europe have a plan currently in place, the steps involved in creating one help officials evaluate how the layers of lighting – street-level, marquees and directional signage, and monuments or cultural landmarks – should work together and be energy efficient.

An interesting look at how lighting is stepping out from the shadows of historic preservation and being used by urban planners to help improve a city’s character and livability.

The challenge for all cities with a rich architectural legacy is to find a balance between preserving the historical identity without becoming a slave to it.

The Super Spatial Blog writes on Venice calling it a city that was destroyed by its own beauty by turning in to essentially “a theme park for hordes of visitors.”

This city was host to more than 500 mud-brick ‘skyscrapers’ built more than 500 years ago. Click through for a fly-by of the city.