Dutch architect Anne Holtrop has collaborated with green technology firm Studio Noach and botanist Patrick Blanc to propose an artificial floating island containing gardens and a spa. More »

As part of the Shenzhen & Hong Kong bi-city Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Joseph Grima, Jeffrey Johnson and José Esparza have created a farm in the middle of an urban square in Shenzhen.

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Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) have won a competition to design the urban centre of Masdar, a zero-carbon, zero-waste city to be built in the desert near Abu Dhabi. More »

Dubai architecture firm X-Architects have unveiled their masterplan for a sustainable urban development in the center of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. More »

Dutch architects MVRDV have announced plans to extend the city of Almere by creating a series of artificial islands. More »

Section 1 of the High Line, a 1.5 mile long park on an abandoned elevated railway, opened earlier this week in New York. Update 26/03/11: section two of the High Line has opened. Update: this project is included in Dezeen Book of Ideas, which is on sale now for £12. More »

Danish landscape architects Schønherr Landskab and Adept Architects have won the H+ competition to masterplan a 100 hectare  site in Helsinborg, Sweden. More »

UK architects Foster + Partners have been appointed to masterplan the Slussen waterfront in central Stockholm, Sweden. More »

A new inhabited bridge over the River Arno in Florence is among proposals by Gruppo Giovani Architetti Firenze (Young Achitect Group of Florence) designed to provoke debate about architecture in the historic city. More »

Architects Filipe Balestra and Sara Göransson have developed a strategy to develop informal slums into permanent urban districts through a process of gradual improvement to existing dwellings instead of demolition and rebuilding. Update: this project is included in Dezeen Book of Ideas, which is on sale now for £12. More »

Peter Barber Architects have won a competition to design a new urban quarter at Goldhawk Road in London. More »

Four graduates from the MArch Design Research Laboratory course at the Architectural Association in London have sent us these images of their thesis project, a conceptual proposal for an environment to host Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. More »

Proposals by architects MAD, BIG, INABA, and Mass Studies for an urban plan for the city of Ansan in South Korea are on show at the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan. More »

Julien De Smedt Architects and Klar Architects have won a competition to design a new waterfront area at Kalvebod Brygge harbour in Copenhagen, Denmark. More »