'We are taking steps to permanently armor our major public spaces'

Says Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Hawthorne, who reviews architectural proposals for the National Mall, commissioned by the National Capital Planning Commission, "Critic's Notebook: A design that's bold, restrained and secure."

... it's tough not to feel ambivalent about what the design competition represents in a larger sense for American urbanism as we approach the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. In cities all around the country — not just in New York and Washington — the temporary jersey barriers and other makeshift or ad hoc responses to the threat of terrorism are being replaced by subtler and better-looking but fixed design solutions. The new realities of terror protection are working themselves into the fabric of the American cityscape ...

RTWT.