denny Architectural Art & Design

Athens (/ˈæθɨnz/;[1] Modern Greek: Αθήνα, Athína, IPA: [aˈθina], Katharevousa: Ἀθῆναι, Athine, Ancient Greek: Ἀθῆναι, Athēnai), is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica periphery and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum,[2][3] it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy,[4][5] largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent.[6] Today a cosmopolitan metropolis, modern Athens is central to economic, financial, industrial, political and cultural life in Greece and it is rated as an Alpha world city.[7] In 2008, Athens was ranked the world's 32nd richest city by purchasing power[8] and the 25th most expensive[9] in a UBS study. The Greek capital has a population of 655780[10] (796442 back in 2004)[11] within its administrative limits[12] and a land area of 39 km2 (15 sq mi).[13] The urban area of Athens (Greater Athens and Greater Piraeus) extends beyond the administrative municipal city limits, with a population of 3074160 (in 2011),[14] over an area of 412 km2 (159 sq mi).[13] According to Eurostat, the Athens Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) is the 7th most populous LUZ in the European Union (the 4th most populous ...

Columbus, Indiana is a city of around 40000 people located an hour south of Indianapolis. Columbus is exactly the kind of city you'd expect to find in the Midwest, except for one curious thing. The American Institute of Architects has ranked Columbus 6th in the nation for architectural innovation and design, right behind New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, DC. The architectural richness of Columbus isn't the result of some visionary planning board. Nor are the zoning laws in Columbus different than those in most other Indiana cities. Columbus has fascinating architecture because in the 1950s industrialist and philanthropist J. Irwin Miller (of the Cummins Engine Company) decided that he wanted to live in a more visually interesting city. To this end, Miller offered to pay the architect's bill for any new public building in Columbus. Today, Columbus boasts more than 70 buildings designed by internationally celebrated architects like IM Pei, Eliel Saarinen, Eero Saarinen, Richard Meier and Harry Weese. One man's philanthropy sparked, as Bradley Brooks of the Indianapolis Museum of Art puts it, "an idea that is moving a community forward." Approximately 4 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning. Go to reason.com downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube Channel to receive notification when new material goes live.