With its stunning Renaissance art and architecture on view in well-proportioned squares and in world-class museums, there is a sense of elegance and permanence that helps root all who live here.

BBC: Living in: Florence

Early in 2008, the Scottish government created a new Directorate for the Built Environment bringing together internal interests on planning, building standards and architecture with a view to greater co-ordination of policies.

BBC: Architecture and placemaking debate 1

They all express Kahn's developed view that architecture should be timeless, synthesize old and new, and bring together the local and the universal.

WSJ: Ancient Modernism | 'Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture' | Vitra Design Museum, Germany | By Colin Amery

The time in Rome, he said, changed his life and informed his view of design and architecture.

WSJ: Michael Graves, Drinking Wine With Lettie Teague

It is an occasion for promoting their culture on international level and creates an opportunity to view different perspectives of European architecture.

UNESCO: OFFICE IN VENICE

They can cultivate beautiful architecture, flawless service, comfortable rooms, and a distinctive point of view.

FORBES: Ten Super-Romantic Getaways: Top Seductive, Small Hotels All Over The World

The full, fascinating story of the building is told in a richly detailed exhibition, "Architecture at Cooper, 1859-2009, " drawn from the institution's extensive archives and on view in the Foundation Building through Dec. 11.

WSJ: Cooper Union's New Building, at 41 Cooper Square | By WSJ Architecture Critic Ada Louis Huxtable

The sea offers space, a view to a distant horizon, a physical perspective less oppressive than hard-edged close-up urban architecture.

BBC: Alone at the seaside