Dolly and Neighbourhoods

• 1 min read

Dolly Parton’s Hair

Sarah Mesle | Avidly | 25th August 2026

"Dolly Parton’s hair was real — touchable, textural, ever-present — but not natural. It was abundant, luxurious, and surely expensive, yet placed no social premium of looking rich. Parton retained her hair as a sign of a morally accountable self, but also used it to signal how little she cared for the normalised, dangerously narrow feminine scripts of prosperity and sentimentalism" (1,000 words)

Puzzle: Play Nomido, the Browser’s daily word game.

How To Build A Fine-Grained City

Alicia Pederson | Courtyard Urbanist | 24th August 2026

A "fine-grained" neighbourhood is one in which distinct yet contiguous buildings are built in close proximity, rather than being consolidated into one megastructure development. This enables crucial diversity: residents and business owners have autonomy without compromising on density. Doing this well requires good laws, clever planning and a deep understanding of the "party wall" (3,900 words)

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