Emma Burke Newman (in memoriam)

We’re still trying to make sense of it all. What’s heartening to experience all the ways that Emma’s life has moved her friends and others to do something. John and I clearly saw that inspiration on our recent trip to Glasgow. Let me share just a few highlights, with more to come. First, we participated in the events for the first iteration of the #Residency_for_Ideas Oct. 3-6, where a group of architecture students from the @Mackintosh School of Architecture received a grant to explore a subject of their choosing. That was called “Making Sense,” and so apt in the many meanings of the word. This Emma-inspired effort has, in the words of her Mack School tutor Luca Brunelli, “knitted together” a convivial community. Emma would have liked that metaphor. Go here for more on Instgram: https://bit.ly/4fh6iFJ Second, the #Shawlands_Bike_Bus greeted us in the schoolyard of Shawlands Primary School, which is located in Emma’s back yard in the south side of Glasgow. On Mondays and Fridays, paren...

Emma lives on, in a project that has just come to fruition called Art Stops. The project brought cheer and colour, like Emma did wherever she went, to an historic West London town called Northolt. The project, carried out by New Practice, where Emma worked, called on local artists to create murals for installation in popular public spaces. This was part of the broader Visions for Northolt program by Ealing Council. Emma began work full-time in the summer of 2022 on the project in London, before moving to the firm’s main Glasgow office in the fall. New Practice’s job was to solicit public input, work with the artists, and deliver the works. We especially like the geometric Islamic-art-inspired panels by Samira Mian gracing the public library, transforming it into a jewel. According to project leads Duncan Bain and Molly Judge, Emma was a quick study and dove into the mission whole-heartedly. She endured London’s hottest summer days on the sidewalks of Northolt, leading the delivery of ...

Emma's crash happened at a bridge intersection--a known traffic hotspot.  How can we make intersections safer to navigate for everyone?  In the memory of Emma, the architecture firm where she worked in Glasgow launched a project called " Waiting to Happen ." It includes the junction where Emma's fatal crash took place, hoping to shed light on the dangers. Thank you New Practice as we grieve together. Please read about the project and participate in the survey! The idiom is "accident waiting to happen." But in the world of road fatalities and injuries, there are no accidents . The word accident brushes off an event without explanation. In this milieu, experts prefer talking about incidents, crashes, and collisions. We hope you will adopt this change in language too. The clever name of the initiative, Waiting to Happen, also plays on the fact that people have to live with what seem to be dangerous intersections and roads while "waiting" for infrastru...