Couple of interesting-looking recent downloads on cities and architecture …First up, as part of the series of releases from the TED conference, here’s  ex-OMA architect Joshua Prince-Ramus [Flash video] talking about "hyper-rational processes" and the like.

"Joshua Prince-Ramus is architect of the Seattle Public Library and principal of REX (Ramus-Ella Architects). Previously, he was U.S. Director of Rem Koolhaas’s Office of Metropolitan Architecture. Through a series of beautiful visualizations, he deconstructs the collaborative process of building the Seattle Public Library, and also offers a sneak preview of his works in progress (The Wyly Theater in Dallas, Texas and Museum Plaza in Louisville, Kentucky). (Recorded February, 2006 in Monterey, CA.)"

Yet to view, but looking forward to it. (Interesting he’s listed as "architect of the Seattle Public Library". Koolhaas is presumably not too bothered about that.)

Elsewhere [via Momus], architecture critic and new head of London’s Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic, presents a four-part radio series on the BBC World Service entitled Making Cities Work.

• Part one focuses on the ‘choking’ Mexico City;
• Part two looks at Moscow, "a city after the collapse of a political regime";
• Part three looks at a sustainable development in (wait for it) China;
• and part four looks at the reinvention of Detroit.