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Community character is critical for coding
Continuing our series on ways to fail at form-based codes, we examine not capturing local character...
May 17 2013 11:30am Hazel Borys
A word of caution before CNU 21
Thc Charter of the New Urbanism is an excellent expression of what cities should be: The danger is...
May 17 2013 10:37am Norman Wright
The driving boom is over
The Driving Boom — a six decade long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the...
May 15 2013 9:38am Charles Marohn
Identifying the “Sabermetrics” of Urbanism
The book and movie Moneyball follow a general manager who embraces "sabermetrics" in evaluating...
May 13 2013 10:12am Michael Hathorne
The geography of somewhere
In the new suburbs of America every place looks like every other place, or so it seems: Wide...
May 9 2013 2:02pm Kaid Benfield
The Pendulum Shifts: Expertise is now suspect
You want fine wood detailing, you work with a skilled carpenter. And if your community wants...
May 9 2013 9:15am Scott Doyon
What good, grassroots advocacy for complete streets looks like
What they are proposing wouldn’t cost that much more, if anything, and it would make both the...
May 7 2013 9:17am Kaid Benfield
Misapplying the Transect (to the region rather than the neighborhood)
One way to fail at form-based codes is a common mistake — oversimplifying the rural-to-urban...
May 6 2013 7:17am Hazel Borys
Learning from success
In honor of Jane Jacobs's birthday May 4, we offer a recent blog that argues planners should learn...
May 4 2013 8:44am Howard Blackson
Portrait of a municipal official takin’ it to the street
One of a handful of traffic engineers that I have met whose streets are prioritized by place rather...
May 2 2013 8:43am Howard Blackson
Complete streets could be next transportation secretary's legacy
The Obama administration nominated Charlotte, NC, mayor Anthony Foxx to fill the big shoes of...
May 1 2013 11:46am Robert Steuteville
A shift to tactical approaches for revitalization
The rise of tactical urbanism in San Francisco testifies to why this city maintains a creative edge...
May 1 2013 10:23am Scott Beyer
Are cities organisms or machines?
Nature has countless good lessons on how to sustain cities and towns… if only we would listen.
Apr 30 2013 6:40pm Steve Mouzon
'Triumph of suburbia' is a far-fetched story
Joel Kotkin is on a roll in the past few weeks, making the case that the revival of cities and...
Apr 30 2013 11:34am Robert Steuteville
The case for building on historic assets
It’s ridiculously easy to think about the benefits of historic preservation in immensely walkable...
Apr 29 2013 4:49pm Kaid Benfield
The gatekeepers
A city is an organism, not a machine. While machines need mechanics to watch over and maintain...
Apr 29 2013 8:34am Charles Marohn
Ways to fail at form-based codes 02: Make it mandatory citywide
Today I’d like us to talk about point two on the ways-to-fail list: adopt an all-new replacement...
Apr 25 2013 8:07am Hazel Borys
Job sprawl is largely a factor of geography
The Brookings Institution reported that "job sprawl" continued but slowed toward the end of the...
Apr 24 2013 2:17pm Robert Steuteville
The end of architecture as we know it
Architecture has changed irreparably in the past decade, but those who know how to adapt just...
Apr 22 2013 8:56am Steve Mouzon
To my fellow lab rats
The United States has intertwined two enormous experiments with each other: the auto-oriented...
Apr 22 2013 8:09am Charles Marohn
The interdependence of successful towns and the rural landscape
A successful rural landscape – working farms and forests, and natural areas that last – is utterly...
Apr 17 2013 2:41pm Kaid Benfield
Shifting mindsets
How do our cities transition from being dumb money — will it work, who knows — to a Strong Towns...
Apr 16 2013 9:28am Robert Steuteville
Get your garden room right
It’s that time of year here in central New Mexico when I start eating lunch in my courtyard so I...
Apr 15 2013 7:13am Susan Henderson
Where sprawl still rules
For several years now, many of us have been predicting — or even celebrating — the end of the...
Apr 12 2013 6:17pm Kaid Benfield
Seven things a community must do to become a Festival City
What does it take for a community to become a “festival city” – a place known for its events?
Apr 10 2013 10:21am Robert Steuteville
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