Urban Planning
Basics
Who’s to Blame for Drive-to-Urbanism?
Developments can have the trappings of a walkable place but still be very difficult to access without a car.
November 27, 2017
Mobility Justice Advocates Gather in Leimert Park for Untokening California
She had had enough of hearing her community spoken about in offensive ways by well- (and not-so-well-) meaning planners and advocates, enough of giving 110 percent of herself only to realize a fraction of what she put forward was being seen as having value, enough of how disinterested those with power over what happened in marginalized communities remained in the larger picture, and enough of being tokenized.
November 10, 2017
How Houston’s Sprawl Makes It Harder to Cope With Storms Like Harvey
While any city would be overwhelmed by so much rain in so little time, land use in the Houston region has made a difficult situation worse.
August 28, 2017
Confronting Male Dominance in the Urban Planning Debate
How can we make more space for women's voices in the urban transportation sphere?
August 17, 2017
London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s Transportation Vision: Add a Million People While Cutting Traffic By 3 Million Miles Each Day
London Mayor Sadiq Khan's transport strategy for the next 25 years lays out a vision for how his city, expected to add 1.5 million people by 2041 on top of its current 9 million residents, is planning to keep moving while reducing pollution and improving quality of life. The big idea: Cars are the problem, not the solution.
June 21, 2017
Which Cities Are Adding Walkable Housing the Fastest?
As more Americans look for walkable places to live, cities are struggling to deliver, and a lot of neighborhoods are becoming less affordable. A new analysis by Kasey Klimes of Copenhagen's Gehl Studio illustrates how major metro areas have let their supply of walkable housing shrink over the years, contributing to today's housing crunch.
February 4, 2016
Marohn vs. O’Toole: Sizing Up The Great Debate
Last week, Charles Marohn of Strong Towns went head to head with "antiplanner" Randall O'Toole in Lafayette, Louisiana. The debate was billed as an event to help the city with its regional planning process and was broadcast over local radio.
September 15, 2015
Talking Headways Podcast: I’m Not a Scientist
Do you ever think about the ecology of the city you live in? Not just the parks and the smog. Scientists are starting to examine urban ecosystems more holistically: the trees and the concrete, natural gas lines and soil, water pipes and rivers. The natural and the synthetic feed off each other in surprising ways. We're not scientists, but we found it interesting.
November 20, 2014
Fixing a Blank Wall Streetscape With Storefront Retrofits
Every city has places where the buildings present a blank face to the sidewalk. A dark, recessed arcade deadening the pedestrian environment or a soulless concrete wall fronting a windswept plaza.
September 5, 2014
TransitMix: A New App for Your Fantasy Map
I'm a little intimidated by sharing my first fantasy transit map with an audience that I know to include some ardent and accomplished fantasy transit mappers. But here goes: my first attempt.
August 22, 2014