Conducting a walking audit is an quick, easy and free step that anyone can take to start improving their place. In this article, trained architect and urban designer Edward Erfurt demonstrates how to do so, using a recently completed sidewalk project in his community as an example.
Read MoreDriving from my dismal exurban hotel to the walkable downtown of a Florida beach town led me to a resolution: Start seeking out the kind of lodging that accentuates the best reasons for visiting a place, and hopefully discourage the kind of development that’s contributing to its demise.
Read MoreAll of the land used in cities can be divided into two categories: Places and Non-Places. Places are productive destinations, while Non-Places are unproductive padding between destinations. Once these Places and Non-Places are marked on a map, it becomes obvious how much land cities waste on Non-Places.
Read MoreThousands of elected officials and people who work in local government want to make their streets safer. Here’s how you can help them do that.
Read MoreWhy is it that when a place is [pick one: walkable, bikeable, beautiful, lovable, inviting, human-scale], it so often gets coded as being “gentrified” and therefore elitist? When only the rich can afford nice places, the solution isn't to stop creating such places but to create vastly more of them.
Read MoreWhen it comes to Halloween adventures, the traditional development pattern always comes out on top. Here’s why.
Read MoreWhen analyzing car crashes and identifying ways to prevent them, local experts — residents who are familiar with the crash sites — can often identify issues and solutions that technical experts miss. Here's how technical experts and elected officials can tap into that local expertise.
Read MoreNorth America's built environment makes it too dangerous for most children to walk to school. Edward Erfurt, Strong Towns' director of community action, knows that from experience. Here's how he's planning to make the street outside his son's school safer.
Read MoreGreenfield development may be appealing to people who are fighting the housing crisis, especially on cheap rural land. But if these developments are the only places with housing affordability, people who can't drive — whether due to age, disability, or finance — are out of luck. That's not a real solution.
Read MoreIf you could ask anything from a downtown redevelopment project, what would it be? For a lot of people, it’s a place to sit. This may be surprising to some, but public seating plays an important role in creating prosperous communities. Here are a few of the reasons why.
Read MoreWhen trying to make a walkable and vibrant street, urban planners often think in terms of hard infrastructure like road width and crosswalks. But soft infrastructure, specifically flowers and other colorful plant life, plays an important role as well.
Read MorePublic bathrooms are an essential component of people-centered places. In addition to maintaining public health, they encourage foot traffic and community, as people are more likely to frequent an area when they know bathrooms will be available — especially if they have children or medical conditions.
Read MoreThe lament, “There’s nothing to do here,” might sound like teenage grumbling, but there may be more wisdom to it than meets the ear. Maybe we should look at our cities through the lens of organic social activities, both because they're enjoyable and because it gives us a chance to reconsider our values and the relationship between our design choices and our community’s social life.
Read MoreA new development in Tempe, Arizona, claims to be “the best place to live car-free in the U.S.” But while this development has many of the trappings of a strong town, it’s lacking one of the most important elements: resilience born from incremental development.
Read MoreWhen the owners of Lawrence Hall bought the abandoned building, they had a vision of reviving it into a food hall that would support small businesses and help their community thrive. They never imagined that a few parking spots would put their dream on hold for seven years.
Read MoreIn what’s anticipated to be a landslide, the people of Los Angeles just voted in favor of walking, biking, and transit.
Read MoreAmerican cities are too dependent on cars. Who says so? North Dakota Governor and former Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum.
Read MoreChildren haven’t changed in the past 100 years, but our attitudes about their ability to be independent have.
Read MoreDon’t wage a war against drivers, but don’t wage a war for them, either.
Read MoreThis Dallas citizen developer is creating housing that’s maximizing profit—not for himself, but for the community—by funneling individuals from the foster care system into homeownership.
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