All 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.
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De-stroading the country will make everything better for everyone, including those who regularly drive, and create places we are proud of.
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How much valuable land is your community wasting on Non-Places? (Hint: It may be a lot more than you think!)
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Software engineers don’t design user interface, so why do we let civil engineers design streets?
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A guide for making your urban spaces more fine-grained.
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Decades into the Suburban Experiment, many towns and cities have precious few old buildings left. Those that remain could be adapted to new uses—but cities are making that hard.
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Chain stores often claim they can’t break from their standard design templates when moving into your city. Don’t believe it.
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An urbanist abroad discovers that Tokyo faces many of the same challenges as U.S. cities — off-street parking, pedestrian safety, utilizing space, etc. — but is addressing them in very different ways.
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It is important when we design a building or a neighborhood to look at how it feels and interacts with the street. Too often, new development feels designed from a helicopter’s-eye-view.
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Incremental approaches are often cheaper, faster, or have less risk than sudden approaches. Let’s explore different types of incrementalism.
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When we aim for perfection, imperfections will disturb us. But, when we aim for imperfection, other imperfections build character.
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Will this new development make traffic worse? The conventional wisdom about the relationship between development and traffic contains a number of important misconceptions.
Read MoreIncremental approaches are often cheaper, faster, or have less risk than sudden approaches. Let’s explore different types of incrementalism.
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Walkability is a word urbanists throw around, often with different ideas as to what it really means, or why we care about it. Let’s take a look at how safety, distance, convenience, and comfort affect it.
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When large storefronts sit empty for years, holding out for the perfect big tenant, while small businesses can’t find space to rent, we’ve got a serious problem.
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A city is a living organism, and we should tend to it as such. A city dies when it is treated as, and functions, as a machine.
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If you want to understand housing affordability and transportation issues, start with setbacks.
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Transit is not a prerequisite for making a decent people-oriented neighborhood.
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A Complete Neighborhood is one where, outside of commuting to work or spending a night out, you can get everything you need within walking distance.
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We can build compact, walkable cities in an adaptable and economically inclusive manner — no high-rise towers needed.
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