Small, locally-based investments can make a big difference to help people walking and biking feel safe. Big investments from outside sources tend to have the opposite effect.
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In a world where brick-and-mortor stores are increasingly hard to maintain and afford, mobile businesses fill an important niche for both business owners and consumers.
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Stop fearing the end of civilization as we know it, and start learning from the people who have already experienced it.
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A futuristic civic building still inspires awe, but that's muted by the changing suburban landscape around it.
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Most people load themselves up with massive amounts of debt in order to live the way they believe they’re supposed to. But there's another option.
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Ugliness isn’t the problem and newness isn’t any kind of solution.
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We’ve got the built environment that we have and the overwhelming majority of it isn’t going to change.
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The gazebo is a talisman designed to suggest a pretty illusion, but reality overwhelmed the dream.
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Last year I engaged in a failed attempt to renovate an old house in Ohio. It ended badly. So I thought I’d do a follow-up on what actually does work given the legal parameters and cultural context.
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Building after massive building now
By buying wholesome food in bulk directly from small family farms I’ve radically shortened the supply chain.
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We’ve built too much of the wrong stuff in the wrong places and market demand may never catch up or reinvent these landscapes.
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Last year I bought a $15,000 uninhabitable shack in Cincinnati, Ohio, hoping to renovate it into a nice two-story duplex for renters. Here's what went wrong.
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Everything that used to be shiny and new in this town is now aging – not all of it well. This town, like nearly every other town of its vintage, is functionally insolvent.
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Attempts to upgrade public transit by the central authorities in Los Angeles have been fought tooth and nail by residents, and illustrate why transit just doesn’t work when the local culture doesn’t want it.
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There’s just no reason why a four-year college degree should cost anything like what it does. Here's a different model.
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When you're faced with the choice of living in an urban neighborhood with "poor" schools, or a suburban neighborhood with "good" schools, you find a work around. That's what these entrepreneurial spirits did in San Francisco.
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Does anyone think the folks in the $700,000 suburban homes would be living there in anything like their current circumstances if they had to pave their own roads and pump water up to their own homes? Does anyone believe these homes would be worth $700,000 without the heavily subsidized public infrastructure?
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A new community center could've fallen victim to the typical auto-oriented public project pitfalls. Instead, local designers created a walkable, bikeable neighborhood amenity that is spurring fresh development.
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Our de facto national housing policy of drive-till-you-qualify suburban development works well enough for people with an education and a professional salary. It fails the working class entirely and that’s by design.
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