New York state transportation authorities have the opportunity to correct a historic mistake in Syracuse, by removing an obsolete freeway that tore the city in half decades ago. Will they do the right thing?
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Cars take up a lot of space. And one way or another, that imposes very real costs on our cities. New York just took an important step toward acknowledging and covering those costs.
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Historically, a decentralized, trial-and-error process was how cities “discovered” which urban design features worked best for their own circumstances. Let’s look at the evolution of front setbacks in New York to understand how this works.
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Wide, fast avenues through residential areas act as moats. They divide residents from jobs, resources, and each other, and harm cities’ prosperity and quality of life. Here’s one example of such a “moat.”
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More and more, New York City is becoming a ghost town where only the super rich can afford to live, and retail can’t afford to stay open. But is simple greed the reason why?
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It’s not just ride-hailed traffic that causes congestion; its all traffic. Singling out these app-based services for regulation takes transportation policy down a dead-end route.
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Typically, the thought of converting an old subway tunnel into parking would send shivers down the spines of urbanists. But this project may be a surprisingly beneficial way to catalyze redevelopment in Rochester, New York’s recovering downtown.
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Plus some musings on the nature of our present-day cities, and what they once were.
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From the towering Xerox Square, to the grand Civic Center, to the glistening Riverside Convention Center, virtually every corner of downtown Rochester has been “revitalized”, so why does it still feel so dead?
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Balancing the relationship between residents, businesses and public perception is a challenging task, but our cities stand to gain a lot if we can get it right.
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These Rochester neighborhoods offer simple lessons that every town can employ to improve its economic success and wellbeing.
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Should cities invest in big projects in the hopes of increasing tourism, or should they invest in the people that have already taken a risk by moving back into their long-dormant downtowns?
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A new ordinance completely removes developers’ legal obligation to provide off-street parking in Buffalo, NY.
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How do we bridge the physical gap between regional mass transit options and city destinations? The answer may rest in the growing movement of bike share.
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My urban walks in cities around the world have shown me the richness of places that embrace walking, and why encouraging walkable environments in cities is quite simply the right thing to do.
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I ran the numbers and made a plan for building a traditional urban neighborhood. It turns out there's big profit to be made in this model.
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These places all have many of the physical elements needed for success, quite frankly, because they were built for it originally. What they need most is people; people that care about the place and have the energy to make it better.
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It’s six years ago this month that Bass Pro – a project backed by virtually every power broker and politician – mercifully pulled the plug on a nine-year flirtation with the downtown Buffalo waterfront.
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Let's take a look at how big-box stores have adapted to the urban environment of New York City.
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Public restrooms are a public health issue. Any town that wants to get serious about welcoming tourists into its walkable areas and encouraging its residents to spend more of their time downtown, needs to implement a public restroom strategy.
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