• A sidewalk to connect our fractured nation

    It's easy to divide the country into those who have sidewalks, and vote one way, and those who do not, and vote another way. Yet sidewalks, and all they symbolize, are gaining political recognition.
    Nate Silver, the celebrated election prognosticator, Tweeted during the 2012 presidential race: "Heuristic: if a place has sidewalks, it votes Democratic. Otherwise, it votes Republican." Nate Silver is an astute analyst, and his observation mostly rings true in 2016. The presence of sidewalks is a...Read more

  • How Latinos shape the American suburb

    Latin American immigrants conceive of suburban and urban life in a way that is hugely influenced by the Law of the Indies and its resulting development patterns.
    Latino immigrants are reshaping the American suburban landscape in ways that deserve any planner’s attention — not because this reshaping needs to be curbed, but because it offers unique learning lessons in how to improve the sustainability of the American suburb in simple and low-tech but...Read more

  • How to sell missing middle housing to neighbors

    In order to build a 'Missing Middle' development, a rezoning and/or a variance is typically required—which means the project must be sold to the neighborhood. This is what we have learned on how to do that.
    We spend a lot of time talking about Missing Middle Housing and its critical role in developing healthy and inclusive neighborhoods. Discussing the theory and design behind Missing Middle Housing is essential, but we also need to consider the hands-on process of making these projects real. One...Read more

  • Twenty thousand C-notes for the 'civic commons'

    Major foundations are investing $20 million into four cities, matched by local funds, to revitalize underutilized assets and improve the public realm at the neighborhood scale.
    The breaking news today is good for Akron, Detroit, Chicago, and Memphis—four post-industrial cities—that will be getting $20 million from the Knight, Kresge, Rockefeller, and JPG foundations, matched by local funding sources, to connect civic assets and improve public spaces. These cities join...Read more