• Pearl Brewery Redevelopment

    An industrial shell becomes city's gathering place

    At the turn of the millennium, the 26-acre Pearl Brewery in San Antonio was abandoned and desolate—a collection of empty buildings and pavement with only five trees. Now the ambitious Pearl Brewery Redevelopment is an economic and social powerhouse, drawing an average of more than 10,000 visitors...Read more

  • Freeway fill-in feeds urban revival

    The noose around Rochester's downtown has been partly removed, breathing oxygen into the repopulation of the city center.
    First completed in 1965, the Inner Loop of Rochester, New York, was designed to wrap like a noose around downtown. Combined with the rolling demolition of urban renewal, the Inner Loop served to lure and siphon residents out of the city center—and Rochester’s downtown population plummeted. “We...Read more

  • A model for affordable transit-oriented development

    Once a railway coal siding and more recently a full city block of asphalt surface parking, North Philadelphia’s Paseo Verde now provides affordable, high quality, sustainable housing for a range of income levels. The former 1.9 acre brownfield site is adjacent to SEPTA’s Regional Rail Temple...Read more

  • Complete communities at all scales, for everyone

    A new book offers an in-depth report on how public officials, citizens, and developers are working together to create walkable and inclusive communities.
    Once started, I found Philip Langdon's new book, Within Walking Distance: Creating Livable Communities for All , hard to put down. I worked with Phil for 10 years on the publications New Urban News and Better! Cities & Towns, but the book's compelling narrative—not a personal connection—kept me...Read more