• Highway, gutting a town (or not)

    Urban designer and architect Tom Low recently drew this side-by-side comparison of how a highway can gut, or work in harmony with, a city or town. The cloverleaf option, at left, is ideal for a highway interchange in the country, but creates an enormous barrier in or between neighborhoods. In the...Read more

  • Of donuts and chitchat: How people use public spaces

    William H. Whyte was a pioneer on studying the endlessly fascinating ways that people use public spaces. The SWA Group recently conducted an update on Whyte's work in New York City, and the results were published in a Guardian article called From lizarding to lingering: how we really behave in...Read more

  • Your brain on streets

    The above images represent an analysis of two residential suburban streets, and answer the question of which one is likely to attract and interest more pedestrians. Aside from the fact that the one on the right has more sidewalks, the immediate human cognitive perception of these streets is quite...Read more

  • Conventional suburban versus hamlet design

    The conventional suburban site plan above left was drawn for a hilltop site in a large development project. Charlotte architect and urban planner Tom Low, director of Civic By Design , created the alternative New Urbanism plan of a hamlet. The idea is to develop a series of interconnected hilltop...Read more