• The ‘Jacobs Curve’ and gentrification

    While gentrification is sometimes villainized, the "Jacob's Curve" suggests that there is an optimum level of reinvestment in neighborhoods that creates more diversity of place. The drawing, by planner and researcher Michael Mehaffy, is named after Jane Jacobs, who argued for revitalization in ways...Read more

  • Top-hat buildings

    While bemoaning another proposed flat-roofed box fronting on a new urban park in Charlotte, my city, I took a look at Central Park, Manhattan, on Google Maps 3-D and found all sorts of interesting, distinct yet similar, hats to buildings. These buildings were partly the creation of architectural...Read more

  • To reduce pedestrian deaths, focus on design

    We need a strategy for taming deadly thoroughfares that go through cities and suburbs.
    Pedestrian deaths have risen about 45 percent since 2009, reports the State Smart Transportation Initiative . Some experts have speculated that the cause is distracted driving, or even driving under the influence of marijuana. While any potential causes are worth investigating, the best ongoing...Read more

  • If houses were designed like car-oriented cities

    I found this satirical floor plan on the 21st Century City Twitter feed —illustrating the absurdity of automobile-oriented community design. Just like the heart of many cities and towns built since 1950, there is more space for vehicles than people. Moreover, everything is accessed from the...Read more