• What drives design in your community?

    For decades, we’ve been designing streets, trails, and parks in many cities and with many clients. One goal is to attract people and investment to places. Another is to design projects that are easy to maintain, safe, attractive, and comfortable for people to use. Typically, clients (e.g. city...Read more

  • The story of walking in US cities in one graph

    This graph, from the 2016 Bicycling & Walking Benchmarking Report, released two days ago, tells you most of what you need to know about walking in US cities. The best 10 cities identified in this graph, where walking is frequent and safe, all have street grids with small blocks and streets. The...Read more

  • Sprawl madness

    These two suburban houses near Orlando, Florida, are about 60 feet apart, but to borrow a cup of sugar without trespassing requires a 7.1-mile trip by car—or a two-and-a-half-hour trek on foot (five hours round trip). A similar image was originally published on Streetsblog , illustrating the...Read more

  • The good, the bad, and the ugly

    New urbanists often exalt European urbanism precedents as exemplary models worth emulating. However, it is myth that European cities have managed to resist the devastation of placeless modern planning. On a recent visit to Delft, Johannes Vermeer’s hometown, I was charmed by the beauty and scale of...Read more