• Why vacant offices are post-pandemic opportunities

    Cities and states offer incentives for developers to convert offices to living spaces, which could have a profound impact on downtowns, employment districts, and office parks.
    Near the beginning of the pandemic, when downtowns across America resembled eerily well-maintained ghost towns, a Public Square article speculated on what would happen if many workers never returned to the office. “When we emerge from this pandemic, it would not be surprising if employees...Read more

  • Turning an office park into a town center

    The rethinking of a conventional office park, Carmel Gateway is the latest big idea to be proposed in Carmel, Indiana, the city of roundabouts.
    Under the leadership of Mayor Jim Brainard, Carmel, Indiana, has been a town planning innovator for a quarter century. With almost 150 roundabouts (making it one of the safest suburban communities in the US), and the striking new Monon Boulevard planned by Speck & Associates and Gehl with...Read more

  • Suburban retrofit is ‘autophagy’ of the built environment

    Conventional suburbs are cities that have grown obese. We need processes for reusing their worn-out parts and creating something of higher value.
    My summer reading sometimes leads to connecting diverse topics with my area of professional focus—the built environment. I recently read a book on fasting 1 that introduced me to the body’s recycling process called “autophagy,” and I thought about suburban retrofit. I don’t know that anyone else...Read more

  • A call to rethink dying houses of worship

    The US may see 100,000 churches close, and this issue could help determine the success or failure of many downtowns and neighborhoods over the next three to four decades. The skills of urbanists are needed.
    Rome, Georgia, features steeple after steeple defining its skyline. Its tourist map for Rome depicts 15 houses of worship in its six-block long, four-block-wide Downtown area alone. The church properties take up a substantial portion of developable land downtown. Like cities nationwide, most of...Read more