• How much do your streets design YOU into them?

    The key to safer and more pleasant streets that add value to downtowns is to slow traffic.
    Nearly all of us have had the experience of feeling unsafe walking down the street as cars zip by, or noticed some higher-than-desired speeds in our neighborhoods. Commenting about a lack of pedestrian and bicycling infrastructure, and high car speeds is a perennial statement at community meetings...Read more

  • Film, community, and the Mother Road

    The most storied US highway, also known as America's Main Street, inspired filmmakers to discover New Urbanism. The centennial of Route 66 is an opportunity to celebrate place in the heartland.
    In 2026, Route 66 turns 100. In a way, it’s surprising that it’s only 100. The 2,448-mile-long US highway was already an American legend when Nat King Cole recorded the hit song Get Your Kicks on Route 66 in 1946. As the song says, “it winds from Chicago to LA,” going through the center of hundreds...Read more

  • For housing, the medium is the street

    We need street network reform, not just housing, to create abundant, thriving, healthy communities.
    There’s a new book generating discussion on housing and zoning—two topics that urbanists have been immersed in for decades. Abundance , by prominent progressive thinkers Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein, emphasizes zoning reform to put America back on track and provide direction for the Democratic...Read more

  • An innovative street grid proposal

    The Adaptation Village offers a twist on the street grid, consisting mostly of slow-speed, shared-use mews.
    Of all the changes in the built environment in the 20th Century, none had more impact than abandoning the street grid—which occurred in the US around 1950. That one change did more to eliminate walkability long-term, and the effects on public health and safety are dramatic. The street network...Read more