• Form, not content, dictates the ‘smart’ city

    Traditional urbanism is the livable and sustainable alternative to what is being promised in breathtaking futuristic renderings of glass and steel structures.
    Lament: Those who learn from history are forced to live with those who do not. We suffer the consequences of the ignorant repeating known mistakes. Unspoken truths: Form has always been the primary interest of the architectural designer. Within the design professions, peer recognition is valued...Read more

  • To fight climate change, reaffirm beauty

    Building Places People Love is important for sustainable communities—urbanists should embrace the aesthetic eclecticism that is responsible for many of the cities we admire today.
    Ever since Vitruvius identified firmness, commodity, and delight as the three elements of good architecture, beauty has been associated with harmony. From the Greek word harmonia meaning ‘to join well,’ a beautiful building was understood to be the result of a pleasing composition. Before one’s...Read more
  • Louisville Water 1860 and current pumping stations with Ohio River)LouisvilleWaterCo

    At #CNU27, do drink the water

    More than just a utility, Louisville Water Company Is a Civic Treasure.
    Attendees at CNU 27.Louisville will notice a first this year: courtesy stations providing some of the nation’s purest, best-tasting water. Thanks to Louisville Water Company, CNU 27 attendees can hydrate throughout the day with water so good that the utility company has trademarked it as pure tap...Read more

  • Practical confessions of an urbanist pilgrim

    After 12 days of walking the Portuguese Camino, the importance of many urban planning and development concepts—from the urban-to-rural Transect to balanced growth—became abundantly clear.
    In order to understand places, built environment professionals and real estate developers need to also understand the places between, and practice on-the-ground, inter-urban, and inter-settlement walkability. This approach is an essential way to anticipate the context of a given site, using the “...Read more