• What causes traffic problems? Updating your mental model

    The factors leading to traffic are more complex than most people think—a still-simple but more accurate formula shows shows why compact neighborhoods are the solution, not the problem.
    Note: This article first appeared on Strong Towns .​ My neighborhood association recently issued a statement of support for a 372-unit apartment complex proposed to be built on disused land at the edge of the neighborhood. Far from everybody agreed with this step . There was a lot of dissent...Read more

  • US 1 is getting a public square

    Generous public space amenities, including a square and wide sidewalks with trees, are key to transit-oriented suburban retrofit on Route 1 in South Florida.
    US Route 1 is the primary federal highway south of Miami (where I-95 ends), and consists of a 5-7 lane suburban arterial on the 25 mile stretch to Florida City, Florida. There’s nothing like a human-scale public space on that corridor, but that reality is changing. Developers A&E Partners are...Read more

  • New Urbanism from the air in Montgomery

    Traditional neighborhood developments at the Alabama state capital took sharply different turns after the Great Recession.
    It’s been more than a decade since I visited Montgomery, Alabama, a mid-sized state capital that also has a fair amount of New Urbanism. That includes infill development around downtown based on a new urban plan and code , and also substantial traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs)—The Waters...Read more

  • Erasing the Arbitrary Lines of zoning

    Nolan Gray joins CNU's On the Park Bench for a discussion of zoning, its history and problems, and what to do about it.
    Author Nolan Gray summarizes the most talked-about book on zoning, maybe ever— Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City, and How to Fix It — in a discussion on CNU's On the Park Bench. Gray describes a dramatic change in recent years on how the public views zoning, which went from a...Read more