• Tactical Urbanism comes of age

    One clear lesson from the pandemic: Experimentation with streets may yield tremendous benefits with less downside than previously thought.
    Tactical Urbanism has been building momentum over the last decade since the concept was defined by Mike Lydon and Tony Garcia of Street Plans Collaborative. Many new urban firms have adopted Tactical Urbanism tools in recent years, leading to the creation of temporary public spaces, quickly built...Read more

  • Rick Cole’s new role: Updating urbanism for the 21st Century

    Note: This interview was recently published in The Planning Report : Insider’s Guide to Planning and Infrastructure. Questions posed by TPR are in bold. After more than three decades of leadership in government and public policy in Southern California, you’re stepping into a national role heading...Read more

  • The 15-minute city is the new 5-minute walk

    Proximity and human-scale are still vitally important for sustainability, and yet the geography of our lives has gotten bigger. That is why we need the 15-minute city.
    Why is the 15-minute city important? The 15-minute city is to the 21st Century what the 5-minute walk was to the 19th and early 20th centuries. I realized this after reading a history of my neighborhood, Fall Creek in Ithaca, New York . Because the neighborhood hasn’t physically changed that much...Read more

  • Breaking down scale to fit context

    The requirements challenged the architect to design a large 8-story building that is harmonious with much smaller scale neighbors.
    Avec on H Street in Washington DC is a transit-oriented development with 420 units (32 affordable) and 54,000 square feet of retail on three acres, completed in 2020. It is located in the urban core of the city. This 8-story building is a redevelopment of a former strip mall and parking lot on the...Read more