• ‘Maker’ districts could spur revitalization

    Cities are encouraging small manufacturing to promote inclusive economic development and livable wages in downtowns and main streets.
    Fredericksburg, Virginia, is proposing a creative “maker” district on 78 acres of the city’s downtown. North of the city’s central business district, the area currently has a mix of residential, commercial, warehouse and other uses. Encouraging small-scale manufacturing in downtowns, main streets,...Read more

  • The corridor model for more affordable housing

    A case study by Peter Calthorpe shows the potential of underutilized suburban strips to help solve America's housing problems.
    El Camino Real may be the greatest suburban commercial corridor in America, stretching 43 miles from Daly City to San Jose—in Silicon Valley, California. It also shows the promise of suburban arterial roads in solving America’s housing problems. Like many suburban arterials, El Camino Real...Read more

  • Community types and growth in the post-Covid era

    The scale and form of communities—and avoiding sprawl—will play critical roles in their long-term resilience.
    Cities and towns across the US and abroad are in financial crisis due to the pandemic, and some of the income generators on which they depended in recent decades may be permanently broken, but there are certain fundamentals of community survival and growth which are likely to continue long past...Read more

  • Five principles of the ‘urbanism of experience’

    The organic character of historic cities may take centuries to evolve, but humans are also capable of dynamic change and innovative adaptation—all reflected in evolving communities.
    For many years, I’ve stressed the importance of the urbanism of experience, finding layered examples that show how people relate to the built and sociocultural communities around them. This exercise is not merely academic, but is also useful as a supplement to today’s urbanist dialogue and...Read more