• Fifty reasons to love urbanism

    Hop on the bus, Gus. Make an urban plan, Sam. Read the report, sport, on 50 reasons to love urban places.
    With apologies to Paul Simon, there must be 50 reasons to build a more walkable city. I have always believed that, although not in those exact words. Arup, a British multinational engineering and consulting firm, has published a report that neatly describes an impressive two score and ten benefits...Read more

  • Why we need Observational Urbanism

    Putting observation first, and theory second, helped to move the planning profession toward more beneficial city building techniques in the late 20th Century. It continues to be an important test and correction to theories, even new urbanist ideas.
    Ten years ago, this summer, I wrote an opinion article commemorating the 50 th Anniversary of Jane Jacobs Death and Life of Great American Cities, in which I may have coined the term “Observational Urbanism.” I had not heard the term before, or since, with the exception of presentation earlier this...Read more

  • Turning a neglected site into four-sided mixed-use

    A development in Edina, a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis, hits a lot of metrics of sustainable planning. Nolan Mains was built on a 2.8-acre site that was previously nearly 100 percent impervious surface—mainly surface parking lots—in a commercial district. Completed in 2019, Nolan Mains has 100...Read more

  • Vision of a town: Celebration of the physical planner

    US Route 20, the longest road in the nation, travels through many interesting and historic places in New York State. One that you have probably never heard of is Cazenovia, a town of 7,000 people, founded in 1793. Cazenovia is a kind of place that you stumble on to, and, if you are an urbanist, you...Read more