• After the pandemic, human nature will keep cities alive

    Sprawl may surge for a time if we ignore the fundamental needs of human habitat.
    Commentators in the newspapers and social media are predicting Americans will return to auto-oriented suburbia after the frightening experience of the COVID-19 pandemic—that low density suburbs will increase in popularity by offering a sanitary separation from other people that denser, walkable...Read more

  • Cities converting streets to public space in coronavirus crisis

    Underutilzed streets with little traffic are being transformed with temporary pedestrian and bicycle thoroughfares, shared streets, bikeways, expanded sidewalks, and outdoor eating to give citizens more room in a time of social distancing.
    Thousands of miles of city streets worldwide, and more than 500 miles in the US, are being converted for pedestrian and bicycling activity during the coronavirus crisis, according to research by Street Plans Collaborative. The firm headed by Tony Garcia and Mike Lydon, leaders in Tactical Urbanism...Read more

  • Neighborhood library elevates civic space

    The Cleveland Park Library serves as an inviting beacon of culture for a neighborhood in Washington, DC. The building won a merit award for Perkins Eastman DC in the Block, Street, and Building category of the 2020 CNU Charter Awards.
    The Cleveland Park Library is a “civic beacon” at the southern end of Cleveland Park’s main street on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC. The building, completed in 2018, is contemporary in design, yet it has a timeless quality. It replaces a 1953 facility that had outlived its usefulness. The...Read more

  • Good news on the pandemic: State of Coronavirus in America

    Cases are down in the face of a big increase in testing. Mortality is also declining. These trends hold in the states that reopened early—as well as in the nation as a whole.
    This past week has brought excellent news to report in the sixth State of Coronavirus in America (SoCA). Newly identified COVID-19 cases are down nationwide by 16 percent in the 7-day period ending May 13, in the face of another big jump in testing. Mortality is down even more—18 percent—in the...Read more