• The cost of an extra foot

    Our cities desperately need professional engineers to realign their values to reflect those of the broader society, and we can start by making streets no wider than they need to be.
    Civil engineers generally have a conservative disposition. I’m not talking politics but their way of approaching the world. My fellow engineers tend to dress conservatively, keep a low profile, and avoid social situations, especially where they will be the focus of attention. I’ve experienced few...Read more

  • Neal Peirce, chronicler of cities and regions

    From identifying “pedestrian pockets” as a regional antidote to sprawl to advocating for the reform of the electoral college, Neal Peirce was ahead of his time.
    Neal Peirce, the person who first put me on the path to New Urbanism, died several weeks ago, just days before his 88 th birthday. Neal had an outsized impact on my life and that of many other friends and colleagues. In 1987, I received a small envelope in the mail from my mother. Inside was a...Read more

  • Nine keys to safe downtown streets

    These concepts, applied here to downtown Hammond, Indiana, are relevant to most American cities.
    Street life is dramatically impacted by the speed of vehicles. Whether they know it or not, most pedestrians understand in their bones that a person hit by a car going 35 mph is roughly seven times as likely to die than if the car is going 25 mph. Any community that is interested in street life—or...Read more

  • Seaside is a model of ideas worth spreading

    The town of Seaside has had an impact on city building in America over the last four decades. Here are 16 ways that the Florida Panhandle resort influenced development.
    As I sit here writing this article at Seaside, I enjoy the convenience of being able to walk to the places I want to visit during my days here. I appreciate the beauty of the buildings and the way that they relate to one another—such that I feel like I am walking through a series of beautiful...Read more