• Design communities so that neighbors can borrow sugar

    This image is from an illustrative article called This Is How Borrowing Things From Our Neighbors Strengthens Society, by Sarah Lazarovic in Yes! journal. Here’s the tagline: Research shows that small talk and casual connections create happy communities and less-lonely individuals. Although there...Read more

  • Wheeler District gets rolling

    A large new urban project on a former airport near downtown Oklahoma City, the Wheeler District is off to a strong start.
    A charrette more than four years ago envisioned a new neighborhood on a 135-acre vacant tract on the Oklahoma River, surrounded to the south by existing neighborhoods. One mile from downtown on a former airport, the neighborhood was christened the Wheeler District, after a historical figure in the...Read more

  • Urban adventure: Train travel in China

    The lack of connections and the view from the train were disappointing, but the hospitality more than made up for the inconvenience.
    The bumper sticker “Practice Random Acts of Kindness” is easily read but too rarely practiced. Yet, on a trip in China I was unexpectedly the recipient of just such an act. I had been frequently traveling to Nanjing for work, taking a nonstop flight to Beijing from Washington, DC, and a connecting...Read more

  • Parking is important and not important

    While off-street parking regulations are counter-productive, we still need to plan for parking. Here are some ideas on how to think about this issue.
    Who doesn’t want to talk about parking? Is there a topic that comes up more frequently, among both laypeople and planning/development professionals? I’ll always remember a “painfully funny because it’s true,” tweet in 2016 that essentially said, “The presidential debates erred by not asking a...Read more