• A social justice case for walking and cycling

    This graph, from Jeff Speck's book Walkable City Rules , tells at a glance why investing in walkable and bike-friendly streets disproportionately helps lower-income workers. Bike lanes are sometimes criticized for benefiting young professionals rather than the poor. This argument is wrong...Read more

  • Pattern retrofitting with immigrants

    This is Part 4 of a series on retrofitting urban patterns to create more resilient places where decentralized capital can flourish. This article, the last of the series, discusses how immigrants may play a role in getting us there.
    Note: See Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 of this series.​ This article series has used Cobb County, near Atlanta, Georgia, as a muse. Much has been written recently about Cobb County on the national stage and it’s a place I know well. But realistically, is Cobb County a good cultural candidatefor...Read more

  • How many Opportunity Zones have smart growth potential?

    Opportunity Zones offer significant smart growth potential if investors can find the opportunities, but a new report is of limited use, especially when it comes to smaller cities and incremental development.
    Only about two percent of Opportunity Zones (OZs) have high “smart growth potential,” according to a new report from LOCUS—a development coalition that is part of Smart Growth America. That sounds like bad news, but I am far less pessimistic than the National Opportunity Zones Ranking Report —I...Read more

  • For cities and streets, 101 salvations

    Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places shows how to make communities walkable—and better places to live.
    In 2012, in a book called Walkable City , Jeff Speck set out to help small and mid-sized communities provide their residents “a quality of life that makes them want to stay.” As Speck saw it, some big cities, including New York and Portland, Oregon, had been making impressive strides toward good...Read more