• Why we hug the edge of open spaces: Campus design, part 7

    Fundamental sensory mechanisms determine how we walk in relation to built structures. This physiological basis must inform the design of pedestrian campus circulation.
    Author’s note: This is the seventh in a series of ten essays that present innovative techniques for designing and repairing a corporate or university campus. These tools combine New Urbanist principles with Alexandrian design methods. We are physiologically drawn to visual destinations, while the...Read more

  • Reflections on 10 Years of the NYC plaza program

    Seventy-four public spaces have been created out of underutilized parts of the city street network in the last decade.
    In 2007, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlanNYC made a bold commitment that all New Yorkers would live within a 10-minute walk of an open space. Rather than give that goal to the Parks Department as might seem obvious, the plan’s visionary crafters assigned it instead to the Department of...Read more

  • Recovering urban nature for a healthier city

    In Curridabat, Costa Rica, new urbanist interventions are combined with park improvements, wetlands, and projects to improve biodiversity.
    The first city in Costa Rica to adopt form-based coding has created a citywide plan to connect urban neighborhoods to nature. Sweet City is the next phase of a Charter Award-winning plan of 2014. The majority of Curridabat’s 72,500 citizens live among public spaces dominated by asphalt—inhibiting...Read more

  • Build as if there were no air conditioning

    “Build as if you had only the sun to warm and the breezes to cool. Entice yourself outside with great outdoor rooms to condition yourself to the local environment so you can throw the windows open most days. On the most extreme days, use small but highly efficient cooling equipment,” advises...Read more