• Reviving neighborhood stores

    Neighborhoods used to be full of local businesses, but they have dwindled over the past century. Maybe it’s time to figure out how to make neighborhoods business-friendly again.
    Looking at a walkable urban neighborhood today, it may be hard to imagine how much mixed-use once existed. Chances are, it is far more than you think. In some cases, a former commercial building or site is obvious. In others, it is far from obvious. Often, the mixed-use or commercial building has...Read more

  • The benefits of ‘skinny houses’

    Single-family housing on narrow lots, sometimes called “detached townhouses,” can solve many problems for small-lot, economical, and efficient housing.
    Much attention is paid to “Missing Middle” housing types that meet the needs of diverse households, can fit in walkable neighborhoods, and are often more affordable. Common types include duplexes, four-plexes, townhouses, courtyard dwellings, accessory units, small apartment buildings, and cottages...Read more

  • Stretching the imagination of a community’s highway-to-boulevard dreams

    IMAGINE: The Future Grand Rapids vision replaces US-131 in the Michigan city with a green, low speed boulevard and reconnected street grid.
    When people are forced to live for generations with destructive infrastructure, like an urban highway, they tend to restructure their lives to accommodate it and “work around it,” making it difficult to imagine that any other alternative will work. IMAGINE: The Future Grand Rapids is building a...Read more

  • The Art of the New Urbanism

    Fine art helped to drive the New Urbanism trend toward walkable communities.
    A coming book on the New Urbanism that will blow a lot of socks off. The Art of the New Urbanism Volume 1, highlights an aspect of the movement that is long overdue for examination: The works of the talented artists who have drawn renderings and plans for countless projects. Explains co-author...Read more