• From busy roadway to public square

    Reducing redundant roadway in cities can be good for people both outside and inside of vehicles.
    One thing cities need is more creative traffic planning of pedestrian-unfriendly intersections, informed by good urban design. Here's a video of a cool design for Kenmore Square, a complicated and heavily traveled intersection in the Fenway/Kenmore neighborhood of Boston, near Boston University and...Read more

  • The connected network answer to traffic congestion

    A hierarchical system of subdivisions branching off of arterial roads is a "perfect recipe for congestion."
    Today, Strong Towns advocates for connected street networks to solve traffic congestion. Connected networks—grids or modified grids—disperse rather than concentrate traffic. Hierarchical streets networks—illustrated as subdivisions with loop roads and cul-de-sacs branching off of arterials—...Read more

  • The once and future neighborhood

    Urban planner Emily Talen tells the history of the neighborhood, why it became a controversial topic, and how the “everyday neighborhood” could help a diverse America come together.
    In the beginning, there was the neighborhood. It was where people lived, for thousands of years. “Neighborhoods are a ubiquitous condition of human settlement, found in all time periods, in all cultures, and in both rural and urban contexts,” writes Emily Talen, Professor of Urbanism at the...Read more

  • Across the US, too many pedestrians are dying

    A new report called Dangerous By Design 2019 once again reminds us that thousands of people on foot are cut down each year in violent, preventable deaths.
    Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition released Dangerous By Design 2019 this week, and America seems to be getting more dangerous for pedestrians. Pedestrian deaths have been rising in recent years—to about 6,000 each year in 2016 and 2017. Back in 2008, the figure was...Read more