• We need a vision for auto-jitneys and livability

    The primary task for autonomous vehicles is placemaking, not engineering. If new urbanists don't create a vision for how AVs can support neighborhood life, nobody will.
    Every week brings news of another place where auto-jitneys are being deployed. We in the New Urbanism need to develop a vision of how that emerging technology will support neighborhood life. If we don’t do it, nobody will. We are the ones who can shift the focus from the technology to the places it...Read more

  • Snow-globe urbanism

    A recent snow captures the beauty of a 1.7-acre cottage development, a new extension of the Village of Cheshire in Black Mountain, North Carolina—near Asheville. Architect and urban designer Tom Low designed the Pocket Court Project around two oval-shaped greens using a " light imprint " approach...Read more

  • Forget 'smart'—we need 'context cities'

    Cities around the globe wrestle with how to reconcile local vernacular, technological change, and economic growth.
    Since September, I have worked in, or visited, 18 cities in Europe, Australia, and the United States, listening throughout for common messages of harmony or discord. I have been waiting for modern Sirens of the Odyssey to divert me, with some divine melody of urbanism or common thread to make sense...Read more

  • Reclaiming streets for people

    In Boston, a Transportation Department guide lays out a vision for streets as shared public spaces.
    When fragmented development and neglect for civic spaces leads to the loss of “organic community,” the situation calls for a public realm that creates a new generation of “third places.” Thanks to the innovative Guide to Placemaking for Mobility , Boston is moving in that direction across the more...Read more