• Alexander’s Oregon patterns: Campus design, part 2

    This is the second 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. Even though Christopher Alexander is widely known for his “Pattern Language”, an...Read more

  • Catalytic development for walkable urban places

    Catalytic development takes place where strategic, integrated investments are made in a concentrated, walkable urban area.
    Why did Dan Gilbert invest billions in downtown Detroit and stake his home-loan empire on a city going through bankruptcy? Financial experts would caution against such a move—but it appears to be paying off as Gilbert buys more and more property and announces ever larger deals. Gilbert’s Rock...Read more

  • New Pioneers: Lean Urbanism in America

    An entertaining book outlines how ordinary citizens can rebuild cities without the help or hindrance of big developers, big finance, and government bureaucrats.
    The New Pioneers: How Entrepreneurs are Defying the System to Rebuild the Cities and Towns of America, is one of the more entertaining and readable books on urbanism that I have come across in a long time. The subject is Lean Urbanism—“Making Small Possible”—a concept that has gained a fair amount...Read more

  • Parking diets for healthier cities

    Donald Shoup's new volume shows how better approaches to parking enable affordable housing, the missing middle, economic development, and better living.
    Note: I hope to see you all at CNU 26.Savannah next week. The lowly parking lot is filled with spaces about 9 by 18 feet with stripes on both sides and access lanes—typically all surfaced in asphalt—and it may be the most common, pervasive, and boring element of the US built environment. Although...Read more