• Will the feds handcuff cities on automated vehicles?

    If federal laws like the AV START bill foreclose the opportunities of cities and states to intelligently regulate AVs, communities themselves will lose the steering wheel.
    Editor's note: Number 1 of Jeff Speck's 10 rules for cities about automated vehicles is "be afraid," and this article reinforces the message that cities must be in control of their own destinies when it comes to AVs. Congress is currently considering the AV START bill , which would be the first...Read more

  • Critical data points for my street

    One gaggle of girls, 270-plus trick-or-treaters, 20 pies, and one streetwise cat are vital statistics for this urban thoroughfare.
    Last week NACTO (National Association of City Transportation Officials) released a report that said data is key to the function of streets, now and in the future. Data may be more important, NACTO says, than pavement itself: Data is replacing concrete, asphalt and steel as the foundation of 21st...Read more

  • Cultivating community: Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good

    Success is people consciously working together, putting differences aside in pursuit of higher quality of life, and getting something done.
    Community fascinates me. Not just the idea of it, but the dynamics, and how those dynamics end up stoking or choking our collective efforts to be together. Having worked in a lot of different places, I’ve had opportunity to study community in action, at both its strongest and weakest, in all...Read more

  • Why climate change is now front and center

    The most critical opportunity for urbanists is to step up to the magnitude of the climate challenge.
    25 years ago, many of us we were in this same room, having already spent four years talking and planning for the first congress. We assembled a coalition of interested but uncertain allies and curious onlookers, all drawn to the potential opportunity to confront and combat suburban sprawl. At that...Read more