• The great Caribbean Rim rebuilding challenge

    Sustainability takes many forms on the building and community scale in the Caribbean. Here are keys to places that stand the test of time.
    As Caribbean Rim nations move from emergency relief to disaster recovery mode in the coming weeks and months, strong consideration should be given to the ways in which places should be rebuilt, both at the scale of towns and of buildings. This, the worst hurricane season in twelve years, has caused...Read more

  • Florida DOT hits milestone in context-based design

    As part of its Complete Streets Implementation, the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) recently adopted eight context classifications to guide road design decisions.
    As part of its Complete Streets Implementation , the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) recently adopted eight context classifications to guide road design decisions. Under this new system, planners and engineers will consider existing and future characteristics such as land uses, building...Read more

  • The Thirty Years' War rages on

    In architecture, the constant search for the new no longer represents freedom. Urbanism and sustainability are nobler and more practical imperatives.
    Why has New Urbanism turned out for the design community to be the equivalent of the Syrian War, or perhaps the whole of the Middle East conflict? Quite simply, as Dan Solomon and others have noted , there are seemingly irreconcilable differences the Academy, and little willingness to negotiate or...Read more

  • Dealing with a donkey's view of climate change

    Urbanists can contribute mightily to solving the climate problem—got any plans for the next few decades?
    The Congress for the New Urbanism held a Climate Summit in Alexandria, Virginia, early this month to brainstorm on solutions to climate change. The recent catastrophic hurricanes in Puerto Rico, Texas, and Florida—some link the heightened storm activity to climate change—makes the topic especially...Read more