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A gift of nature and architecture
Park Van Ness has remarkable details—and opens up a view from a major thoroughfare to a major urban park.This beautiful Art Deco building is a striking addition to a major urban thoroughfare, terminating a vista at the end of a cross street with a grand, two-story archway that leads into a 5,000-square-foot public plaza overlooking an important urban park in DC. It's not often that a building like...Read more -
Genuine change or lipstick on a pig?
A well-known new urban project has begun to reshape the relentless sprawl around it, but communities shouldn't wait for that to happen.A criticism of Silicon Valley planning, housing, and community culture led to a critique last week of Santana Row , a prominent new urbanist development in San Jose, California. Santana Row is better than the usual Silicon Valley sprawl, but does it represent real progress—or is it merely dressing...Read more -
Harnessing civil engineering for placemaking and preservation
Harvey and Irma point out the need to think deeply about resilience to major storms in the era of climate change.In Newport, Rhode Island, the tide is rising. Local sea levels at high tide have risen eight inches in the past 75 years, threatening neighborhoods like The Point, which combines history, charm, and walkability in a way that is unique and irreplaceable. Neighborhoods in Newport’s flood zones...Read more -
Building on local assets for resilience
Plan NoBe in the North Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach sets the stage for higher construction standards to withstand sea-level rise—while strengthening defenses like sea walls, mangrove islands, and barrier beaches.Irma and Harvey raise the issue of resilience in coastal communities that are prone to hurricanes, and Miami Beach, Florida, is among the most vulnerable—yet the city is growing steadily this decade. For the Miami Beach neighborhood of North Beach, climate change, historic preservation, affordable...Read more