• How Jacobs and Alexander unlock 21st Century problems

    Review of Cities Alive: Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, and the Roots of the New Urban Renaissance, a book by Michael Mehaffy.
    I realized soon after I delved into Cities Alive that I was reading an important analysis for urbanism—now and in the coming decades. Those in the land-use planning and development business know the stories of urban renewal damage, the failure of modern urban projects like Pruitt-Igoe, and the...Read more

  • Houston, build the civic space of democracy

    After Harvey, let's rebuild a city that will last for centuries and support healthy social interaction, in addition to getting people out of harm's way.
    We have all heard the Harvey wakeup call. We all know we can’t continue business as usual. We have to change our ways. We will in fact be “the city that floods” unless we stop being the “city of no limits.” Unlike previous storms, every one of us knows personally someone who was flooded out of...Read more

  • Creating local craft

    The workers at Caribbean Homes and Exports are not only doing meaningful work, but they also command far more value than if they were at the bottom links of the industrial product chain.
    We have become so accustomed to buying things manufactured halfway around the world at everyday low prices that most of us have forgotten the delight of things created by local craftsmen steeped in traditions they have developed over time. These are things you can’t find just anywhere, and the...Read more

  • To fight global climate change, fight global sprawl

    The drive-through lifestyle, exported by America and adopted worldwide, is the "operating system for growth" that is a root cause of rising carbon emissions.
    A few years back I conducted a little experiment. I went onto a popular image-sharing website to see how difficult it might be to find new drive-through McDonalds restaurants in four different, rapidly-growing parts of the world: Brazil, India, China, and Eastern Europe. My goal wasn’t to look at...Read more