• Nashville’s sidewalk deficit and America’s torn civic fabric

    To bring citizens together is the very purpose of a city. Nashville’s sidewalk deficit emerged for many reasons, but it boils down to this: Planning and development during the Age of Sprawl was designed to keep people apart.
    About half of Nashville’s thoroughfares lack sidewalks—a problem that the city has been trying to solve for two decades with limited success. The issue was a bone of contention in last year’s mayoral campaign, reports CityLab . Sidewalks are critical infrastructure for connecting people in the city...Read more

  • Transforming a ‘barracks’ into a neighborhood

    Connecting housing by using a neighborhood pattern improves the lives of moderate-income residents.
    Born as a public housing tract on Milwaukee’s northwest side, Westlawn Gardens was originally developed in the 1950s to provide affordable dwellings for families. Referred to as “barracks housing,” the site’s buildings were inefficient, undersized for many families in need, and isolated residents...Read more

  • Green Code will help Buffalo to grow again

    The Great Lakes city needs clear direction in building and revitalization, and the new Unified Development Ordinance can provide it.
    After six years and 242 public meetings, the Buffalo Common Council unanimously approved the Unified Development Ordinance, otherwise known as the Green Code, December 27. Buffalo became the third major US city to adopt a form-based code (FBC) for the entire city, after Miami and Denver. Many other...Read more

  • Jane Jacobs would be fighting to preserve affordable housing

    Note: This article was written as a speech to the first annual Jane Jacobs Award at Met Council Housing. Jane Jacobs wrote 12 wide-ranging, brilliant books. In them she wove together ideas about cities, city life, politics, economics, and social and cultural issues, so it’s hard to succinctly...Read more