• In praise of the existing building code

    These are buildings with tremendous intrinsic value that have been standing and functioning for over a hundred years, but are technically unusable according to current building codes.
    We are very big fans of the International Existing Building Code. This is a very special code that allows for flexibility in renovating and reusing existing buildings. One major challenge with any new code is that existing buildings often don’t meet new requirements. Retrofitting existing buildings...Read more

  • The good news on desegregation

    The data shows that neighborhoods across America are becoming more racially diverse—despite some reports of persistent segregation.
    Its rare that some obscure terminology from sociology becomes a part of our everyday vernacular, but “tipping point” is one of those terms. Famously, Thomas Schelling used the tipping point metaphor to explain the dynamics of residential segregation in the United States. His thesis was that white...Read more

  • 'Good bones' are a key to strong communities

    Grids are easy and inexpensive—they are a natural way to design streets. But the convention for much of the last century is to model streets on sewer systems.
    A body without good bones will fall apart. And as many of us have come to realize, streets are the bones of communities. A community that lacks good streets will suffer—in its economy, its social well-being, and its health. When people who study cities and towns say that a place “has good bones,”...Read more

  • Suburbs opt for urban streetscapes

    Some suburbs are building an entire urban downtown from scratch to provide a unique identity and appeal.
    Many suburbs are retrofitting to include walkable urbanism, but a few are building an entire urban downtown from scratch. The Fall 2016 edition of Development Magazine , published by the NAIOP, the national commercial real estate association, reports on three municipalities across the nation that...Read more