• New eco-city combines ancient practice and modern technology

    Masdar City in Abu Dhabi is designed with energy, transit, human comfort, and sustainability in mind.
    A new city rising on the edge of the Arabian desert may become one of the most sustainable cities in the world. Perhaps ironically, this attempt at creating a low-carbon city is occurring in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which has grown wealthy exporting hydrocarbons to the world. Yet it’s not pouring...Read more

  • Car-free streets: When old becomes new again

    Americans are returning to walkable neighborhoods. Property values are appreciating much faster in these types of places than they are in car-dependent areas, suggesting people are becoming increasingly willing to pay a premium to live, work, and play in walkable environments. [1] Though widespread...Read more

  • Appreciating small-scale New Urbanism

    For those who are concerned that too many big developers dominate urban revitalization, the Naked Philly blog is an antidote.
    I’m guilty, like a lot of writers, of focusing on the larger projects. Many articles are written on 500-unit mixed-use developments while scores of little urban projects fall under the radar. I recently checked in with the Naked Philly blog, which shows the transformation of a major city in all its...Read more

  • New Urbanism's family values

    Joel Kotkin charges urbanists with being anti-family—but he couldn't be more wrong.
    In The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us , Joel Kotkin makes the case that urbanists are behind the drop in birth rates around the world. Urbanists are implementing policies that discourage child-rearing—with potentially dire consequences, he says in this 200-plus-page polemic. It’s pretty...Read more