• On Thanksgiving, it matters where you walk

    This holiday, experience the magic of a city or town. Let that become part of your family experience. It may change your life.
    To me, Thanksgiving smells of cool gray skies, bare trees, decaying leaves, and an old town in Connecticut. That’s where we spent many Thanksgivings when I was a child—at the 19 th Century house of an aunt and uncle. We always went for a walk—several walks—the older and younger generations together...Read more

  • ‘Vertical Evolution Cottage’ offers affordable variety

    A design for a North Carolina Habitat for Humanity chapter fits a range of infill locations with standardized production.
    In Brunswick County, North Carolina, the local Habitat for Humanity chapter builds houses on varied lot sizes, and it needs a flexible design that would fit into existing neighborhoods. The Vertical Evolution Cottage by Moser Design Group (MDG) won a merit award from the Urban Guild this year for a...Read more

  • Removing I-794 is a ‘generational opportunity’

    A new study shows that demolishing a second freeway spur in downtown Milwaukee could provide housing for 4,200 people and $1.1 billion in property value.
    Milwaukee was a cradle of freeway removal in the US, with the pioneering teardown of the Park East Expressway. The $25 million project (in the early 2000s) has spurred more than a billion dollars in downtown development. Twenty-four blocks of mixed-use urbanism were opened up for redevelopment on...Read more

  • How roundabouts transformed Carmel

    The fast-growing Indianapolis suburb had the gumption to reform its suburban street network—a rare achievement that should get more attention.
    We made serious mistakes in planning and building suburbs in the 20th Century, which is why the New Urbanism movement began. For example, planners separated the integral uses of cities and towns, including live, work, play, civic functions, and parks, and put them in different locations. Traffic...Read more