Tom Low
Tom Low is director of Civic By Design and a registered architect and certified planner based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He has completed more than 150 multiday design charrettes and directed numerous award winning new urbanism neighborhood projects. He is the author of the Light Imprint Handbook.
How countryside becomes sprawl in four steps
So many rural places have been incrementally destroyed by rural sprawl. You see it on the outskirts of metro areas and off of Interstates and other highways from coast to coast. Most communities don't see it happening until it is too late. To help...
Creating civic space from the invisible
Entire light rail corridors could be reimagined as much better civic space with green tracks rather than the current heavy-freight style engineered rip-rap rocks and fences. More cities should embrace this model. Here is a sketch of this design...
Drawing is worth a thousand words
Nuanced pencil drawings help to graphically explain how a design works holistically. Drawing by hand can be more informative on the design intent and typically elevates the design quality. Hand drawing can even be therapeutic for the designer and...