Got A Minute
It's been several years since I first heard transportation guru Walter Kulash say in a transportation reform lecture: “Trying to solve traffic congestion by adding more lanes is like trying to solve the obesity by loosening your belt.” This still...
Leon Krier, the 74-year-old architect who influenced CNU founders and designed Poundbury, has another major project in Southern England.
Traditional neighborhood development (TND) has offered an alternative model for suburban growth starting in the late 20th Century and continuing today. Kentlands in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is one of the oldest of these developments. Like most TNDs,...
This is Argyle Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, a downtown street known for its entertainment and dining. As part of a streetscape improvement project, the pavement was painted in an argyle pattern. Whoever had this idea should get a prize, and it...
The pedestrian-friendly redesign of Cleveland’s Public Square spurred $1.2 billion in investment, according to a study. The 10-acre site at the heart of downtown used to be divided into four smaller squares with wide streets of through-traffic. The...
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...
Widening of roads usually reduces congestion only for a short period of time, after which the congestion returns—as bad or worse than ever. The above graph shows why the forecast benefits of more roads are almost always a disappointment.
Developers often spend considerable upfront time assembling land into larger and larger parcels. Then when it’s time to master plan the project, the last thing they think they want to do is break it back down again into smaller pieces. But this “...
These posters have been installed under the Claiborne Expressway, an elevated freeway in New Orleans that replaced oak-tree-lined Claiborne Avenue—the heart of the Treme neighborhood—in the 1960s. Some of those who came of age during the highway's...
Back in September I wrote about DPZ CoDESIGN’s innovative new architecture for tiny houses and trailers—affordable housing that can be manufactured and assembled into villages with some of the informal community advantages of “trailer parks,” yet...
Note: Hammond, Indiana, is seeking proposals from developers to build in a downtown that has recently adopted a new urban plan, is creating a new rail connection to Chicago, and has committed to a transformation of the downtown main street.
The control tower for the old Stapleton Airport in Denver is a machine for enhanced vision. The tower now has a view of one of the largest new urban developments in the world. Stapleton, Denver, contains nine neighborhoods, nine schools, 50 parks,...