Posts Tagged ‘new urbanism’
Fat-tastic! Can Small Thinking Solve Our Super-Sized Problems?
According to a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — more commonly known for crunching global budget and employment numbers — the United States is on track to be 75% obese by 2020. 3 out of every 4. And if you check with researchers at Johns Hopkins University, they’ll tell you…
Read MoreKatrina’s Fifth Anniversary: Getting Real in Mississippi
Every year since Hurricane Katrina mauled the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf coasts, I’ve returned to Mississippi around the storm’s August 29 anniversary to renew friendships and refine my capacity for humility. The friendships have turned out to be the most rewarding outcomes of the 2005 Mississippi Renewal Forum, the historic charrette in Biloxi six weeks…
Read MoreWrestling with Jane, Robert and Andrés
Recently, I have been intrigued by newly emerging books and articles critical of Jane Jacobs’ legacy on our built environment. Fifty years ago, she was the community activist who ‘saved’ New York city’s Greenwich Village and went on to become the post-modern icon to inspire citizens and urbanist to this day. She was ranked first…
Read MoreThe Suburbs: Arcade Fire, Childhood Memory, and the Future of Growth
I’m in my 40s. I grew up in the suburbs. It was awesome. And then it wasn’t. Never before and, perhaps, never again will there be as efficient and reliable a machine for manufacturing idealized childhood memories. The suburbs of the 60s and 70s, maybe even the 80s, were like some sort of paradise.
Read MoreBrave New Codes Reach Tipping Point: When, Where, Why?
A year ago, Apple’s sales of its iPhone and iPod Touch eclipsed 40 million units, confirming their potential to fundamentally retool our future opportunities and patterns of daily life. Today, a year later, form-based codes hit a similar milestone, with similar implications, as over 330 cities and towns around the world — representing over 40…
Read MoreZoning: No Longer Just for Nerds
Remember when you could empty a room by trying to work zoning philosophy into a conversation? Okay, you can still do that in most places. But the coolness quotient is on the rise, we swear. Consider the adoption late last year of a form-based code in Miami, surely one of the most exotic political environments…
Read MoreLove Ain’t Enough: Put Up or Shut Up
Like any next, big something, placemaking is growing up. And in its role as gawky adolescent, it’s beginning to realize something most of us have long since come to accept: You can’t skirt by on youthful good looks forever. Today, efforts to create more endearing and enduring surroundings are being subjected to decidedly grown up…
Read MoreCommunity and Charity: Bold Action Inspires a Closer Look
You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. – Mark 14:07 I’m not sure Jesus could see all the way to the 21st century. If he could, he may have been more inclined to offer, “You’ll always have the poor, but there are plenty of ways…
Read MoreEasy Rider: David Byrne Unfolds Bike, Reviews Cities of the World
Over the holiday I experienced a very 21st century weekend. Upon downloading my new Kindle App on my iPhone, I read David Byrne’s Bicycle Diaries, 2009 Viking Penguin. The $14.99 book caught my attention at the local bookstore and became my first Amazon Kindle App purchase for $9.99. I know, I know… but I promise…
Read MoreLearning from Leon
My colleagues have quickly grown tired of my repeated references to the week I recently spent with Leon Krier while he toured Southern California to promote his new book, The Architecture of Community. The book, published by Island Press and co-edited by Dhiru Thadani and Peter Hetzel, is an updated compendium of Leon Krier’s most…
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