Scott Doyon

Sidewalks are where walkability begins. But they are not, in themselves, walkability. For decades, well intentioned communities have treated walkability primarily as an infrastructure problem. If only we could add sidewalks, stripe crosswalks, narrow travel lanes, and install curb extensions, then people would walk. Continue Reading

There’s an app making the rounds right now called BePresent. Its premise is refreshingly honest. Rather than scolding users for being glued to their phones, it acknowledges what everyone already knows but rarely says out loud: we’re chasing dopamine. So the app tries to redirect that chase. Less scrolling, more living. Continue Reading

There’s a mural along Atlanta’s BeltLine that manages, in a single frame, to pack in just about every misunderstanding plaguing 21st-century urbanism. Two skeletal warriors swoop through the sky above rows of chrome-clad condo towers, pipes and ducts sprouting like some dystopian botanical garden. At the center sits... Continue Reading

There’s a lot to love about Porchfest, the increasingly popular, oversized block party experience where porches become performance stages and lawns become venues. The music, the neighboring, the strange but welcome sense of permission to wander across a stranger's lawn and linger on their grass, just to listen. But the... Continue Reading

Though it surely happens in sports at all levels, there’s one phenomenon that’s particularly common in youth sports: A game in which you’re so outmatched, so fundamentally inferior to your opponent that the outcome, minus Divine or supernatural intervention, is essentially guaranteed. You’re going to lose. ... Continue Reading

Sometimes all the right people seem to be at the table, all singing from similar hymnals, and all seemingly focused on transcending growth-as-usual and yet, still, the results fall flat. Today we look at one of those times. The scenario Imagine this: A site area that retailers describe as a “100% corner.”... Continue Reading

In my last post, I looked at the difficulty of getting things — like walking and biking infrastructure — done and how the manner in which we measure our accomplishments makes all the difference. Not just towards building momentum but towards building community. In short, it’s all about baby steps. But let’s... Continue Reading

Gentrification gets a lot of attention these days, and rightfully so. Particularly as it relates to issues of displacement. No one (or at least no one of heart) wants to see anyone forced from their home and from the community they care for and that, oftentimes, cares for them. The dangled carrot of economic opportunity,... Continue Reading

They may not be new but I was recently introduced to a series of comics by English artist Grayson Perry taking on the world of creative arts, particularly one entitled “Gentrification.” The tale is familiar. Old industry fades, artists take possession of the infrastructure, ragtag commerce blossoms and, ultimately,... Continue Reading

This is what we’ve come to: An escalation in urban property values and cost of living so extreme in some quarters that there are now those who, with a straight face, argue against efforts to improve neighborhoods. Don’t bring those improvements goes the often implied but less frequently articulated point of view, as... Continue Reading