Category: Public Policy
The Other Side of Anxiety? Realism. And maybe hope.
When the dust settles after the current traumas, I think we’ll see this time in our lives and in our nation’s history as a period in which what we’ve learned about human psychology, democracy and policy-making at every scale has exposed weaknesses in ourselves and our institutions that will take a while to fix. Continue Reading
Category Demographics, Public Policy
‘So All We Have to Do is…’ Call Bullshit
Chuck Marohn was in my town last week with his better-than-ever demonstration of the lies we tell ourselves about infrastructure finance.
Chuck’s message and that of Joe Minicozzi prod us to get our arms around the math. And that’s a crucial message. But, jeez, our problem is way bigger. Thanks to the never-ending... Continue Reading
The (Irrational) Criminalization of Walking
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering, if only there was a concise resource available that articulates key reasons why walking is so much less prevalent in the modern age; why this presents unanticipated threats to safety, health, the environment, child development, and social equity; and what we in our communities... Continue Reading
Category Environment | Sustainability, Experience, Health, Planning and Design, Public Policy, Resilience, Transportation
Tags Scott Doyon, walking
CNU 25 Seattle: Highlights from the silver anniversary
Last week was the 25th annual Congress for the New Urbanism, where 1,400 city planners, architects, developers, economists, and mayors from around the world gathered to discuss the future of cities. Hosted in collaboration with the Urban Land Institute, comprised of an additional 6,000 developers and builders, the two... Continue Reading
Florida Man Fails to Fix Everything, Reconsiders Position
You know magical thinking about cities is fading when one of the gurus says stuff like this:
“My optimism has been tempered and I’ve become more of a realist.”
That’s Richard Florida, the guy who inspired a (mostly unsuccessful) stampede to hipness 15 years ago with the publication of The Rise of the Creative... Continue Reading
Parking is a Commodity, Not an Experience
Yesterday the Atlantic ran a piece on the Great Retail Meltdown of 2017 which, to summarize, tied the present culling of the retail herd to three phenomena: the rise of online shopping; a half century of overbuilding retail space; and the present shift in spending from goods to experiences.
In short, with people increasingly... Continue Reading
Tags parking, Scott Doyon
Feared Dead, Math’s Back: Planning nerds vindicated
Planning for the future tends to be a humiliating exercise. Whatever’s headed our way is both inevitable and unpredictable. Yet because it brings with it the consequences of decisions we made or ducked in the past and now have to manage or endure in the present, we have to take a stab at decisions that are coherent and... Continue Reading
Placemaking: Geek niche or the root of pretty much everything?
When I first developed my interest in placemaking twenty years ago it was driven by design. I was a brand advertising person which, by necessity, involves the study of behavior. Not just of people but of their context.
Where and how people choose to live, I learned, provided a lot of insight into the kinds of things... Continue Reading
Category Development, Economic Development, Environment | Sustainability, Experience, Financing, Planning and Design, Public Art, Public Policy, Resilience
Tags placemaking, Scott Doyon
Hey, Buddy: Adult friendships and the future of our communities
David Roberts over at Vox posted a new piece recently -- “How our housing choices make adult friendships more difficult” -- that really got me thinking.
In it, he builds upon ideas previously explored in The Atlantic and makes a compelling case that forging new relationships as an adult -- the ones we characterize... Continue Reading
Category Community Development, Demographics, Experience, Planning and Design, Public Engagement, Public Policy, Resilience
Tags Scott Doyon
Bubble Burst Strategy No. 1: Do something now
You know things are getting dicey when the outgoing president of the United States feels obliged to remind us there’s still hope for American democracy at about the same time the incomer is on Twitter alleging (again) that America’s democratic institutions are plotting against him.
(more…) Continue Reading
Tags Ben Brown