A Placemaking Journal

Series OverviewWhile walkable mixed use town centers may not be the *easy* choice for the asphalt guy, the engineer, or even the developer who has to attract tenants to an environment they may not be as used to... they are certainly becoming best practices for sustainable community development. More importantly, they... Continue Reading

Last week brought a barrage of polls about Americans’ attitudes. And despite the spins some of the sponsoring organizations offered, the underlying message is that we seem to be holding steady with our conviction that the farther we get from our own little corners of the world, the less confidence we have in the competence... Continue Reading

Over the weekend, I had a Twitter exchange with Mitchell Silver and Steve Mouzon about a PlaceMakers concept that I’m feeling the need to explain in more detail. Return on No Investment – my new friend, RONI – is the whole idea of leveraging assets and connections that are already in place, while investing... Continue Reading

Last year about this time I wrote on the subject of NIMBYs and laid out a challenge to the NIMBY nation. It’s time to stop talking about what you don’t want, I said, and start talking about what you do want. In short, it’s time to develop the criteria under which a Not-In-My-Back-Yarder will say yes. And to that... Continue Reading

Like its larger cousin the mall, the strip mall has become a symbol for our dysfunctional car-focused suburban environments. Ask any born-again urbanite why, and they’ll tell you that the strip mall’s most damning offense is putting all that parking in front of the store, creating a horrible car-focused environment. ... Continue Reading

David Byrne noted in last Sunday's NY Times that people get hooked on cycling because of pleasure, not health, money, or carbon footprint. "Emotional gratification trumps reason." Ben Brown agrees, using Byrne's "Stop Making Sense" as a blog title on the subject of community engagement and how special interest groups... Continue Reading

A number of recent conversations with Stefanos Polyzoides, Howard Blackson, and Matt Lambert regarding density and residential types has me thinking about building typology as one solution to visualizing and embracing density. (more…) Continue Reading

The rise of 21st century social technology, in combination with the loss of our 20th century economy, has contributed to the closing of many neighborhood civic buildings -- libraries and post offices -- and to the private development that inevitably replaces them. (more…) Continue Reading

Last October, I wrote a piece commemorating a PlaceShakers milestone -- 100,000 reads -- which took us 32 months to amass. Today, I write to mark our next one: 200,000. This time, it took less than 8 months. Clearly something is up. If reads are increasing, that means interest is increasing. If interest is increasing,... Continue Reading

For those looking to expand public engagement and collaborative process at the community level, this week presents a curious convergence of news and ideas. Setting the stage was CNU20’s “Charrettes and the Next Generation of Public Involvement,” an afternoon breakout session exploring a fairly provocative (for... Continue Reading