Rowhouses Without the Wiggle
The townhouse, or rowhouse, is a traditional urban approach to density that, somewhat ironically, has been embraced by suburban builders. Over time, this once simple and elegant species has evolved (some might say devolved) to reflect its newfound environment, becoming “squeezed” in its appearance, with little bits and pieces protruding — wiggling — in the…
Read MoreDream Home for the New Era: Compact, connected & mortgage-free?
The future is here. And it’s for lease. Even before the Great Recession, real estate market analysts Todd Zimmerman, Laurie Volk and Chris Nelson were patiently explaining the demography-is-destiny argument for an inevitable shift in American housing. It’s all about the numbers.
Read MoreThe goal is not engagement. It’s disengagement.
What counts as a win in public engagement? It’s not uncommon for municipalities — and consultants — to “score” engagement as though it were a contest. The most points win. And you accumulate points by counting how many: How many notices issued and media employed. How many seats filled. How many ideas collected. How many…
Read MoreRetail on My Mind
Seems I’ve got retail on my mind. It all started in December, with Bob Gibb’s Placemaking@Work webinar, whose tweetchat sparked a Neighbourhood Retail BlogOff led by Steve Mouzon. Then last week Victor Dover’s PM@W webinar followed up with ideas about tactical retail, where he talked about the next version of mixed use being smaller, quicker,…
Read MoreB-Grid Be Good
The B-Grid: A traditional city building pattern common in early western settlements, particularly on the more rectilinear grid-iron pattern of streets. Typically, Main Street was the “A” street: a high quality, pedestrian-oriented space lined with continuous shopfronts and important civic buildings. But what about larger parking areas, vehicular services, and other uses not appropriate in…
Read MoreMoney, It’s a Gas: New Economy development financing
In startling alignment with James Howard Kunstler’s stark predictions, ULI’s 2012 Report, “What’s Next: Real Estate in the New Economy,” bubbly concludes: “The real estate world is hurtling into a different place and time. Change is coming at a faster pace with more uncertain consequences. Success will take on different forms and risks will increase. Standing…
Read MorePunk Rock and the New Urbanism: Getting back to basics
By the early to mid 1970s, something was wrong with rock and roll. It no longer fought the system. Worse than that, it had become the system. Bloated. Detached. Pretentious. Performer and audience, once fused in a mutual quest to stick it to the man, now existed on separate planes — an increasingly complacent generation…
Read MoreOn the Street: The DNA of place and the ROI of movement
The corporate culture of our government has been a carte blanche to keep doing what we’ve been doing. This culture implies that what we’ve been doing works. In business, last year’s income statement is a major driver in this year’s action plan. If a product or service was profitable, then it’s nurtured and grown this…
Read MorePolitics & Public Process: The Half-Life of Anger
Maybe it’s like the argument that given enough time, a chimp with a keyboard would eventually hammer out Hamlet, but I’m thinking the messy GOP presidential campaign is inching its way towards clarity. Not that the process will produce outcomes extreme partisans will like. Disappointment is often the byproduct of a clarifying experience, especially if…
Read MoreRolling with Ever-Changing Gas Prices: Lessons from my dumb luck
The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Op-Ed pages took on the subject of gas prices this week, devoting a good fifty column inches to a discussion that could otherwise be summarized like this: The price of gas might increase by anywhere from a few pennies to a dollar this year. It might also go down, but then…
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