Tag: new urbanism
Letting Love Rule: All urban density is not created equal
Last week we resurrected a look at the preservation movement — asking if, rather than strict adherence to ideology, love of place could ultimately rule the day — so that, this week, we could put a spotlight on Kaid Benfield, the latest addition to the PlaceMakers team, and his thoughts on the issue's flip-side.
In... Continue Reading
Confessions of a Former Sprawl Addict: Speed humps on the road to recovery
Hi. I'm Hazel and I was a Sprawlaholic.
If you've been reading awhile you may recall that, with the loving help of my friends and family, I went cold turkey, dumping life in a Florida subdivision for the intense urban charms of downtown Winnipeg. It was a life-changing move with no regrets. Yet, as good as it's been,... Continue Reading
New Game, New Rules? Guessing at the future of American housing
If it did nothing else, the last decade should have disciplined some of our enthusiasm for betting the house, literally, on long-term trends deduced from short-term experiences. Remember that little hiccup in the world economy when pretty much everybody bought into assumptions about ever-rising home values?
So where... Continue Reading
Can Cities Help You Forget Your Troubles? C’mon, Get Happy!
In most physical and policy planning, triple bottom line benchmarks focus on environment and economy, and tend to skim over the subject of society. That's probably because urban design impacts are much easier to measure with respect to profit and planet than they are with respect to people.
Any good MBA... Continue Reading
Fake, or So Real it’s Blowing Your Mind?
Okay, so the headline here is a semi-inside joke. Last week, on vacation in Rosemary Beach on the Florida panhandle, I Facebooked a photo of the town’s Main Street, together with this comment:
The idea that a traditionally-planned community is somehow "fake" reflects a particular American pathology: the belief that... Continue Reading
The Next Urbanism
'Tis the season to rejoice and enjoy the brotherhood of all mankind, as well as that of our in-laws...
As we ease into 2012, I am officially announcing a New Urbanism victory across North America, as we recently witnessed the end of building suburbia and its physically isolated, segregated lifestyle. Proof? Just this... Continue Reading
Category Planning and Design
‘Show Me the Money!’ New bumper sticker for the New Normal?
There hasn’t been a New Urbanist Council gathering for a while. Which is why a lot of pent-up anxiety -- and hope -- found release in Council sessions in Montgomery, Alabama, October 14-16.
These regionally organized Councils are intended to grapple with topics that should be on the table for annual Congress for the... Continue Reading
Can Preservationists Let Love Rule?
Call me naive.
When I was first exposed to the New Urbanism in the 1990s, it was as a 9 to 5 ad-man with an appreciation for music and art. Killing time one day in my dentist’s waiting room, I stumbled upon “Bye-Bye Suburban Dream,” the cover story of the latest Newsweek magazine.
I still remember the feeling... Continue Reading
Pruitt-Igoe: More ego or opportunity for vocational penance?
The restoration of degraded, traumatized, and distressed communities has been a high priority for the Obama Administration. The EPA, HUD and DOT are all allocating revitalization funds for places as large as Detroit and Cleveland, and as small as Ranson, West Virginia.
That's the kind of solid support needed at the... Continue Reading
Tags Howard Blackson, new urbanism
Smart Growth = Smart Parenting
Put the village on hold. For the time being, it’s gonna take a parent, a councilman and a developer to raise a child.
Flashback 2003: Attending the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in New Orleans, I caught the keynote from a planning official for Vancouver, British Columbia. Now, under normal circumstances,... Continue Reading