#ForewordFriday: The Past and Future City Edition
By David Hall / On October 14th, 2016
As cities in America redevelop, they face challenges to citizens’ wellbeing, i.e. gentrification and sustainability concerns.
WHAT IS THE SOCIAL FUTURE OF CITIES? 6 EXPERT INSIGHTS
By Gaelle Gourmelon / On May 12th, 2016
Can cities shift their systems and structures to become sustainable? This is the second of two sneak peeks into the newest State of the World publication, Can a City Be Sustainable?
Q&A with Grady Gammage
By Grady Gammage / On April 5th, 2016
How can other suburban cities extract lessons from Phoenix’s successes to work towards their own sustainable future?
"Damn Those Congressional Torpedoes, Full Speed Ahead!"
By Hillary Brown / On May 15th, 2014
Last spring's Presidential appeal for fixing the nation’s “raggedy” infrastructure (his word choice) has failed to stir a response from Congress. However, bold moves elsewhere to renew these critical services inspire the title of this post. I’m highlighting the following initiatives because they epitomize the new norms needed to “future-proof” our infrastructure.
#Foreword Friday: How to Green your City Edition
By Admin / On November 15th, 2013
This week's selection comes from The Guide to Greening Cities. Rich in tools, insights, and tricks of the trade, The Guide to Greening Cities helps professionals, policymakers, community leaders, and students understand which approaches have worked and why and demonstrates multidisciplinary solutions for creating healthy, just, and green communities.
Making Downtowns Liveable
By Admin / On August 5th, 2013
Harold Henderson of Build a Better Burb interviewed author Ned Crankshaw, author of Creating Vibrant Public Spaces: Streetscape Design in Commercial and Historic Districts. He chairs the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Kentucky.
#ForewordFriday: Good Urbanism Edition
By Admin / On March 8th, 2013
Planners and urban designers have reached a consensus about what constitutes "good urbanism;" however, there remains a yawning gap between this theory and reality. In this week's #forewordFriday selection, Nan Ellin's new book, Good Urbanism: Six Steps to Creating Prosperous Places, provides a plan for bridging this gap.
Enjoy!
#ForewordFriday The Shape of Green
By Admin / On June 22nd, 2012
Can beauty save the planet? Yes, if we are as smart about how things look as we are about how they work, believes architect and designer Lance Hosey, author of The Shape of Green.
From Carton to Carpet: Recycled Homes
By Avi Friedman / On March 8th, 2012
North Americans are doing their fair share in reducing the millions of tons of domestic garbage that the country generates. Each week they carefully sort their own waste and place it in a box near the curb for a pickup. When the program began, some argued that recycling is no more than fancy garbage collection. They were wrong. Not only has recycling eased the pressure on our landfills, recycled products became the prime component in many construction products.
It Is a Matter of Scale or What is the Connection between Brain Size and Sprawl
By Admin / On September 26th, 2011
Scale is fundamental to urban design. If you get it right, and achieve a well-proportioned space between buildings, you have a sound basis to build upon. Even if the architecture is far from perfect, the public realm you create can be decent and comfortable. If you get the scale wrong and your master plan is built, even the most lustrous architecture won’t remediate the failure of space-making; people might still use it for utilitarian reasons (think the parking lot of a Wal-Mart), but will not enjoy it.