Placemaking

Shanghai market

In a city of over 20 million people, with about 3500 people living in each square kilometre, finding a space that provides an intimate sense of community may seem next to impossible.[read more]

San Jose

The big question is whether or how the City of San Jose can once again become the center of life and commerce it once was, many decades ago, when Santa Clara County was rather sleepy and agricultural.[read more]

the author reflects on Downtown developments

 

We need to work our hardest at becoming a 24 hour city. I want to be able to walk out my door, come down into that beautiful skyline and be able to pick something to do without having to dig into the Facebook invites.[read more]

Mexico City

One photo, every eight steps, the camera pointed straight ahead. The formula is simple, but the results reveal a lot about the way we perceive urban streetscapes.[read more]

cherry blossoms in Central Park

Most of my return trips to New York include a visit to the same places I spent time in as a kid – Riverside Park, or Central Park, or both. And there is no nicer time to be in these places than the spring.[read more]

Detroit

Where the massive Renaissance Center did not succeed, local efforts, human-scale walkable neighbourhoods, offer a more promising route to revival.[read more]

Jen Krouse is a fellow member of Congress for New Urbanism. She's a consultant who applies classical business training and communications expertise to place-making firms trying to improve the built environment.When she's not looking for new things to see and new ways to see things, Jen travels, jogs, skis, and volunteers for favorite...[read more]

The structures that brought prominence to tactical urbanism—and that are in the city most receptive to the movement—are the “parklets” dotted throughout San Francisco.[read more]

inclusivity in urban renewal

Today Medellin is a bustling, cosmopolitan city with a good transport system that is clean, efficient and integrated. The city’s public spaces are well-used, accessible and contribute to uplifting surrounding areas.[read more]

urban memories

The Great Recession, climate change and the quest for carbon neutrality have reoriented how we look at cities, the distance between home and work, and the role of the automobile.[read more]

what's the value?

One of the problems with policy responses to crises is that they're designed to address yesterday's problems rather than anticipate tomorrow's. By the time initiatives are drawn up the situation has changed.[read more]

urban greening

These words are interesting because of what so many of them represent—they are ‘do-over’ words, words that indicate another opportunity, a second chance. They suggest alternate endings and outcomes.[read more]