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cities

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    Great places: turning from stuff to happiness

    This is how happy great places can make you. This is part two in a series on “great places.” Read parts one, three, four, and five. Today, America is making a few people rich and leaving a great many others anxious, uncertain, unhealthy, or unemployed, all while doing irreversible damage to the planet. A whole […]

    David Roberts Uncategorized

  • Cities as software, and hacking the urban landscape

    What if saving a rundown city wasn’t about building expensive new infrastructure — hardware, so to speak — but instead reprogramming the existing infrastructure? Changing the software of the place? That’s the analogy used by Marcus Westbury, founder of Renew Newcastle, an innovative initiative that has breathed life into the vacant downtown of that Australian […]

    Sarah Goodyear Buildings

  • Great places: reorienting progressive politics for the 21st century

    This is part one in a series on “great places.” Read parts two, three, four, and five. I asked a while back what new vision or principles could unite the left’s fractious coalition. As you probably guessed, I’ve got a pet idea along these lines. It’s a bit out in left field, at least in […]

    David Roberts Culture

  • Fat city: The way your neighborhood is built could be killing you

    Road to ruin.Photo: Alfonso SurrocaCrappy urban development isn’t just ugly and noisy and dirty. It is turning out to be lethal. One Toronto study looked at how the quality of a community’s streets can affect people’s health, factoring into drastically reduced life expectancy. It’s the focus of an article in The Globe and Mail that […]

    Sarah Goodyear Buildings

  • Win-win situation: Using competition to change behavior

    Ready, set … change!Photo: Jon MarshallA couple of weeks back, I went to a conference at the Garrison Institute, located in a former monastery in the Hudson River Valley of New York. The presenters included municipal officials from around the country, many of them somewhat weary veterans of battles to motivate citizens to recycle, or […]

    Sarah Goodyear Culture

  • D.C. will bribe people to shorten their commutes

    If you live in the D.C. area, the Office of Planning wants you to get paid up to $12,000 to avoid a car commute. Wait, really? Car commuting costs a metric pantload in fuel and destroys your soul — isn't this like trying to pay someone not to slowly pummel themselves to death with Faberge eggs? But some […]

    Jess Zimmerman Housing

  • So what is this Cycle Chic movement?

    Cycle Chic is about the "rehumanification" of cycling. Open your closet, put on something you love, get on your bike, and go.

    Sarah Goodyear Culture

  • 11 U.S. cities honored as ‘walk-friendly’: Seattle ranks first

    Seattle got the “platinum” ranking for its efforts to make the city more walkable.Photo: chrissudermanCross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. After evaluating applicant communities in several categories related to walking — including safety, mobility, access, and comfort — the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) last week announced the selection of 11 Walk Friendly […]

    Kaid Benfield Buildings

  • Why the ‘coming housing calamity’ shouldn’t have to be calamitous

    The housing market is changing. It’s time to move on from sprawl development.Photo: jcbonbonLast week, I wrote about the mind-bending case of a developer who is giving away cars in order to convince people to buy houses in a far-flung exurban development. It’s kind of like giving away cigarettes to sell funeral plots. The absurdity […]

    Sarah Goodyear Buildings