urban design
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Seattle's impending car-centric mega-tunnel: a chat with urbanist Cary Moon
Despite their ostentatious talk on climate, many Pacific Northwest political leaders don't seem to be making the transportation connection. Nowhere is that more evident than in the fight over how to replace Seattle's crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, a two-mile-long elevated stretch of State Route 99 running along the city's waterfront. The alternative with the most momentum is a gigantic bored tunnel -- a concrete-heavy, emissions-intensive, multi-billion-dollar piece of old-school highway infrastructure devoted almost entirely to cars, shuttling suburban drivers past the urban core. Sustainable urbanism advocate Cary Moon explains WTF.
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A talk with Charles Marohn, 'recovering engineer' and cofounder of Strong Towns
We discuss how smart planning can transcend politics and why we should let the Tea Party have what they want.
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EPA names the nation's top smart-growth cities
When it comes to smart growth, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the smartest cities are New York, Baltimore, Portland, and San Francisco.
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Ten affordable neighborhoods-in-progress will design to LEED-ND standards under grant program
A series of grant winners are leading efforts to strengthen surrounding neighborhoods.
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Building with the disabled in mind means better access for everyone
The new book Inclusive Design: A Pattern Book is probably the first guide to marrying sustainable urbanism to accessible design.
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An artist, a few hundred bucks, and some paint can change a place
Art blossoms along a bike lane in Brooklyn, changing a bleak stretch of road.
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Older urban preservationists risk becoming urban fossils
For young urban advocates in Washington, D.C., change is good. Their elders, traumatized by the 20th century, have trouble looking forward.
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A Tokyo house built on a piece of land the size of a parking space
In Japan, the trend toward tiny homes is driven by harsh economic reality more than any desire to live "sustainably." It's a good example of how people can adapt to a world of diminishing resources -- the same world we all live in.
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Garden designer Lynden Miller says a healthy city needs beautiful parks
"Every human being responds to a connection with nature," says Lynden Miller, who has designed many of New York's most successful public gardens. "People of all kinds love something beautiful and will talk to each other when they see it. They change the way they behave. It changes the way they feel about themselves and each other."