My latest post is at Urban Indy. Though the focus is on case studies regarding road spurs in Indianapolis, the situation exists in cities across the country. This seemingly unremarkable photo of traffic in downtown Indy shows the easternmost “spur” of Maryland Street, a primary downtown road that was converted to one-way eastbound in the
At a superficial level, American suburbs have reached a point of inflection in terms of their dependency on automobiles. The past decade has introduced mandatory sidewalk ordinances within many (if not most) metropolitan jurisdictions, as well as an expansion of mass transit into many of the newer, fast-growing exurbs. But these initiatives are just a
Earlier this past fall, I featured the accomplishments of the City of Kokomo, Indiana in reinventing itself over the past few years, after two decades of rust-belt, deindustrialized stagnancy. Civic leadership successfully elicited a certain degree of buy-in among its constituent, all toward sundry capital improvements, the likes of which most similarly sized cities still
My latest post is up at Urban Indy. It focuses on a new proposal for revitalizing the main street of Greenwood, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. The town’s central business districts is essentially four blocks that project from an intersection–except that 1/4 of the original building stock was demolished decades ago for a parking lot.
In the large American cities that lack a robust public transportation system—which is most of them—we justifiably celebrate every minor victory toward shifting development away from auto-centrism. Mid-sized cities in the Midwest and South seem to be among the most susceptible: most of them have a “Midtown” district that predates the automobile. The most basic
Just last night my latest article posted on Urban Indy, and apparently it also earned a mention on Streetsblog. I’m not going to double-post, so allow me to paraphrase here. An often-overlooked opportunity for infill development is a ubiquitous land use across disinvested inner cities: the mom-and-pop, unlicensed used car dealership. We’ve all seen them
Murals are a time-tested method of urban beautification that generally eschew political controversy, thanks to a number of factors: the low cost when compared to other capital improvement projects; the minimal disruption of other routine urban patterns (traffic, utility operation) involved in the “installation” of the mural; their persistent success at attracting private or non-profit
One of the most intense work months of my career has just come to an end, and it’s been obvious that it has prevented me from devoting as much time and thought to my already meager average of two blog posts a month. And I conclude September with another short(ish) post on an observation I
Despite all hullabaloo raised by various talking heads on the dire state of small town America—and it is true that much of it continues to depopulate, as it has for the past fifty years—not all rural communities have fallen into ineluctable decline. And high hopes prevail for many of the others that seem as though
I’m back from a lengthy time away from Afghanistan and have been trying to drill down another blog article that incorporates infrastructure from several different countries, as well as the implications on American energy efficiency. But, as is often the case, a shortage of good, specific photos has become my Achilles’ heel. I will acquire
My latest post is at Urban Indy. Though the focus is on case studies regarding road spurs in Indianapolis, the situation exists in cities across the country. This seemingly unremarkable photo of traffic
At a superficial level, American suburbs have reached a point of inflection in terms of their dependency on automobiles. The past decade has introduced mandatory sidewalk ordinances within many (if not most) metropolitan
Earlier this past fall, I featured the accomplishments of the City of Kokomo, Indiana in reinventing itself over the past few years, after two decades of rust-belt, deindustrialized stagnancy. Civic leadership successfully elicited
My latest post is up at Urban Indy. It focuses on a new proposal for revitalizing the main street of Greenwood, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. The town’s central business districts is essentially
In the large American cities that lack a robust public transportation system—which is most of them—we justifiably celebrate every minor victory toward shifting development away from auto-centrism. Mid-sized cities in the Midwest and
Just last night my latest article posted on Urban Indy, and apparently it also earned a mention on Streetsblog. I’m not going to double-post, so allow me to paraphrase here. An often-overlooked opportunity
Murals are a time-tested method of urban beautification that generally eschew political controversy, thanks to a number of factors: the low cost when compared to other capital improvement projects; the minimal disruption of
One of the most intense work months of my career has just come to an end, and it’s been obvious that it has prevented me from devoting as much time and thought to
Despite all hullabaloo raised by various talking heads on the dire state of small town America—and it is true that much of it continues to depopulate, as it has for the past fifty
I’m back from a lengthy time away from Afghanistan and have been trying to drill down another blog article that incorporates infrastructure from several different countries, as well as the implications on American