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305 articles

National Cathedral: sublime building, serene grounds. But how about those sidewalk storm drains?

April 24, 2025 6 Comments

Washington National Cathedral, among the highest-profile religious institutions in the country and certainly in the capital city, has long attracted visitors (pilgrims?) not just for its harrowing Neo-Gothic architecture, or its frequently filmed interior (the site of many presidential funerals), but also for the celebrated green space, which together occupy a hilltop plot measuring 57

Fairfax Station Square: a humble strip mall perseveres in the thick of sprawl. But why?

April 8, 2025 6 Comments

In this nation of abundant strip malls, it should come as no surprise that quite a few of them look pretty drab, underinvested, and plagued with low occupancy.  Why expect anything else?   As I’ve noted countless times before, America grapples with a glut of retail-oriented real estate: a supply that accommodates the demand almost

Kids’ play areas: are businesses scaling back due to reduced demand?

March 30, 2025 2 Comments

As I plug away at a larger research initiative that is taking more time than I expect, I must scramble to reach my usual quota of articles for the month.  So, while I continue to plow through that bigger article, I offer this mini-post as sort of a follow-up from a post I wrote a

Mid-block switch: why would a street change traffic flow through signs and stripes?

March 21, 2025 8 Comments

About eighteen months ago, when I first noticed Fillmore Street in Arlington County, Virginia, I thought it was an odd but clever striping for diverting traffic away from a busy and confusing intersection.  I couldn’t recall any other example where a road switched from two-way to one-way in the middle of a block, or, what

Cotton Company: shopping is fun again! The motto? “Bigger is worse”.

February 23, 2025 8 Comments

Wake Forest, North Carolina isn’t exactly obscure.  But it’s better known as the name for a university than for the town that (formerly) called the school home.  This might not be the case much longer.  It’s the suburb immediately north of the capital to the Tarheel State, and while Raleigh itself has enjoyed tremendous growth

Delayed green lights: a subtle safety measure aiding the vision of zero pedestrian deaths.

February 8, 2025 2 Comments

As one urban advocacy campaign sunsets, another rises.  I’ve written multiple times—mostly before 2015—about the complete streets initiative: an effort to encourage municipal public works departments to design urban streets for all different tiers of users.  In short, a “complete street” does not just feature vehicular lanes; it offers distinct bike lanes or grade-separated cycle

Security Square: even after Macy’s leaves, it’s a mall that refuses to die.

January 27, 2025 4 Comments

Hot on the heels of the previous article, in which I explored how an Iraqi bakery (temporarily) replaced an old Quiznos, this time I touch on internationalism with a much, much larger retail footprint—an entire mall.  The mall in question is Security Square, a few miles to the west of Baltimore city limits, at a

Quiznos labelscar: a suburban relic, or an omen of a global future?

January 20, 2025 9 Comments

As unpredictable weather and utilities challenges impede my ability to crank out articles quickly, I offer what might initially seem like a “throwaway”.  It’s a reference to one of my favorite topics: not just a labelscar, but one in particular for an eatery I’ve featured way more often than its current national prevalence (or lack

Confusing public infrastructure: is it really safer if it alienates visitors?

January 16, 2025 4 Comments

I strive to research my critiques of confusing public infrastructure as much as possible, so that these articles don’t assume the tone and tenor of a rant.  Everyone at some point has encountered a situation in an unfamiliar city (whether big or small) that confuses and probably irritates him or her.  It’s understandable to sound

Bike boulevards in the Capital Region: do they work? Do people know they exist?

December 9, 2024 15 Comments

Not so long ago, near a prominent intersection in Arlington County, I stumbled across my first confirmed example of bike boulevards.  The concept has existed for a while, and though I’ve been familiar with term for over a decade, frankly I’m a little behind-the-times in encountering one just now.  Then again, if this is what