Across the country—but particularly in the heavily industrialized Northeast and Midwest—smaller cities have confronted the grim realities of the unflattering “Rust Belt” moniker, and all of its associated characteristics, with varying degrees of success. With an aging work force, difficulty in retaining college graduates, and a frequently decaying building stock, the challenges they face are
With a constantly changing tenancy, it is no surprise that apartment complexes and renter-occupied housing age quickly—usually much faster than owner-occupied housing. The disparity between these two fundamental housing contracts (renting and owning) owes a great deal to basic human psychology: we are more impelled to take care of property if it belongs to us
My latest post–a long one–is up at Urban Indy. Over the past few weeks, a winning proposal for a development to replace an Indianapolis Fire Department station on prime real estate has generated quite a bit of controversy, no doubt in part because Tax Increment Financing will help to subsidize the result. Here’s what it
My latest is available now on UrbanIndy.com–about the possible loss of terrific retail space at the Barnes and Thornburg building. Though it’s probably only of local interest, I’ll mention it because of its opportunities for great photographs (provided I had a good camera and was a good photographer). Here’s the outside of this historic building:
My latest post went up last night on UrbanIndy.com. The issue it features is fairly parochial: a minor collector street on the east side of Indianapolis is far wider than it needs to be. Ritter Avenue, barely four miles long in its entirety, offers a reasonable accommodation for a segment south of East 10th Street,
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
I hate to write on the same topic for two consecutive blog posts, and I have covered plenty of ground with retail in the past, including the often-maligned strip mall. But this photo opportunity was too good to pass up, and it the construction in progress probably won’t look like this for much longer. From
I routinely snap photos of a landscape with the expectation that I will eventually transform it into a blog topic. Many times these photographs are spontaneous and lack much foresight. Because, until recently, I was in Afghanistan living under somewhat challenging conditions, I bought a reasonably cheap but durable camera. Sometimes the photos I take
About 36 hours ago I added a new blog post on Urban Indy, which is accessible through this link. It focuses on some putative improvements to Emerson Avenue on the southeast side of Indianapolis. For many in metro Indy, the south side has a reputation that ranges from neutral to negative. By some psychological assessments,
Residential real estate lingo evolves with the changing of seasons and is no different from architecture, fashion, wellness, or anything else that owes much of its visibility to popular culture—and that “anything else” is just about everything, as boundaries between them all continue to fade. I haven’t lived in the US for much of the
Across the country—but particularly in the heavily industrialized Northeast and Midwest—smaller cities have confronted the grim realities of the unflattering “Rust Belt” moniker, and all of its associated characteristics, with varying degrees of
With a constantly changing tenancy, it is no surprise that apartment complexes and renter-occupied housing age quickly—usually much faster than owner-occupied housing. The disparity between these two fundamental housing contracts (renting and owning)
My latest post–a long one–is up at Urban Indy. Over the past few weeks, a winning proposal for a development to replace an Indianapolis Fire Department station on prime real estate has generated
My latest is available now on UrbanIndy.com–about the possible loss of terrific retail space at the Barnes and Thornburg building. Though it’s probably only of local interest, I’ll mention it because of its
My latest post went up last night on UrbanIndy.com. The issue it features is fairly parochial: a minor collector street on the east side of Indianapolis is far wider than it needs to
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
I hate to write on the same topic for two consecutive blog posts, and I have covered plenty of ground with retail in the past, including the often-maligned strip mall. But this photo
I routinely snap photos of a landscape with the expectation that I will eventually transform it into a blog topic. Many times these photographs are spontaneous and lack much foresight. Because, until recently,
About 36 hours ago I added a new blog post on Urban Indy, which is accessible through this link. It focuses on some putative improvements to Emerson Avenue on the southeast side of
Residential real estate lingo evolves with the changing of seasons and is no different from architecture, fashion, wellness, or anything else that owes much of its visibility to popular culture—and that “anything else”