Category Archives: Advocacy

247 Smart cities and counting…

Posted on June 7, 2017 by

Above is a map of showing the 247 cities to date (as of 6/6/17) where the mayor has pledged their city will adhere to the Paris Climate Accord commitments on greenhouse gases. I am very proud to say our own … Continue reading →

Posted in Active transportation, Advocacy, Alternative energy, branding, cities, climate change, culture, education, environment, geography, government, health, humanity, Maps, nature, planning, politics, pollution, Renewable Energy, States, sustainability, transportation, urban planning, weather | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two downtown pedestrian malls that work and work very well

Posted on May 19, 2017 by

I have now had the pleasure of recently visiting two American cities with hugely successful pedestrian malls in their downtown core – St. Augustine, Florida and Boulder, Colorado. During the 1960s and 70s, pedestrian malls were seen as a possible … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptive reuse, Advocacy, architecture, art, bicycling, Biking, branding, cities, civics, coffee shops/cafes, colleges, commerce, Cuisine, culture, density, downtown, economic development, entertainment, Food, fun, geography, historic preservation, history, Housing, infrastructure, land use, landscape architecture, Maps, pictures, placemaking, planning, shopping, spatial design, third places, tourism, traffic, transit, transportation, Travel, urban planning, walking, zoning | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

America’s most beautiful downtown – my vote is St. Augustine

Posted on May 15, 2017 by

I have had the great pleasure of visiting many communities across America ranging in size from hamlet to town to major city. This includes visits to parts of 49 states. Until this past week’s visit to St. Augustine, Florida I … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptive reuse, Advocacy, architecture, art, bridges, cities, civics, civility, Cuisine, culture, diversity, downtown, geography, government, historic preservation, history, humanity, infrastructure, land use, landscape architecture, Maps, North America, pictures, placemaking, planning, skylines, spatial design, tourism, Travel, urban planning, walking, zoning | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Strongest Town Contest – Championship Round

Posted on March 21, 2017 by

Please consider voting for my hometown of Traverse City, Michigan in the Championship Round of The 2017 Strongest Town Contest. We are up against Guelph, Ontario in the finals sponsored by strongtowns.org. The competition began three weeks ago with 16 … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, cities, civics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Combating the bus transit snobs

Posted on March 15, 2017 by

In the years preceding our move from Greater Lansing to Traverse City, there were lengthy discussions on developing some form of enhanced transit along the primary corridor in the region – Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA) Route 1 which extends … Continue reading →

Posted in Active transportation, Advocacy, Bus transportation, civics, demographics, environment, geography, health, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, placemaking, planning, social equity, spatial design, transit, transportation, urban planning | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

“The D” in our destiny is Detroit

Posted on March 11, 2017 by

In graduate school nearly 30 years ago, one of the courses I took at Virginia Tech was Urban Economic Geography. In this class, the primary textbook was entitled, Detroit: Race and Uneven Development. Even though I was born and raised … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, architecture, branding, cities, civics, culture, diversity, downtown, economic development, entrepreneurship, geography, government, historic preservation, history, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, pictures, placemaking, planning, revitalization, spatial design, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The MOST important urban planning book of our time

Posted on February 11, 2017 by

I realize that the title of this post is a bold and perhaps controversial statement to make, but I truly believe that the definitive and thought-provoking publication by Salvatore Settis entitled, If Venice Dies, is the most important urban planning book … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, architecture, art, book reviews, books, branding, business, cities, civics, civility, commerce, consumerism, culture, demographics, density, economic development, entertainment, environment, Europe, geography, government, historic preservation, history, Housing, infrastructure, land use, literature, placemaking, planning, product design, recreation, revitalization, shipping, skylines, skyscrapers, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, sustainability, topography, tourism, transportation, Travel, urban planning, writing, zoning | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments