Category Archives: fitness

Ten Planning Lessons from Flagstaff, Arizona

Posted on June 21, 2019 by

Following our recent trip to the beautiful Southwestern United States, here are some thoughts on planning lessons one can learn from impressive and beautiful Flagstaff, Arizona. You can have a physically active and exciting city in a colder-weather, high-altitude environment. … Continue reading →

Posted in Active transportation, archaeology, branding, cities, civics, colleges, culture, deserts, downtown, economic development, economic gardening, environment, fitness, geography, Geology, health, history, infrastructure, land use, Native Americans, Nature, new urbanism, placemaking, planning, recreation, spatial design, third places, topography, tourism, transit, transportation, Travel, weather, zoning | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Holiday Snowshoe Trek

Posted on December 26, 2018 by

We, and quite a few other folks, spent part of Christmas Day snowshoeing Empire Bluff in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Here are a few of the inspiring images from our trek.

Posted in entertainment, Environment, family, fitness, fun, geography, hiking, recreation, topography, trails, Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Planning lessons from Tucson

Posted on February 25, 2018 by

My wife and I just returned home from an amazing week in gorgeous Tucson, Arizona. Unlike many places visited, it was easy to come up with many more than ten planning lessons from this beautiful desert oasis. While we adore … Continue reading →

Posted in Active transportation, adaptive reuse, Advocacy, Alternative transportation, archaeology, architecture, art, bicycling, bike sharing, Biking, Cities, civics, colleges, Cuisine, culture, diversity, economic development, economic gardening, entertainment, entrepreneurship, environment, fitness, Food, food systems, fun, geography, health, hiking, historic preservation, history, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, nature, pictures, placemaking, planning, recreation, spatial design, sprawl, third places, topography, tourism, transportation, Travel, urban planning, visual pollution, walking, Wildlife, zoning | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

From protective to active – repurposing historic city walls

Posted on March 23, 2017 by

When we think of city walls, some of the first images that come to mind are imposing structures erected as a protective or defensive barrier. More often than not, city walls were constructed from stone, masonry, brick, and/or concrete. Unfortunately, … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptive reuse, archaeology, architecture, bicycling, Canada, cities, culture, economic development, entertainment, environment, Europe, fitness, geography, health, hiking, historic preservation, history, infrastructure, land use, placemaking, planning, recreation, revitalization, spatial design, topography, tourism, transportation, Travel, walking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Portland Conundrum 

Posted on June 20, 2016 by

Below is an eye-opening summary of the housing market in Portland, Oregon from the perspective of a new resident to the region, who also happens to be an urban planner and a friend of mine. The parallels to what we … Continue reading →

Posted in Advocacy, cities, civics, civility, climate change, culture, demographics, diversity, economic development, economics, environment, fitness, food systems, futurism, gentrification, geography, health, holiday, Housing, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, logistics, Maps, new urbanism, placemaking, planning, politics, revitalization, social equity, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, sustainability, transit, transportation, urban planning, walking, zoning | 1 Comment

Namaste by the runway – Airport yoga is taking off!

Posted on April 24, 2016 by

The list at the end of the post identifies those 12 airports found thus far that have dedicated yoga rooms available for passengers and employees to practice their poses during travel and/or work. Several other airports (Albuquerque, Raleigh-Durham, and San … Continue reading →

Posted in air travel, airport planning, airports, architecture, aviation, business, commerce, fitness, health, infrastructure, land use, marketing, placemaking, planning, product design, spatial design, third places, transportation, Travel, yoga | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A “grand vision” of a loop trail

Posted on February 22, 2016 by

Several terms have become synonymous with continuous urban loop trails. These include Rim Trails, Metro Edge Ways, and Knapsack Pathways. All three of these terms were highlighted by trail-scholar Bob Searns, AICP at the 2016 Michigan Statewide Trail Summit, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Active transportation, cities, entertainment, Environment, fitness, fun, geography, health, hiking, infrastructure, land use, Maps, nature, placemaking, planning, spatial design, sustainability, third places, topography, tourism, trails, transportation, Travel, Uncategorized, urban planning, walking | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

States with the most curling clubs

Posted on November 27, 2015 by

The list at the end of this post identifies those states with the most established and operating curling clubs. Clubs that are forming, exist only on paper, or which are inactive are not included in these figures. As is evident … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, cities, culture, entertainment, fitness, fun, geography, health, infrastructure, land use, North America, placemaking, planning, recreation, sports, States, Statistics, tourism, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More street connections = less cut-through traffic

Posted on August 21, 2015 by

The argument that connecting new neighborhoods to existing ones causing cut-through traffic is only true if there are limited street connections in the transportation network in the first place. If a community has a well-planned, interconnected transportation network then more … Continue reading →

Posted in Active transportation, Advocacy, bicycling, Biking, Cars, cities, civics, environment, fitness, geography, health, humanity, infrastructure, land use, Maps, placemaking, planning, spatial design, sprawl, sustainability, traffic, transportation, urban planning, walking, zoning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Transforming an eyesore into eye-candy

Posted on July 27, 2015 by

Similar to the image above, the vast majority of highway and railroad underpasses across the country are the epitome of sterile concrete and overgrown weeds.  Left as underutilized vacant space, they hardly engender any sort of warmth or welcome, particularly … Continue reading →

Posted in Active transportation, adaptive reuse, architecture, art, bicycling, Biking, Cars, cities, civics, civility, economic development, economic gardening, fitness, fun, geography, hiking, history, infrastructure, land use, landscape architecture, pictures, placemaking, planning, revitalization, spatial design, topography, tourism, traffic, trails, transportation, Travel, urban planning, visual pollution, walking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment