Category Archives: spatial design

Ten planning lessons from St. Augustine

Posted on June 4, 2017 by

Now that I’ve had a chance to ponder some about all the wondrous sights and scenes of St. Augustine, here are my ten planning lessons from that amazing city. You don’t need to be a big city to be a … Continue reading →

Posted in architecture, art, cities, civics, civility, commerce, culture, diversity, downtown, economic development, entertainment, environment, geography, historic preservation, history, humanity, inclusiveness, land use, placemaking, planning, spatial design, third places, tourism, traffic, transportation, Travel, zoning | 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

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, 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

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 Motor City soars to new heights

Posted on February 23, 2017 by

Yesterday, it was announced that Dan Gilbert, owner of Quicken Loans will be constructing the tallest building in the State of Michigan on the site of the former Hudson’s Department store in downtown Detroit. The tower is proposed to contain … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptive reuse, architecture, cities, downtown, economic development, entertainment, fun, geography, historic preservation, history, Housing, infrastructure, land use, new urbanism, placemaking, planning, revitalization, skylines, skyscrapers, spatial design, third places, urban planning, zoning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment