Authors
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problogic
- World’s largest cities with three (3) letter names
- The Pumpkins return with a “Smashing” good record
- City/town names in USA/Canada that end with matching letters
- The High Desert bursts forth in a symphony of colors
- Scaling peaks of stone despite achy bones: A memoir and and an aspiration
- Ten favorite and least favorite state capital cities
- Los destinos divinos de Latinoamérica: Ciudades con nombres religiosos más allá de San/o, o Santa/o [Latin America’s divine destinations: Cities with religious names beyond San/o, or Santa/o]
- Ten dreamy planning lessons from cruising Michigan’s Woodward Corridor
- Cities and towns on the go –> Go –> GO!
- Twelve planning lessons from the Interstate Highway System
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Tag Archives: signs
Strict planning & zoning destroys eclectic, offbeat, and funky
After three decades in the planning profession and several more years since retirement, I’ve come to the conclusion that if you want your community to maintain or build a funky, hip, offbeat, or eccentric vibe, it can not be done … Continue reading
Posted in adaptive reuse, advertising, Advocacy, archaeology, architecture, art, branding, business, cities, civics, commerce, consumerism, Cuisine, culture, demographics, deregulation, diversity, economic development, economic gardening, entertainment, entrepreneurship, family, Food, fun, gentrification, health, historic preservation, history, homelessness, Housing, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, landscape architecture, marketing, Mining, opinion, pictures, placemaking, planning, poverty, product design, revitalization, shopping, signs, Small business, social equity, spatial design, third places, tourism, Travel, urban design, urban planning, visual pollution, zoning
Tagged art, artistic, blight, cities, culture, eclectic, flair, fun, funky, neighborhoods, offbeat, planning, signs, style, towns, whimsy, zoning
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Tucumcari – Where signs are art
A recent trip through Tucumcari, New Mexico on old Route 66 revealed a litany of roadside history, not least of which were some amazing signs. The following photo montage depicts a sample of these structures and reveals the artistry of … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, architecture, art, branding, Cities, commerce, Communications, consumerism, culture, fun, geography, highways, historic preservation, history, land use, pictures, placemaking, product design, signs, tourism, Trade, Travel, urban planning, zoning
Tagged advertising, auto travel, design, historic preservations, marketing, New Mexico, Route 66, signage, signs, travel, Tucumcari
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Roadside Americana: Atomic age stops, sights, and oddities
This blogpost is a little adventure through the sights and sounds of America’s roadside culture to depict how the Atomic Age has impacted it since 1945. A whole variety of businesses have adopted the term “atomic” or some variation thereof … Continue reading
Posted in adaptive reuse, advertising, archaeology, architecture, art, atomic age, branding, brewpubs, cities, coffee shops/cafes, Communications, consumerism, Cuisine, culture, economic development, entertainment, entrepreneurship, fun, geography, historic preservation, history, land use, Maps, marketing, military, place names, placemaking, Science, Science fiction, signs, technology, theaters, third places, toponymy, tourism, Travel
Tagged advertising, atomic, atomic age, Atomic City, branding, infrastructure, marketing, military, motels, neon, restaurants, roadside Americana, services, shops, signs, trademark, weapons
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Eons of neon in Tucson
If there is one type of signage this urban planner adores, it’s tastefully designed mid-century neon. And if there is one place to find such glorious signage, it’s Tucson, Arizona, where the city and local preservation groups have done a … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, architecture, art, Cities, Communications, consumerism, economic development, fun, historic preservation, history, land use, planning, shopping, signs, tourism, Transportation, Travel, Uncategorized, zoning
Tagged Arizona, neon, neon signs, preservation, signage, signs, Tucson
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Time to say goodbye to large commercial signs?
With approximately 77 percent of all Americans now owning a smartphone, is there really a need for large commercial signs? One only needs to use the mapping software and GPS directions on their phones or built into their cars to … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, branding, cities, Communications, Economy, entertainment, futurism, geography, infrastructure, internet, Maps, marketing, pictures, placemaking, planning, signs, spatial design, technology, tourism, transportation, Travel, zoning
Tagged signs
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Urban design without fake plastic signs
In many communities across the country, commercial signage seems to be employed in a manner that appears more appropriate in Las Vegas, Times Square, or in this Radiohead video for the song Fake Plastic Trees, rather than on businesses fronting Main Street. … Continue reading
Posted in adaptive reuse, advertising, architecture, art, branding, business, cities, commerce, Communications, consumerism, downtown, economic development, historic preservation, history, land use, new urbanism, placemaking, planning, signs, urban planning, zoning
Tagged advertising, architecture, branding, business, cities, communications, Fake Plastic Trees, history, land use, placemaking, planning, Radiohead, signs, Traverse City, zoning
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Rolling stock signage
Has anyone else in the planning and zoning realm noticed how certain retail and dining establishments are now strategically placing a fully decaled truck, car, or van in their parking lot to further advertise their business to those passing by? … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, branding, Cars, commerce, Communications, entrepreneurship, government, land use, marketing, planning, product design, signs, transportation, urban planning, visual pollution, zoning
Tagged cars, planning, signs, trucks, urban planning, vans, visual pollution, zoning
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Beware of the weekend sign gremlins
Even notice how a plethora of yard signs suddenly pop-up like dandelions at street intersections on Friday evenings, only to disappear by Monday morning? Those are the result of gremlins putting up signs when they know full well that building … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, branding, cities, civics, civility, commerce, Communications, consumerism, government, land use, marketing, planning, signs, urban planning, visual pollution, zoning
Tagged advertising, cities, civics, civility, land use, marketing, planning, signs, zoning
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More signs are not a cure for a bad business model
As an urban planner, I find it amazing how sign companies can routinely convince business owners that large, flashy, expensive, and abundant signage will be an instant solution to their business woes. In some very rare cases this might be … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, branding, cities, civics, commerce, Communications, consumerism, government, infrastructure, land use, landscape architecture, planning, product design, signs, transportation, urban planning, visual pollution, zoning
Tagged business, business plan, cities, clutter, land uses, planning, sign pollution, signage, signs, visual pollution, zoning
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Clues you might propagate yard blight
Below are a list of clues that indicate you might inflict yard blight on your neighbors, beyond the obvious example of derelict structures and unkempt yards. For this post, “yard blight” is generally defined as: The overuse of, display of, … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, Advocacy, airports, art, Cars, civics, civility, Communications, consumerism, culture, entertainment, fun, holiday, Housing, land use, light pollution, planning, politics, pollution, satire, seasons, signs, technology, visual pollution, zoning
Tagged bad taste, blight, bumper stickers, cars, decorations, eye candy, eye pollution, holidays, junk, PODS, pollution, sarcasm, satire, signs, storage, vehicles, yard blight, yard waste, zoning
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Panethos 