Tag Archives: sprawl

The worst failures of American urban planning

This post looks at macro-scale urban planning failures to identify what this retired planner believes are/were the worst blunders that have taken place in American urban planning, as a profession. Keep in mind that urban planning includes a lot of … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, architecture, Bus transportation, cities, civics, Civil Rights, commerce, culture, demographics, density, diversity, downtown, economic development, environment, geography, government, health, historic preservation, history, Housing, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, injustice, land use, placemaking, planning, racism, rail, rivers/watersheds, social equity, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, Taxes, traffic, transit, transportation, urban design, urban planning, walking, zoning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Suburban USA “cities” that occupy more land area than the core city

The following list identifies those suburban cities in the USA that occupy more land area than the core  city in the same metropolitan area. Any additions or corrections are most welcome. Please note that “towns” as found in the Northeast … Continue reading

Posted in cities, density, geography, history, infrastructure, land use, planning, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, transportation, urban planning | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Best new planning term in years: “spreadlining”

  Friday, @schmangee of streetsblog.org and rustwire.com pointed out an  interesting issue on her Twitter feed. It noted: “We need issue branding as good as the term gentrification for the more common & devastating combination of sprawl, segregation & bad … Continue reading

Posted in Advocacy, branding, Cities, Communications, demographics, density, diversity, environment, geography, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Most spacious American cities with 100,000+ residents

As a companion post to the listing of the most compact American cities with 100,000 or more residents, below is a list of the most spacious (largest area in square miles) American cities with 100,000 or more residents. It is … Continue reading

Posted in cities, demographics, geography, infrastructure, land use, Maps, planning, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, urban planning, zoning | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

More street connections = less cut-through traffic

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

The rise of the inland national capital

Below is my list of those 12 nations that have moved their capital to an inland location since 1900. The most common reason identified for these moves taking place was to: Centrally locate the government geographically (Brazil, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, … Continue reading

Posted in Africa, architecture, Asia, branding, cities, civics, civility, commerce, Communications, diversity, economic development, Europe, geography, government, history, Housing, humanity, inclusiveness, India, infrastructure, land use, Maps, military, North America, Oceania, placemaking, planning, skylines, South America, spatial design, sprawl, tourism, transportation, Travel, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

North America’s super suburbs

Here’s the list of the largest suburbs (by population) in North America. A minimum threshold of 150,000 residents was utilized. The population for all communities in the United States and Puerto Rico are 2013 Census Bureau estimates. For other nations, … Continue reading

Posted in cities, geography, land use, North America, planning, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Ten planning lessons made in Detroit

Here are my ten planning lessons from Detroit. It’s a great city that I have seen change dramatically, both for the positive and the negative, over the past 22 years as a resident of Michigan. Beneath this downtrodden city was a sleeping giant … Continue reading

Posted in adaptive reuse, Advocacy, architecture, branding, Canada, cities, civics, civility, Communications, culture, diversity, geography, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, North America, placemaking, planning, revitalization, social equity, spatial design, sprawl, sustainability, urban planning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Ten planning lessons from the home of the Big House

Below is my list of ten planning lessons from many years of visiting Ann Arbor and having lived just outside this great city for five years back in the mid-1990s. Enjoy! Town and gown can successfully co-exist. College towns/cities are … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, adaptive reuse, architecture, art, branding, Cars, cities, civics, colleges, commerce, culture, diversity, downtown, economic development, economic gardening, education, entertainment, entrepreneurship, environment, geography, government, historic preservation, Housing, infrastructure, land use, North America, placemaking, planning, politics, spatial design, sports, sprawl, sustainability, third places, tourism, transit, transportation, Travel, urban planning, zoning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The sins of suburban stadium sprawl

The following blogpost seemed timely and appropriate with the Super Bowl coming up this weekend in Glendale, Arizona, a large suburb of Phoenix. More on Glendale at the conclusion of this post. Quite often among the planning world there are debates on … Continue reading

Posted in Active transportation, Alternative transportation, bicycling, Biking, Bus transportation, Cars, cities, density, downtown, economic development, entertainment, environment, geography, government, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, Maps, Passenger rail, placemaking, planning, social equity, spatial design, sports, sprawl, sustainability, third places, tourism, transit, transportation, Travel, urban planning, walking, zoning | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments