Authors
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problogic
- 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
- Tallest & most prominent volcanic plugs/necks in the USA
- Best TV, music & movies seen/heard in 2023 May
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Tag Archives: urban planning
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 building codes, Euclidean zoning, form-based code, freeway, low-density zoning, minorities, sameness, sprawl, transit, urban planning, urban renewal
4 Comments
Geography of Target’s Smaller/Flexible Urban Store Format
While visiting Chicago earlier this month, one could hardly miss seeing the influx of major retailers into urban areas. Particularly noticeable was Target with its trending urban and collegiate smaller/flexible format stores popping up over much of the city and … Continue reading
Posted in Active transportation, adaptive reuse, architecture, bicycling, Biking, business, cities, commerce, downtown, economic development, gentrification, geography, historic preservation, infrastructure, land use, logistics, Maps, new urbanism, Passenger rail, placemaking, planning, rail, revitalization, shopping, spatial design, Statistics, Trade, transit, transportation, urban planning, walking, zoning
Tagged cities, flexible store format, geography, land use, planning, redevelopment, Target, transit oriented development, urban economics, urban planning
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Goma-Gisenyi and other volcanic cities – UPDATED
A more generalized variation of this post was originally published back in June on Progressive Blogic. Here is an updated and expanded version which delves into the geological threats facing the Goma-Gisenyi urban area. One of the features about Edinburgh, Scotland … Continue reading
Posted in architecture, cities, environment, history, land use, nature, planning, spatial design, tourism
Tagged Africa, cities, earthquakes, environment, land use, natural disasters, nature, urban planning, volcanoes
5 Comments
An artistic planning masterpiece
As an urban planner, I have seen some very well-written and thought-provoking master plans in the past 25+ years. But recently I stumbled across a specialized plan that I think may top them all – the Public Art Program … Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, architecture, art, branding, Cities, civics, culture, downtown, economic development, economic gardening, education, entertainment, fun, geography, government, historic preservation, history, humanity, inclusiveness, infrastructure, land use, landscape architecture, music, nature, new urbanism, placemaking, planning, spatial design, sustainability, tourism, Travel, Uncategorized, urban planning, writing
Tagged architecture, arts, charettes, cities, conversation cafe, history, land use, participation, planning, Traverse City, urban planning
2 Comments
A Billionaire’s Row rises above Midtown Manhattan
This fascinating, yet troubling video depicts the ongoing development of Billionaire’s Row along and near the south end of Central Park in Midtown Manhattan. As these new super-tall skyscrapers are built they not only impact their adjoining neighbors, but have … Continue reading
Posted in Advocacy, architecture, cities, civility, commerce, downtown, economic development
Tagged cities, Detroit, geography, land use, Manhattan, New York City, planning, skylines, skyscrapers, tall buildings, urban planning
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Eliminate shopping bore by frequenting your city’s core
This holiday season is the first one in my life where I recall making most of our family purchases at downtown stores instead of at a shopping mall, big box retailer, lifestyle center, or other strip suburban commercial complex. One … Continue reading
Posted in architecture, art, cities, civics, civility, commerce, consumerism, culture, downtown, economic development, Economy, entertainment, geography, historic preservation, history, holiday, infrastructure, land use, marketing, placemaking, planning, shopping, spatial design, sprawl, Statistics, Trade, urban planning, walking, zoning
Tagged cities, dining, downtown, entertainment, geography, land use, planning, retail, shopping, suburbs, urban planning
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Land uses which are more often found “Up North”
As a regular visitor and now denizen of “Up North,” the following is my list of those land uses that tend to be found more often in northern locales of North America than in other parts of the country. This … Continue reading
Seattle may join the super tall skyscraper club
While the exact height has yet to be determined, it appears Seattle will soon be joining that elite group of cities that are home to 100-story plus skyscrapers. A 101 story, 1.2 million square foot tower is proposed at the … Continue reading
Posted in architecture, cities, downtown, economic development, geography, land use, new urbanism, North America, placemaking, planning, skylines, skyscrapers, Statistics, urban planning
Tagged architeture, cities, design, land use, planning, Seattle, skylines, skyscrapers, statistics, towers, urban planning
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Does geography contribute to a healthier downtown?
Over the years as both a planner and a traveler, I have noticed that compact downtown areas tend to be more vibrant and healthy than those that are spread out across the landscape. Examples include Manhattan, which is hemmed in … Continue reading
Posted in bicycling, Biking, cities, density, downtown, economic development, entertainment, geography, history, humanity, infrastructure, land use, new urbanism, placemaking, planning, skylines, spatial design, sustainability, topography, traffic, transportation, Travel, urban planning, walking
Tagged cities, density, downtown, geography, land use, planning, spatial design, terrain, topography, transportation, urban planning
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Transforming an eyesore into eye-candy
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 cities, civics, gardening, Greater Mt. Pleasant, highways, infrastructure, land use, landscaping, micropolitan, non-motorized plan, placemakng, planning, streets, streetscaping, tourism, transportation, travel, urban planning
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Panethos 