Leaving Value on the Table

Why do large-scale developers bother making cool mockups for their spaces, only to end up with a bland end product?

Herriges, Top StoryDaniel HerrigesApril 14, 2021urban design, granularity, public space

It’s an article of faith among many that big and tall buildings don’t belong around small and short buildings. But does this idea actually stand up to scrutiny?

HerrigesDaniel HerrigesJuly 22, 2020urban design, human scale, granularity, incrementalism, california

Best of 2019: Why Urban Design Should Come From the Bottom Up (Part 1)

Professional planners are trained to yearn for tighter urban design controls, as if cities without comprehensive, top-down planning would devolve into chaos and disorder. In reality, cities evolve according to mechanisms that allow us to gradually discover optimal urban design across time.

Top StoryNolan GrayDecember 9, 2019granularity, traditional development pattern, best of strong towns

Why Urban Design Should Come From the Bottom Up (Part 1)

Professional planners are trained to yearn for tighter urban design controls, as if cities without comprehensive, top-down planning would devolve into chaos and disorder. In reality, cities evolve according to mechanisms that allow us to gradually discover optimal urban design across time.

Top StoryNolan GrayJanuary 15, 2019granularity, traditional development pattern

The Living City vs. The Mechanical City

A city is a living organism, and we should tend to it as such. A city dies when it is treated as, and functions, as a machine.

Top StoryAndrew PriceMay 2, 2018granularity, urban planning, poverty, affordable housing, antifragility

Surprising Approaches To Achieving Density

We can build compact, walkable cities in an adaptable and economically inclusive manner — no high-rise towers needed.

Andrew PriceJanuary 3, 2018granularity, density

Fine-Grained vs. Coarse-Grained Urbanism

There's a big difference between these two types of development and one will create a far better outcome for our cities.

Andrew PriceOctober 30, 2017small business, granularity, fine-grained, coarse-grained, economic development

How to Make Museums an Active Part of Your City

Are there ways we can build urban museums to both engage visitors with the rest of the city and make the museum a better neighbor for residents who live nearby?

Top StoryRachel QuednauAugust 23, 2017Street Design, granularity

The Illusion of Revitalization

From the towering Xerox Square, to the grand Civic Center, to the glistening Riverside Convention Center, virtually every corner of downtown Rochester has been “revitalized”, so why does it still feel so dead?

Top StoryAustin MaitlandJuly 6, 2017revitalization, granularity, new york

A Place for Public Art

Is public art doomed to only be invited and placed in locations that are lacking and empty—a band-aid to cover up our cities' design failures?

Rachel QuednauMay 19, 2017granularity

A Major Parking Garage Problem

This gets my nomination for worst parking garage on the continent—due not only to sheer size, but also because the same people who thought they should construct the 7,657-space 12-story parking garage apparently didn't realize that they didn't have enough customers to fill it.

#BlackFridayParking, Top StoryIan RasmussenNovember 21, 2016granularity

Book Interview: Andrew Price and Granularity

In this special edition of the Strong Towns podcast, we bring you a short interview with Andrew Price, a Strong Towns contributor who wrote two essays for our new book, Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volume II.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsOctober 10, 2016granularity