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A Tale of Two Developments

You probably wouldn’t be able to tell these two buildings apart, yet their economic performance couldn’t be more different. A deep dive by geospatial firm Urban3 shows why that’s the case.

Accounting
A Tale of Two Developments
The Buttonhook and the Cost of Safety We Refuse to Pay

We could save lives for far less than $58 million, but only if safety were the true priority.

Highways
The Buttonhook and the Cost of Safety We Refuse to Pay
Volunteers Use Red Chalk to Protect Pedestrians and Drivers Under California’s New Law

Since California's new daylighting law was implemented, unsuspecting drivers have accumulated over $700,000 in fines. Local advocates are stepping up to change that.

Streets
Volunteers Use Red Chalk to Protect Pedestrians and Drivers Under California’s New Law
New Resource Helps Portland Communities Take Action on Road Safety

Portland’s regional government is giving communities the data and tools they need to make streets safer.

Streets
New Resource Helps Portland Communities Take Action on Road Safety
Two Porch Crashes, One Block: Why Park Avenue Needs Quick-Build Safety Now

Late last month, a car smashed through a front porch along Park Avenue in Minneapolis — again. It’s time for the county to stop waiting and start acting.

Streets
Two Porch Crashes, One Block: Why Park Avenue Needs Quick-Build Safety Now
How Places Form People: The Moral Pedagogy of Urban Design

Design doesn’t just reflect our values — it forms them. If we want citizens who are engaged, generous, and resilient, we need places that cultivate those virtues.

How Places Form People: The Moral Pedagogy of Urban Design
Why This Canadian City Said Goodbye to Parking Mandates (And How It Really Happened)

How a passionate group of locals cracked Nanaimo’s stubborn parking rules—and unlocked new possibilities for housing and community.

Parking
Local Conversations
Why This Canadian City Said Goodbye to Parking Mandates (And How It Really Happened)
The Road That Killed Legend Jenkins Was Working Exactly as Designed

When a child is killed on a street like West Hudson Boulevard, it’s not a tragic fluke. It’s the outcome we designed for.

Streets
The Road That Killed Legend Jenkins Was Working Exactly as Designed
After 3 Crashes in 4 Days, Massachusetts Residents Rally for Safer Streets

Four days. Three crashes. Two lives lost. One life changed forever. For residents of Fairhaven and New Bedford, this wasn’t just a bad weekend; it was a turning point.

Streets
After 3 Crashes in 4 Days, Massachusetts Residents Rally for Safer Streets
Chicago and Denver Just Ditched Parking Mandates—What Does That Mean?

Chicago and Denver just joined a growing list of cities including Anchorage, Minneapolis, and Austin in rethinking how city space is used, and what we pay for. 

Parking
Chicago and Denver Just Ditched Parking Mandates—What Does That Mean?
Minneapolis Residents Take Action To Make Their Streets Safer

After a car crash damaged three houses, these Minneapolis residents are done waiting for officials to act. They're demonstrating a better way of responding to crashes.

Streets
Minneapolis Residents Take Action To Make Their Streets Safer
Burned Out and Backlogged: The Real Blockade in LA’s Post-Fire Recovery

Los Angeles is desperate to rebuild after the wildfires that destroyed nearly 60,000 acres back in January. So why is it that 6 months later, not much has changed?

Burned Out and Backlogged: The Real Blockade in LA’s Post-Fire Recovery
Is the City the Problem or the Solution?

State preemption can remove obstacles, but it can’t build the local capacity that's required for lasting reform.

Housing
Is the City the Problem or the Solution?
How To Make Your City Stronger With 4 Hours and a Shovel

Advocates in Lynchburg, Virginia, are proving that you don't need an official task force to make your city stronger. You just need to care enough to show up.

Streets
How To Make Your City Stronger With 4 Hours and a Shovel
Are Walking Tours the Missing Piece in Local Planning?

Charlottesville’s political wounds ran deep. Now, the city is turning to bikes, sidewalks, and street-level trust to chart a new course.

Streets
Are Walking Tours the Missing Piece in Local Planning?
Chop or Adapt? 6 Ways To Fix Sidewalks Without Losing Urban Trees

Here are six proven techniques that allow communities to preserve mature trees while restoring sidewalks to safe, walkable condition.

Streets
Chop or Adapt? 6 Ways To Fix Sidewalks Without Losing Urban Trees
15 Years Later, the Bottom-Up Approach Is Still Active on Broad Avenue

In 2010, this community in Memphis, Tennessee, showed how resident-led, city-backed change can transform a place. That pattern is still playing out today.

Streets
15 Years Later, the Bottom-Up Approach Is Still Active on Broad Avenue
How Would Your Town Welcome 5,000 New Neighbors?

Every town will be asked to grow. Maybe not today, maybe not all at once. But when that moment comes, how will yours go about it?

Housing
How Would Your Town Welcome 5,000 New Neighbors?
What Happens When Residents Act and Cities Shut It Down

When tension builds between grassroots action and bureaucratic boundaries, cities must choose: partnership or pushback.

Streets
What Happens When Residents Act and Cities Shut It Down
Chicago Slashes Parking Mandates In a Big Win for Small Developers

A new ordinance removes costly parking requirements across most of Chicago, clearing the way for more affordable housing and business development.

Parking
Chicago Slashes Parking Mandates In a Big Win for Small Developers
What We Lost When We Built the Claiborne Expressway

On Ash Wednesday, 1966, a highway carved up New Orleans, taking families, flowers, and futures with it. Today, the attempts to rectify those wrongs stop short of actually treating the wound.

Highways
What We Lost When We Built the Claiborne Expressway
If John Locke Pulled Up to the Curb and Found No Space

John Locke’s 17th-century proviso can help us understand the tangled web of private property rights, public space, and parking rules in North America today.

Parking
If John Locke Pulled Up to the Curb and Found No Space
Annapolis Needs Safe Street Design, Not Orange Flags

In April, a child was hit in a crosswalk outside a library in Annapolis, MD. The official response? Orange flags that put responsibility on people walking, not on the street design that enabled the crash.

Streets
Annapolis Needs Safe Street Design, Not Orange Flags
Six Roundabouts to Nowhere

What do you get when you combine too much funding, a broken development model, and no clear priorities? A six-roundabout interchange built to serve big-box stores that are already closing.

Accounting
Streets
Six Roundabouts to Nowhere

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