The line between optimism and reality can be a fine one to walk.
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Forget about the superstar neighborhoods—even most run-of-the-mill inner suburban neighborhoods would be next to impossible to build today.
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Hurdles to revitalization based not on substance but control are the last thing America's cities and towns need.
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What we need is not a new and improved vision of urban form but a robust liberal understanding of urban form. This transition involves shifting from thinking of cities as simple machines toward thinking of cities as complex, emergent systems.
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Government – particularly local government – needs to be about redundancy, not efficiency. We need spare parts. We need slack in the system.
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It was going to be great, but it didn't turn out like the planners said it would.
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The key to building a sustainable local economy is to nurture a diverse set of employers that operate in multiple industries. With the emergence of the Democratized Economy, localized production for regional markets is returning to the fore.
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Janette Sadik-Khan discusses her experience as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation, focusing on bottom-up action through smaller projects like plazas and bike access, instead of megaprojects that cost millions.
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A basic look at financial productivity applied to the Iron Range community of Grand Rapids.
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In a solo podcast, Chuck talks about the articles he wrote on Smart Growth and sprawl (first and second) and why he doesn't use either term in describing himself or the Strong Towns movement.
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Cities are complex ecosystems. For areas in need of redevelopment, the only way to return to a healthy urban fabric is incrementally, a few small projects a year until the neighborhood has buildings of every age and condition, suitable for adaptation to the particular needs of some future time.
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Many people associate Jacobs with a love of walkable neighborhoods, urban parks and historic buildings. What they fail to grasp is that these are means to an end, not the end itself.
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Jane Jacobs’ critique of the orthodox urban planning tradition unfolds in three steps, closely following F.A. Hayek’s argument in The Use of Knowledge in Society.
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In honor of Jane Jacobs week, we are seeking to fill an intellectual void by providing an oath for urban planners.
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One historic home at a time, St. Paul, MN is demonstrating how a critical mass of Strong Citizens can be an incredible asset to a troubled area, and how local government can play a constructive role in the incremental revitalization of such an area.
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Jane Jacobs repeatedly challenges us to embrace the complex -- the ballet -- and not just that which is simple and easy to code.
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Chuck Marohn responds to critiques of his essay, Sprawl is not the Problem.
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A Victory Garden doesn’t just grow healthy food. It builds a regenerative foundation for creating surplus through the active responsibility of its citizens' output. A Victory Garden tests and adjusts the resiliency measures on which public policy sits.
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Rather than allow for natural pedestrian movement and traffic calming, my city has recommended funnelling pedestrians into a signalized crosswalk so they can wait their turn to cross the street in an approved manner. I believe that is the wrong answer to the right question.
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As I engage more in this work of neighbourhood-level doing, the role of local knowledge is becoming clearer to me. It seems almost cruel that at a certain scale, local knowledge is worth everything.
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