Perhaps we should spend more time trying to understand and appreciate the humble, marginally better neighborhoods that are already tucked away in our cities. Here’s one such neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky.

Gray, Top Story, Urban Design, Housing, Neighborhood DesignNolan GrayAugust 13, 2018affordable housing, suburbs, zoning

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.

Andrew Price, Housing, Neighborhood Design, Top Story, Urban DesignAndrew PriceMay 2, 2018Antifragile, granularity, urban planning, poverty, affordable housing

Be a Better Neighbor, Build a Better Neighborhood

If you want to make your neighborhood a better place, you have to get outside and meet the people around you. Here are 9 ideas to get you started.

Kobos, Neighborhood Design, #StrongCitizensSarah KobosApril 12, 2018neighborhood, community building, how to

Give the People What They Want

What you think you know about public preference (for a certain style of home, neighborhood, etc.) is all wrong.

Herriges, Housing, Neighborhood Design, Planning Profession, Urban DesignDaniel HerrigesMarch 28, 2018suburbs, suburbanization, page highlight

Kick the Tires on Your Local Zoning Code

These 5 steps will help you test the development potential in your town.

Housing, Kobos, Neighborhood Design, Small Scale Developers, ZoningSarah KobosMarch 21, 2018urban planning, Neighborhood Design, traditional development pattern, resource, page highlight

You Care About the Subdivision Regulations, You Just Don't Know It (Yet)

if you care about creating financially healthy, walk-friendly places, it's time to take a look at your local subdivision regulations.

Kobos, Neighborhood Design, Roads and Streets, Transportation, Urban Design, Walkability, Zoning, Top StorySarah KobosFebruary 14, 2018

The Magic of Tree-Lined Streets

Whether you care about the environment, property values, public health, or your city’s bottom line, you can make your town stronger by planting trees.

Bikeability, Kobos, Neighborhood Design, Walkability, Top StorySarah KobosOctober 30, 2017#PedestrianUnfriendly, environment, trees

The Invisible Hand That Designed Your City

If you don't get involved in the planning of your city, it will be planned for you. Much of it already has been.

#StrongCitizens, Kobos, Neighborhood Design, Roads and Streets, Taking Action, Urban Design, Transportation, Walkability, Zoning, Top StorySarah KobosJuly 12, 2017urban planning, Street Design, page highlight

3 Great Rochester Neighborhoods and Why they Work

These Rochester neighborhoods offer simple lessons that every town can employ to improve its economic success and wellbeing.

Top Story, Urban Design, Neighborhood Design, MaitlandAustin MaitlandJune 26, 2017New York

Stop Shoehorning Suburbia into Walkable Places

It’s pretty easy to destroy a walkable place. We’ve been doing it for so long.

Kobos, Neighborhood Design, Neighborhoods First, WalkabilitySarah KobosMay 30, 2017walkability, traditional development pattern, Traditional Main Street, page highlight

The Wonderful Walkability of College Campuses

In college, the action—whether a campus job, the library, the cafeteria or all your best friends—was within a 10 minute walk of your house. There's no reason that experience has to be confined to a four-year period of life, no reason it has to cost tens of thousands of dollars in annual tuition to partake in.

Walkability, Urban Design, Neighborhood Design, Quednau, Top StoryRachel QuednauSeptember 16, 2016college, schools

How About Schools on Safe Routes?

Safe Routes to School is a very popular federal program designed to make is easier for students to walk and bike to school. What if we instead chose to build Schools on Safe Routes?

Walkability, #SlowtheCars, Marohn, Neighborhood Design, Roads and Streets, TransportationCharles MarohnSeptember 13, 2016Safe Routes to Schools, schools, children, Public Health, page highlight

New Neighbor

Hospitals around the country are realizing that it is good policy and good business to take an interest in the welfare of the neighborhoods they are in.

Marohn, Neighborhood Design, In the Neighborhood, Top StoryCharles MarohnSeptember 2, 2016Memphis, Brainerd MN, hospitals, biking, walkability

A Better Way

A new community center could've fallen victim to the typical auto-oriented public project pitfalls. Instead, local designers created a walkable, bikeable neighborhood amenity that is spurring fresh development.

#SlowtheCars, Neighborhood Design, Sanphillippo, Top Story, Walkability, Urban Design, Planning ProfessionJohnny SanphillippoAugust 29, 2016pedestrian safety, pedestrian crossing, architecture

Let's Infill A Traditional Neighborhood (And Make A Profit)

I ran the numbers and made a plan for building a traditional urban neighborhood. It turns out there's big profit to be made in this model.

Andrew Price, Top Story, Neighborhood Design, Urban DesignAndrew PriceAugust 9, 2016New York, New Jersey, traditional development pattern

Why Aren't Parks Open at Night?

There are a multitude of reasons why someone might want to be in a park after dark, and most of them are completely safe and reasonable. So why are most parks technically "closed" at night?

Jane Jacobs, Neighborhood Design, Quednau, Top Story, Urban Design, WalkabilityRachel QuednauAugust 1, 2016Parks

Small-Scale Change, Neighborhood by Neighborhood

Austin's Neighborhood Partnering Program gives neighborhoods the tools and financial support they need to implement small-scale improvements in their community.

#StrongCitizens, #SlowtheCars, Neighborhood Design, Quednau, Roads and Streets, Success Story, Tactical Urbanism, Top StoryRachel QuednauJuly 8, 2016placemaking, community engagement, neighborhood, gardening, page highlight

The Doughnut of Despair? Not Quite

Do we want to make life easy on the experts, or make Detroit a better place that can also pay its bills?

#StrongCitizens, CNU, Finance, Housing, Neighborhood Design, Planning Profession, Sanphillippo, Small Scale Developers, Top Story, Urban DesignJohnny SanphillippoJune 29, 2016Detroit, poverty, rural, federal housing policy

The Magic of Tree-Lined Streets

Whether you care about the environment, energy savings, property values, public health, or your city’s bottom line--plant a tree by the street. You’ll make sweaty cyclists and pedestrians happy for generations to come.