Politics on the Plaza

Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard An admirable book called City Squares (Catie Marron, Ed.) was published last year. I was glad to see more attention being paid to this topic but, I must admit, a little disappointed by the book’s main thrust. Out of 18 writers who contributed chapters on “the spirit and significance of squares … Read more

Here’s how to calm traffic on a major highway!!!

Carmel, IN today unveiled the Range Line Road Diet.  For about half the length of the road it decreases the number of lanes from five to two, and installs a median the entire distance of the project, with wider sidewalks, a cycle track, and two ten foot ped/bike paths for shorter trips. Go Carmel!  

Art, Space, and Community Engagement

By Andrew Hickey Art can play a powerful and valuable role in healing community and fostering dialogue about public policy. I experienced a striking example of this when a Portland art and music venue became a center for talking about community issues that failed to be addressed in other spaces, like the gender divide in … Read more

2016 Design Awards

IMCL Honor Award:   Proposed Project: Refugee Village Masterplan Richard Economakis Architectural Design   Selected for Final Jury: Proposed Projects: Bailey Green Revitalization, Buffalo, NY Hiro Hata, University of Buffalo Zhangjiabang, Shanghai, China Michael Grove, Sasaki Associates Built project: Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Boston, MA Sarah Laliberte, Sasaki/Mechanoo  

Architecture and Public Health

Suzanne Crowhurst Lennard was keynote speaker at the Norwegian Architectural Institute’s Annual Conference in Oslo, November 24. “The built environment is health policy in concrete”, she reminds the audience, and if we want to make our cities healthy we must first make them healthy for children: the environment a child grows up in shapes their … Read more

NEW eReport #95 – Civic Engagement for Healthy Cities

This eReport presents six presentations and slides dealing with different aspects of community engagement, including a methodology for eliciting a community vision, children’s involvement in improving their neighborhood, a history of civic engagement in a city, and community-led improvements in a neighborhood, as well as case studies showing how to involve more diverse skills in … Read more

Creating a New Classical Urban Fabric (Maxim Atayants)

In Moscow and St. Petersburg where Maxim Atayants works, new buildings continue to be constructed using one of two styles – either classical, or 1960s concrete/glass style.  As an architect, Maxim believes it is important to create a continuous, human scale urban fabric that provides a hospitable background and setting for people’s lives. Classical architecture … Read more

NEW eReport #94: Fighting Climate Change through Sustainable Urban Design

Presenting the latest achievements and research from Europe, North America, and around the world, this eReport contains 10 presentations (papers and slide sets), on city strategies, and tools for sustainable infrastructure, innovative research and state of the art solutions. Currently, the EU aims to reduce domestic greenhouse gas by 40% by 2030 and to increase … Read more

NEW eReport #93: Green and Blue in the Healthy City

This eReport, consisting of 7 papers and slide sets, presents some of the most innovative and advanced achievements worldwide for creating a healthy city through protection of green areas and waterways. Deputy Mayor Tjasa Ficko explores how the City of Ljubljana, Slovenia is looking to create a “green living room” in the city’s center through … Read more

Loneliness, urban design, and form-based codes

I am very pleased this issue is receiving attention from Steve Price.  I hope he and others will take this much further. It is an issue I addressed some time ago in my article Loneliness is Life Threatening: We Can Design Cities to Foster Community. So much more needs to be done! The connections between … Read more