The IMCL Healthy Communities Urban Plazas Award was presented to landscape architect, Deane Rundell[i] at a ceremony on Main Street Square, Rapid City, SD on Saturday, August 25, in the midst of a festive program of events. The day started with a market in the alley, guitar concert, children’s dance group, and after lunch came … Read more
The IMCL Healthy Communities Urban Plazas Award was presented to landscape architect, Deane Rundell[i] at a ceremony on Main Street Square, Rapid City, SD on Saturday, August 25, in the midst of a festive program of events. The day started with a market in the alley, guitar concert, children’s dance group, and after lunch came … Read more
Walkable Neighborhood Award Presented to the City of Fort Myers for the redesign of the Downtown Streetscape In recognition of the extensive landscaping, refurbishment and traffic calming that greatly improved the quality of life for everyone, creating a downtown with a genuinely urban character. Urban Plazas Award Presented to Rundell Ernstberger Assoc. for the design … Read more
Confronted with tumultuous weather patterns, global warming, and the end of oil looming in the not so distant future, the United States’ interest in sustainable urban design has begun to take hold. Dr. Timothy Beatley, a professor of Urban and Environmental Planning at University of Virginia, has been emphasizing the importance of creating greener communities … Read more
Public art can play such an important role in our lives, raising our spirits, making us laugh, bringing out the best in us, reminding us of who we are and the values we share, and sometimes art has this effect on us even when we don’t know the entire story. Here are a few stories … Read more
Picture your daily commute to work. Wake up, get into your car, sit in traffic for an hour, listen to bad talk radio and get to the office late because you couldn’t find parking. Now imagine this: wake up, jump on your bike, and meet your friend at the bike path which is conveniently located … Read more
The public realm, at its best, generates joy. You can see it in the children jumping up and down, in the embrace and tender kiss of a young couple, in the desire to sway, to dance together, in the smiles between strangers as, with burning eyes, they acknowledge a shared experience. In this mutual acknowledgement … Read more
Fiscal conservatives and politicians have fought tooth and nail to try to delay the construction of high-speed rail, arguing that the overall cost would far exceed the benefits. But what if high-speed rail could generate billions of dollars for the economy in a brief amount of time? What if the cost of construction could be … Read more
How well does our transit system connect where people live to where the jobs are? Not at all well, according to a new Brookings Institute report, Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs in Metro America. While most urban jobs are near transit, most employees are not. The report presents a comprehensive database that provides the first … Read more
Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard, Ph.D. (Arch.) It is common today to talk about health only in terms of physical health. The “Active Living” program is often considered the solution to all health problems. In fact, even as cities enact “Active Living” programs to solve obesity, they discover the programs are ineffectual if the society is … Read more