By Hannah Jarman-Miller Sunday Parkways was hosted in my neighborhood this past weekend. Organized in partnership by the City of Portland and Kaiser Permanente, Sunday Parkways is a free event where streets are entirely or partially closed to car traffic so that community members can discover and engage in active transportation in a safe and … Read more

By Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard A neighborhood square must be centrally located at the commercial and civic heart of a neighborhood, with a substantial residential population living within easy walking distance. The vitality of a neighborhood square is heavily dependent on a rich mix of uses in surrounding blocks. Nearby streets should contain apartments and … Read more

By Hannah Jarman-Miller When you consider your favorite building, what does it look like? What drew you to notice it, and which pieces of its construction stick out in you when you go to describe it to someone else? When we think of the structures that surround us, we might consider it valuable that we … Read more

By Suzanne H. Crowhurst Lennard A square’s success is dependent on the subtle interaction of many factors – the right proportions of the architectural frame, appropriate building uses and urban fabric, hospitable streetscaping, a pedestrian-friendly transportation policy, and good management of the square. When any one of these factors is lacking, the square fails to … Read more

By Hannah Jarman-Miller The Zupan’s in my neighborhood closed recently. After nearly 20 years of occupying a mixed use private-public space in SE Portland, a design that spurred much of the development on the changing Belmont strip, the grocery store closed its doors, leaving the space vacant with an uncertain future. I felt unmoved, perceiving … Read more

By Hannah Jarman-Miller Laurelhurst Park is one of my favorite places in Portland. Once the site of a prestigious cattle farm, the area was sold to the City of Portland in 1911 when the east side neighborhoods were beginning to develop and the land became too valuable for agriculture. The area was converted into a … Read more

by Hannah Jarman-Miller This time of year is intertwined with a deep and sudden compulsion to be outside. As the first sunny days of spring begin to bloom, and the world becomes welcoming again, I often find myself drawn out to meandering walks through my neighborhood. As an apartment dweller, I don’t have an outside … Read more

Taylor Campi The Center for Urban Design and Mental Health[1] (UDMH) recently celebrated World Health Day[2] with a flashmob… of tweets. The theme of this year’s World Health Day was “Depression: Let’s Talk,” in response to a staggering rise in the rate of depression worldwide in the last decade. Planners, architects, and other placemakers posted … Read more

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