The Month of May in Cincinnati celebrates cyclists & cycling in all forms – ushering in hundreds of events hosted by local bicycling advocates including the City of Cincinnati, Queen City Bike, Mobo Bicycle Coop and many other bike friendly businesses such as Park + Vine. This year, wheels are spinning, and gears are shifting [...]
Home to the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, the Carnegie Museums and Library, Phipps Conservatory, and the expansive Schenley Park, Oakland, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a product of the City Beautiful movement. It is a center of knowledge, art, and culture, enriched by its civic spaces and ample greenery. The University of [...]
American Legacy Tours – located at 1218 Vine Street in Cincinnati’s historic Over the Rhine (OTR) – has continued to gain popularity, media attention and distinction since their opening in 2008. The company, founded by a small group of friends, offers a diverse range of engaging walking tours through Cincinnati Heritage, legend and folklore. These [...]
Brighton – a small, tightly woven community of artists and art galleries, is located Northwest of Over the Rhine and downtown Cincinnati. It retains a ghostly atmosphere – a quiet neighborhood, where age-old nineteenth century Italianate buildings sit dormant against a backdrop of a modern city, now beginning to regain its former prominence. Walking these [...]
In the summer of 2012 I was a fresh graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, trying to make my way into the working world. Having been an Urban Studies student minoring in Architecture, I was hopeful I would be able to find work in which I could apply my passion for urban development, [...]
Do you have a unique specialty in the field of environmental design? Do you currently live in a town or city that has not/or is currently not being covered by another blogger? Have you successfully managed social media platforms? Do you have a passion for writing and want to learn how to successfully blog? If [...]
Like many of its Bay Area counterparts, Oakland, California is a city full of diverse neighborhoods, comprised of unique identities blending and interacting to form one of the region’s primary destinations. Temescal is one such example where you can see the local history while experiencing the recently emerged culinary and art scenes that have come [...]
A few months ago, I was walking in Thessaloniki, Greece when I noticed some really eye-catching “Open House Thessaloniki” posters all over the city. I wasn’t familiar with this particular project, so as soon as I returned home, I started looking for more information about it. Ten minutes later, and I had already sent in [...]
They say that when something is meant to be, you begin to see signs of it everywhere; life begins to push you in the direction you are supposed to go. I can certainly attest to this phenomenon in my experience with urban design. Once I discovered how strong my interest was in this field, I [...]
In the course of the last decade, American river cities have sustained continued interest from policy makers and urban planners who have worked to create targeted opportunities for significant long-term investment and economic development. In Cincinnati, this reinvestment has received national attention in terms of how the city has been able to connect environmental design [...]
James Corner’s Field Operations, renowned designer of New York’s High Line Park, won the design competition for Chicago’s Navy Pier one year ago. The attraction is approaching its centennial in 2016, and the trustees of Navy Pier, Inc. hope the renovations will be completed in time to celebrate. Navy Pier is a major tourist attraction [...]
In a global economy, where places are in tight competition for investors, companies, workforce, and tourists, creating a place brand has become a powerful tool. Cities like Paris, London, and New York have distinctive features that tell a story about their urbanity, history and lifestyle. These images are commonly created not by accident, but are [...]
During the twilight of the 1880s, Cincinnati, OH, (the Queen City) was internationally celebrated as one of the most prolific centers for beer brewing in the United States. According to Michael D. Morgan, Author of Over the Rhine: When Beer was King, Cincinnati, during this pinnacle era, was chief among the Great American Brewing cities. The city [...]
The propulsion of urban planning is vital this day in age. Innovation and ideas must be at constant work and implementation, in order to create a positive vision. Within the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, the group 2015Vision, has embraced this platform and embodied key ideas in innovative design. This group is compiled of local business leaders [...]
It’s no secret that in order to attract investors, companies, and tourists, cities are under increasing pressure to stand out. More and more cities make use of social media to create a positive image and strengthen their place in the global competition of attractive cities. Imagine, you are in charge of your city’s social media [...]
As the prices of gas skyrocket and a sustainable lifestyle is ever so important to adopt, alternative forms of transportation are key in our society, although sometimes a challenge to implement. Lincoln has stepped up to this challenge however, and truly exhibited how urban planning, paired with branding techniques, can create a buzz as well [...]
In July of 2012, Target opened a brand new location in downtown Chicago, in architect Louis Sullivan’s famed Carson Pirie Scott building. Critics were left to wonder if the landmark building’s character could be preserved with such a corporate tenant, yet the remarkable cast-iron façade remains intact, and the exterior corporate branding is less obtrusive [...]
Wow, how fast time does fly! It seems like only yesterday that I was signing my first set of paperwork to do my internship with Global Site Plans. Initially, I must admit that I was a little nervous about doing an internship with Global Site Plans because I feared that I could not produce quality [...]
While I don’t have a background in design, I know a good website when I see one. Elton Consulting Group is a planning firm with three offices in Australia. In addition to consulting services, Elton Consulting Group operates a news bulletin called Urban Affairs. Here are five things that make their website stand out. 1. [...]
Wheels of Progress, a 501(C)3 organization, has a simple mission “to create affordable, accessible, supportive housing and transformative environments for people with physical disabilities.” One may not have guessed this noble cause from first impressions of its website. Here are a few suggestions to update and modernize, Wheels of Progress: 1. “Splash pages” or “splash [...]
