Wednesday, June 5th at 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT Join Global Site Plans on Twitter on Wednesday, June 5th from 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. EDT for a live Twitter chat. This month’s topic is Social Equity and Inclusiveness. What’s a Twitter Chat? A Twitter chat is simply a preset, organized time to tweet on a pre-organized [...]
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Global Site Plans (GSP) and The Grid would like to extend an opportunity to your business or organization to advertise on our website. As GSP and The Grid have grown immensely since their founding, less than three years ago, we are actively seeking companies congruent with our own philosophy who will benefit from advertising to [...]
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, [...]
When you think of tough neighbourhoods and burroughs like the Bronx in New York, or St Ann’s in Nottingham, you don’t necessarily equate them with energy efficient living. If you consider it living at all, it is most certainly not energy efficient living. However, it is in Nottingham England that city council has made an [...]
Global Site Plans has been an important part of my development as a writer and I am proud for having had the chance to work with Renée van Staveren and the crew there. My work as a master’s candidate at the University of Minnesota has exposed me to many of the issues that I wrote [...]
Completing my semester-long stint in the Netherlands also means saying goodbye to The Grid. Writing here has helped me to navigate and distill the sometimes-complicated experience of living and participating in a new social and urban context; for this I am grateful. A blog can be a sounding board for a writer, an opportunity to [...]
If the act of naming something validates its existence, the Dakota War of 1862 is overwrought with meaning. That same conflict, one that killed hundreds of whites as well as Native Americans, is variously referred to as Little Crow’s War, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Dakota Conflict, and [...]
Brownfield remediation is becoming a common process in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. A few miles from the heart of one of the more successful projects – Mill Ruins Park – lies UMore Park (University of Minnesota Outreach, Research, and Education), a planned 5,000-acre development for 25,000 people in eco-friendly homes and neighborhoods. Sadly there [...]
Nearly a year ago I took on the adventure of blog writing to fuel my passion for urban planning and to help interested readers stay informed about local planning from a New Urbanism framework. I literally had no idea what I was doing as I dove into the online world of blogging. Soon after launching [...]
One of the most iconic viewsheds in Minneapolis – hated by some, loved by others – are any that include the Riverside Plaza apartments. From many places in the city you can see the Brutalist concrete buildings, with their primary-color panels and blockish tower-structure, towering above their surroundings. In 2010, Riverside Plaza was included in [...]
By all accounts, urban sprawl is a problem that has plagued many metropolitan cities throughout the United States. Like many of these cities, Richmond, Virginia has struggled with the concept of how to control the growing population while still possessing the ability to attract new residents to the area. Recently, many of the city’s efforts [...]
Just over a year ago, in October 2011, the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota revealed new plans for the redesign of historic Peavey Plaza. Those plans were scrutinized in the media and public outcry mourned the loss of such an iconic design. Today, this “Marvel of Modernism,” designed by noted landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg in [...]
Writing is a vehicle. And it continues to drive me, from the place I began, to where I am heading today. Hard to believe, but six months have passed since I began my blogging position with The Grid. Just a few months ago, I was a senior in college, interested in pursuing a path that [...]
In Minneapolis, Minnesota, new design guidelines are being recognized to preserve the context and character of the historic heart of the city. Following an extensive public hearing period and intensive research, these guidelines express value systems surrounding such notions as streetscape, access to the Mississippi River, potential archaeological remains, views, and the historic integrity of [...]
Classifying neighborhoods has always been more art than science. Despite an urban planner’s best intentions, the original vision of a few city blocks doesn’t always pan out. As populations tend toward urban living and countries invest money into the construction of new cities, it’s important to shift attention not just towards infrastructure, but community building [...]
The cultural landscape of the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area in Minnesota is largely influenced by historic large-scale agriculture, but that landscape is continuing to evolve to include new forms based on traditional, small-scale farming. One of the most prevalent expressions of that is the presence of Hmong farms within the metropolitan area. The Twin Cities [...]
During a season of economic frugality and budget cuts in the U.S., it is great to see that community development is not on the chopping block in Tacoma, Washington’s South End. May 19, 2012 marked the grand opening of Metro Parks Tacoma’s new South Tacoma Activity and Recreation (STAR) Center. The STAR Center is a [...]
I have been a writer for The Grid for over a year and this will be my last writing. I am grateful to Renee Van Staveren, Global Site Plans, and The Grid staff for this opportunity. A lot has been learned through my own research and also through the writings of my peers. The topics [...]
Zoning, the main form in which land use is regulated in the United States, is a controversial form of urban planning. Property owners do not like being told what they can and cannot do with their land and view use restrictions as a violation of their property rights. Those in favor of zoning view it [...]
