“Free parking is at the root of many urban ills: congestion, sprawl, wasteful energy use and air pollution.” – Donald Shoup, Parking may not be an obvious urban design issue, but it affects the traffic patterns, environmental health, and landscapes of our cities. As the population in Austin, Texas continues to skyrocket, the city certainly [...]
“Rethink Athens” is a project organized and funded by the “Onassis Foundation” whose objective is to improve the everyday life of Athenian citizens, by transforming the center of the Greek capital. “Rethink Athens” will be realized by a European competition which will indicate a winning architect (person or legal entity) to undertake the design of a [...]
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 [...]
“Rather than being guided, as it should be, by natural systems or human needs, the quality and placement of growth in our regions is largely dependent on the car.“-Peter Calthorpe The newly adopted Austin, Texas city plan, appropriately titled the “Imagine Austin” plan, envisions a less congested and more sustainable city. It turns the conversation [...]
Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina is a massive metropolis of 14-million people, whose active population commutes, by the millions, daily, towards the main federal district from distances of 53 kms. (approximately 26-miles), mainly using the massive and 24-hour public transportation system of “Colectivos” with rates from 23-cents to $1.20. Impressive, huh? This may sound like a [...]
It is May 28th, 1953, and Sir Edmund Hillary becomes the first man to reach Mount Everest’s peak. It is July 21st, 1969, and Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to traverse the moon’s surface. It is September 3rd, 2012, and Jim Hallsey consecrates the 35th anniversary of the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail by hiking, biking, [...]
Locally known as the North-South highway, “North Spokane Corridor,” has been well over 50 years in the making. Since the onslaught of the automobile on the American urban landscape, Spokane has always assumed their future held a four-lane highway to the East-West in I-90 to Idaho, and another going North-South in US 395 to Canada; [...]
In 2011, Ford closed their 122-acre St. Paul, Minnesota plant after 86 years of production. The community has developed around the plant and Ford’s impact on the area is a fixture of this cultural landscape. The closure of automotive plants in the US is not a new phenomenon: In the last 33 years, 267 of [...]
A healthy downtown is an important economic component for any city that desires to increase revenue, improve tourism, or revitalize local neighborhoods. Thus, the local downtown is by and large the life-blood of any metropolitan area. Like many other cities and small towns, urban planners from Richmond, Virginia have been working tirelessly to revitalize the [...]
Sustainable development is a goal of almost every United States city. Combined with fun, fitness, and environmental purpose, promoting cycling may be the most popular strategy that many cities have implemented. The local government of Tucson just introduced to its citizens a new sustainable plan: Bicycle boulevards. Many people are unfamiliar with bicycle boulevards since [...]
In April 1888, the first streetcar line in Spokane, Washington was built for Browne’s Addition, a neighborhood just one-mile West of downtown. The terrain is level and easy to maneuver for the less-powerful engines. It was built to attract mining and timber barons to the then-newly built mansions in the subdivision. It was drawn by horses and was [...]
When Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that the current government, Justice and Development Party (AKP), will undergo the biggest project of all times for Istanbul, aptly named “The Crazy Project” by Istanbulites, no one ever thought it would be an artificial sea-level waterway crossing through the entire European side of Istanbul, connecting the [...]
Since 1996, the State of Virginia has been working with the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Southeastern High Rail Corridor project to establish high speed rail passenger connections that would connect the City of Richmond to places like Columbia, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and Raleigh, North Carolina. The project is being done as a [...]
On May 29th, 2012, news about the 3rd bridge project hit Turkish prime time news. According to the news, Turkish construction firm İçtaş and Italian construction group Astaldi, through a joint venture, has won the 3rd Bridge tender by offering the shortest construction and commissioning time. The bridge will be completed by the end of [...]
The city of Tucson, Arizona is sometimes referred to as “the Old Pueblo.” “Pueblo” is a Spanish word derived from a Latin word “populus,” meaning “town.” Downtown Tucson is the historic and cultural heart of the Old Pueblo. Its rich history is reflected in numerous historical buildings, and a strong arts and cultural sector. Downtown [...]
As part of a $2.1 billion Regional Transportation Plan, the modern streetcar project in Tucson, Arizona costs an estimated $196.8 million. The project was approved by Pima County voters in May 2006, and is currently under construction. The 3.9 miles long streetcar line connects the city’s major activity centers including the University of Arizona, Downtown [...]
Chapter 9 is the section of the National Bankruptcy Code that provides for the reorganization of debt incurred by municipalities such as cities, towns, counties, and villages. The very first municipal bankruptcy was filed in the United States in 1934 during the Great Depression. While the provision has been around for 60 years, there have [...]
In 2010, I was involved in a campaign to bring light rail and bus rapid transit (BRT) to Tampa and Hillsborough County, Florida. The measure did not pass, and every day I see a portion of land that was purchased for the light rail line from my office. Seeing that every day, combined with my [...]
Master-planned communities are all-inclusive neighborhoods that are located on the fringe of the urban core. While these have been lauded in the past for incorporating an all-inclusive design, they also have been blamed for perpetuating the movement of people and families to the outskirts of town and perpetuating urban sprawl. The city of Tampa, Florida [...]
Bogota, Curitiba, and Guayaquil are very different South American cities that share something in common: they have the most successful and longest-running BRT systems in the world. BRT stands for Bus Rapid Transit, which is an innovative, low-cost model for making buses run more like express subways. It combines the speed and reliability of fixed-rail [...]
