From Silos to Success: How To Make City Building More Collaborative

In this episode of Upzoned, co-hosts Abby Newsham and Chuck Marohn discuss the professional silos that often form between the disciplines that help shape the built environment and how those barriers could be broken down.

Podcast, Top StoryStrong TownsOctober 2, 2024engineers, education, urban design, podcast, upzoned

A Walk in Hoboken: What Makes It Different?

Hoboken, NJ, has gained fame online for its safe streets. But does this urbanist’s paradise live up to the hype, in person? We sent Strong Towns Staff Writer Asia Mieleszko to do some on-the-ground investigating to find out.

To Change the Behavior, Change the Environment: Lessons From the Blue Zones

This Netflix documentary about regions of the world with higher-than-average life expectancies holds some key insights for anyone who wants to see North American cities become thriving, healthy places for people.

Emma Durand-Wood, Top Story, TrendingEmma Durand-WoodFebruary 29, 2024seniors, aging in place, urban design, community, design

Planner Talk: Terminated Vistas

Urban planning involves a lot of jargon that can be obscure or confusing. Here’s one term you might not have heard, but that can make a big difference in the design of your city.

Edward Erfurt, Top StoryEdward ErfurtNovember 10, 2023urban planning, urban design

How Designing a Development Is Like Setting the Thanksgiving Table

The best time to influence a development proposal so that it fits well into its urban context is early, not late, in the process.

Edward Erfurt, Top StoryEdward ErfurtNovember 3, 2023urban planning, design, urban design, local government

Where Are People in Your Community Struggling?

Sometimes even the most well-meaning features of our cities present challenges to different people. What struggles would you observe in your community if you pictured it from someone else’s perspective?

The Secret to Vibrant Streets? Focus on What People Can See

Transit-oriented development suggests that homes, shops, and services should all be located within 400 meters of transit. The actual distance to create vibrant streets may be much shorter.

Top StoryTristan ClevelandSeptember 22, 2023urban design, Street Design, europe, public transportation, transit

Heat Isn't the Problem; Design Is

We need more than escapist technology to cope with high temperatures.

Owens, Top Story, TrendingTiffany Owens ReedAugust 22, 2023Heat Islands, urban design

Transportation Vandalism

A university campus in Norman, OK, presents a good case study in why transportation engineers must take care when designing streets adjacent to important civic institutions.

Edward Erfurt, Top StoryEdward ErfurtAugust 11, 2023Street Design, oklahoma, urban design, architecture, transportation

We Can’t Afford to *Not* Make Our Cities More Accessible for People With Disabilities

As the Americans With Disabilities Act turns 33 years old this week, let’s debunk some myths that are commonly used as excuses for not making our built environment more accessible.

Somaliland Minecrafters Show How Children Can Play a Role in Urban Design

In Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, children are invited to share their input on how public spaces should be designed, using a popular video game.

Edward Erfurt, Top StoryEdward ErfurtJuly 21, 2023urban design, urban planning, children

Designed for Community

Design doesn’t necessarily make a community, but, as this neighborhood in St. Paul, MN, shows, it does matter.

To Make a Place People Can Walk, First You Have to Make a Place

Earlier this year, a man was killed in a car crash while crossing the street in Amarillo, TX. The driver didn’t see him—and when you look at his surroundings, it’s not hard to understand why.

Be More General(ist)

A cautionary tale on rain gardens.

Top StoryKevin KlinkenbergApril 28, 2023street trees, aesthetics, urban design, environment, sidewalks

What “Getting My Steps In” Has Taught Me About Walkability

If cities strive to meet the basic physiological human need to move our bodies, they may be pleasantly surprised at how everything else just falls into place.

What's It Like Being Stranded in Your City? (Part 2)

In walkable cities, it’s not hard to find a solution if you find yourself stranded. But what about in a car-dependent place?

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedApril 4, 2023travel, urban design, hospitality, car dependency, auto-oriented, transit, texas, europe

We Can Have Both More Housing and Good Urban Form

It’s not difficult to have good urban design, the kind that respects neighbors and the neighborhoods they live in. It’s actually a lot less work than the processes we use to administer the suburban zoning codes we have today.

Marohn, Top Story, Community StoriesCharles MarohnApril 3, 2023urban design, NIMBY, housing, density, aesthetics, yimby, minnesota, neighborhoods

What's It Like Being Stranded in Your City? (Part 1)

What does it take to spark bottom-up hospitality? In this first of a two-part essay, Tiffany Owens Reed explores the hospitality she enjoyed from strangers while on a six-month, somewhat unpredictable Europe trip.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedMarch 28, 2023travel, urban design, hospitality, europe

The Goldilocks and the Three Bears Approach to Redevelopment

Developers and builders often ask the same question: “What can I build on x lot?” But what is it that they’re actually looking for, and how can the urban planners they work with help them make the most of a given space?