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

Lessons From the Forest

Change requires believing in our own ability to adapt.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedMarch 21, 2023design, urban design, parks

Heads Up! Cities Need Your Attention.

The greatest asset any city can have is citizens who pay attention to their cities and who know how to take action on their observations.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedMarch 14, 2023Social Media, advocacy

Sweat the Small Stuff

Your city’s long-term resilience requires paying attention to the little things.

Social Infrastructure: The Real Investment Our Cities Need

Too often, cities invest in the storage and movement of cars rather than the movement, visibility, and interactions of human beings. But the latter is precisely what makes for communities that are worth caring about.

OwensTiffany Owens ReedFebruary 28, 2023community, community site, public space, public safety, safety, Third Places

What Ever Happened to Beauty?

Being human means being connected to place. So why have we stopped seeing our places as extensions of ourselves, of our homes, and of our values?

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedFebruary 21, 2023architecture, aesthetics, design, urban design, highways

Inner Resistance: What It Is and How To Fight On

Find yourself wanting to get involved in your city, but constantly feeling the “ick?”

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedFebruary 14, 2023advocacy, farmer's market

3 Obstacles You’ll Face in Civic Participation (and Why They’re Worth Facing)

Like protagonists on a hero’s journey, we must anticipate challenges when it comes to civic engagement.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedFebruary 7, 2023community engagement, local government

Beware the Impersonal City

The increasing presence of technology in our third places poses a challenge to collective life and collective action.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJanuary 31, 2023Third Places, community

Cities Don't Need to Regulate Arts and Culture

Cities don’t need to pay for or try to create arts and culture programs. They just need to remove barriers to and support the organic culture already existing in their neighborhoods.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJanuary 24, 2023arts, top-down, city government, local government, texas

Do It Afraid

To save our cities, we need to try new ideas, and that’s scary. But sometimes we must make scary decisions if we’re ever going to move into a stronger, more resilient future.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJanuary 17, 2023local government, policy change, city government

Designing for Resilience: Policies Are Great, but Design Is What Will Change Your Life

Citizens and city leaders striving to pivot from car-based design to more resilient models of growth and development need to start planning our places with the end in mind—the “end” being everyday life, itself.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJanuary 10, 2023urban design, biking, fragility, texas

Don’t Just Add Trains, Sidewalks, and Bike Lanes to Your City

…Because effective public transit isn’t just about the rails; it’s about what happens around them.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedJanuary 3, 2023transit, New Mexico, transportation, car dependency, public transportation

Not a Stranger, Not a Friend: The Second-Ring Relationships Our Cities Need More Of

Relationships with neighbors once made up an important part of our social fabric, forming the basis for civic collaboration and local problem solving. Here’s how we can get those relationships back.

Owens, Top StoryTiffany Owens ReedDecember 6, 2022community, public space, neighborliness, coffee shops, texas

"The Street Project" Is a Great Warmup for a Street Fight

This film makes a human rights case for safer streets, while showing the historic roots of safe streets advocacy in the U.S. and the power of tactical urbanism.

City Pattern, Life Pattern

Question: “Why don’t people dance in the street today?” Answer: Because the design of our cities shapes the design of our lives.

Keep It Simple, Cities!

So, you want to attend a city council meeting? Good luck getting past all the jargon! Check out these “translations” of a real-life council agenda, and why it’s important to be more transparent with citizens.

Let’s Roll Up Our Sleeves To Rebuild Our Social Fabric

Civic culture needs innovating, and it might just take some hard work. Literally.

In Hospitable Cities, You’re Welcomed by Design

Some neighborhoods can feel downright hostile, especially to outsiders. But many places have become this way due to inhospitable design, not inhospitable people.