CNU Salons
Why Highways Are Less Harmful In Parks Than On Urban Streets
Submitted by MLewyn on Mon, 07/15/2013 - 10:41amWhen I read Robert Caro's The Power Broker (a biography of New York road-builder Robert Moses), one story that didn't quite make sense is Caro's discussion of the Henry Hudson Bridge. Caro writes that Caro's routing of this bridge caused "the destruction of Manhattan's priceless last forest" in Inwood Hill Park. But I visited the park yesterday afternoon, and it didn't look at all "destroyed" to me. Inwood Hill Park is still one of the jewels of Manhattan's park system, full of primeval-looking forest.
Tisha'b'Av and Urbanism
Submitted by MLewyn on Sun, 07/14/2013 - 11:09amMonday night and Tuesday, observant Jews all over the world will be fasting for Tisha'b'Av, a day dedicated to remembering pretty much every major disaster befalling Jews over the past twenty centuries or so, or at least a few of the major ones- especially the destruction of the Jewish Temples by foreign invaders (Babylonians in 586 BC, Romans 656 years later). What does this have to do with urbanism?
Discovering Successful Neighborhood Elements in South Minneapolis
Submitted by globalsiteplans on Sat, 07/13/2013 - 12:40pmThinking Regionally: Sonoma County’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
Submitted by globalsiteplans on Sat, 07/13/2013 - 12:38pmAnother Way To Measure the Sprawl/Obesity Relationship
Submitted by MLewyn on Fri, 07/12/2013 - 6:49pmOne dispute in the literature about sprawl and obesity is whether the impact of sprawl is significant compared to the impact of social class. It could be argued that obesity is primarily a function of poverty and lack of education, rather than of automobile dependency.
Cities Just Can't Win With Some People
Submitted by MLewyn on Wed, 07/10/2013 - 3:47pmI just read an attack (or at least an expression of concern about) gentrifiation of urban neighborhoods in the New Geography blog; Cleveland blogger Richey Piiparinen complains that the people moving back to the city are mostly white, and that this is b
Remembering Sprawl in Jackson, MS
Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 07/08/2013 - 10:40amAfter 12 years of Depression and 4 years of a very bloody World War II, America was in the mood for a new way of living, with new buildings on freshly developed parcels on the edges of cities. The cities needed paint, tuck pointing and much more, but the new subdivisions caught the nation's imagination along with heavy government subsidy and regulatory support. The Federal Housing Administration and its various derivatives like Fannie Mae were pumping mortgage money into single-family housing.
The Times' Attack on Gentrification: Sloppy, Sloppy, Sloppy
Submitted by MLewyn on Sun, 07/07/2013 - 9:16pmIn a recent article entitled "Gentrifying Into the Shelters", the New York Times blamed homelessness on middle-class New Yorkers who dare to move into the city's poorer neighborhoods.
Learning from Seattle, Part 2: Streets
Submitted by MLewyn on Thu, 07/04/2013 - 5:27pmNormally, sidewalks in residential areas are surrounded by short planting strips with grass and (sometimes) street trees. But in Seattle recently I saw something interesting: a planting strip that I would guess is twice the size of a typical one. I thought the king-size strip was a very nice touch in two ways. First, it narrows the street and calms traffic. Second, it beautifies the street.
Finger Lakes Community Design Center: Planning For a Greener Future
Submitted by Chelsea Encababian on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 10:00am