Urbanism

Urbanism and the Oscars

I just finished watching all nine Best Picture nominees, and thought I would discuss what the front-runners should be from an urbanist perspective.  Which films occur in an urban or walkable environment?  Which films present such environments favorably (or at least not unfavorably)? ... read more »

URBANISM+2030: Interview with Erin Christensen

CNU’s LeRoy Taylor recently interviewed Erin Christensen, Associate Principal at Mithun to discuss the new joint initiative between CNU and Architecture 2030. Erin will host an Open Source session on URBANISM+2030 this week at CNU 21 (Thursday, May 30 after the morning plenary).... read more »

Conservatives, Liberals and Urbanists

After reading all manner of political posts on Facebook and various listservs, it occurs to me that conservatives and liberals are more alike than they think. Both groups are driven in part by an emotional fear of concentrated power - sometimes sensible, sometimes not.  Conservatives fear being... read more »

CITY SPOTLIGHT: Beirut, A City’s Scarred Face

This post is part of a new series on the CNU Salons, CITY SPOTLIGHT. City Spotlight shines a light on the latest news, developments and initiatives occurring in cities and towns where CNU members live and work. The below post comes from CNU member Wajdi Ghoussoub, who shares his thoughts on his... read more »

Garden Cities: Theory & Practice of Agrarian Urbanism - Book Review

One of the more familiar tenets of the New Urbanist development paradigm is the use of compact development patterns which utilize high densities as a means to contain suburban development in order to preserve the pastoral and idyllic conditions often destroyed by sprawl. Within this scheme, New Urba... read more »

The Next Seaside Prize Winner: Dhiru Thadani

Each year, the Seaside Institute awards the Seaside Prize to individuals or organizations "who have made significant contributions to the quality and character of our communities." ... read more »

The Interface Effect: Good Urbanism Spreads

For those who remember my previous post on Property Value Theory, today I wanted to share a photographic comparison I made between two urban infill projects of similar age here in Houston. ... read more »

Frank Gruber rationally discusses the many urbanisms

Journalist Frank Gruber has a great series of articles up on the Huffington Post entitled "In Search of a Fou ... read more »

Property Value Theory - Some useful terminology and observations on urban property values

I've been developing a theory and some terminology that I find very helpful in explaining urbanism to developers, city officials, and others who "don't get it." Here's the gist of it, at the end you can find a link to my blog if you'd like to read a bit more. ... read more »

Sustainable Urbanism Module by Farr Associates

The Center for Applied Transect Studies (CATS) announces the availability as freeware of the new Sustainable Urbanism Performance-based SmartCode Module, written by Farr Associates ... read more »