An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Urban Culture, Space, Architecture, and Design
Guest Post by Ray McNeal Ray McNeal spent the majority of his career in the real estate industry. Throughout his career, he became fascinated with the concept of sustainable development. He is currently a blogger whose focus is the benefits […]
The great Italian literary critic, philosopher, novelist, and University of Bologna semiotics professor Umberto Eco died last month. On the surface this event is probably of little consequence to professional urban planners. However, by the end of this essay I […]
New York Times columnists and critics have always figured prominently in my urban studies course reading lists, whether it’s Paul Krugman advocating Old World urbanism, David Brooks explaining American exurbanism, Holland Cotter urging a new role for the 21st century […]
It’s a question that’s often asked and answered by urban planners and placemakers. Last summer’s debate about desnudas and costumed panhandlers in New York City’s Times Square added even more grist to the mill. Numerous physical and social qualities that […]
The Biennial of the Americas just kicked off here in Denver. The Biennial was launched in 2010 by then Denver mayor (now Colorado governor) John Hickenlooper as a grand forum for talking about politics, education, business, the arts, and other […]
The headline asks one of the big questions prompted by a recent Planetizen interview with Denver Planning Director Brad Buchanan. It’s broached in the comments thread in a lively exchange between Jim Safranek and Jake Wegmann. Mr. Safranek says it’s a […]
Over the last 15 years cities have provided, with the assistance of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), an increasing amount of affordable housing for the nation’s poorest families. Even with the growth of HUD assistance programs the […]
As a small army of urbanists and pundits have pointed out, the recent violence in Ferguson and Baltimore reminds us that we haven’t moved very far toward eliminating the social conditions that produce race-based civic unrest. These events have prompted […]
My title reflects the theme of a breakout session at the fifth annual Rocky Mountain CitySummit held three weeks ago in Denver. The Summit is organized by the Downtown Denver Partnership and supported by a host of generous sponsors. It […]
A new scholarly paper from Santa Fe Institute (SFI) and University of Colorado, University of North Carolina, and University of New Mexico researchers argues that ancient and modern cities can be usefully analyzed from a comparative perspective. This promises contributions […]
In November 2013 I chaired a session called “Scholarly Blogging: What? Why?” at the Society for American City and Regional Planning History (SACRPH) meeting in Toronto. The purpose of the session was to bring together scholars in the United States and […]
In recent months there’s been a lot of talk about dead suburban malls and what we should do with them. Last September Ellen Dunham-Jones of Retrofitting Suburbia fame (co-authored with June Williamson) got the ball rolling in an interview with […]