Spoiler alert: I love epic stories with universal meaning forĀ varied audiences around the world. In sum, that is why I think Jonathan F.P. Roseās new book will become a must-read classic. And, if 400-pagers are not your style, itās at worst a well-written, must-browse wonder, with
Questions and answers about accessing cities and neighborhoods once spoke the language of exit ramps, street widening and parking adequacy. Now, different conversations, and varied imagery, create diverse story lines, where urban policy and citizen activism converge. Photographs are one tool to illustrate the diverse meanings and examples of āaccessā
In Seattle, the recent recommendations of the Mayorās Housing and Livability Agenda (HALA) Advisory Committee have dominated civic discussion, particularly a small part of the HALA report that emphasizes more flexible housing types in single-family neighborhoods (e.g mother-in-law apartments and detached accessory dwelling units). To some of Seattleā
I doubt that before today, any urbanist writer has used an old, Latin termĀ that lives on in southern Italy, to explain the particular wonder of certain city street-ends. The term,Ā finibus terrae, meant oneĀ end of the Earth to the Romansāthe edge of the known extent of the
In Seattle, last week, I looked across the intersectionĀ of Fifth Avenue and Olive Way, into McGraw Square, and towardsĀ the Westin Hotel, noting a SeattleĀ urbanism trifectaāthe Lake Union Streetcar, the skilletĀ food truck and one building of Amazonās new headquarters complex under construction. Ā Whatās not
Now is the time for the urban dog. One of the most immediate cultural distinctions a traveler notices in France is omnipresent, well-behaved dogs, often quite unlike their detached American cousins (perhaps including my own). In a matter of a few weeks, I have assembled a mental diary of locational
On a walk from FrƩjus to Saint-Raphaƫl last week, an elderly man asked us, in French, why I had just taken a photograph of his house. I offered to erase the photograph, which was intended to show, in modern urbanist visual language, the delight of a stamp and coin shop
A weekās residency in Glasgow, Scotland returns a 2011 essay to the forefront, and its message: In the post-freeway world, recall the important, organic landscape of neighborhood, towers and spires, lost before we can remember. Ā Among the more memorable aspects of my professional residence in Glasgow, Scotland this week
Fifth in an illustrated series about place-decoding from the South of France. What do the politics of urban housing have to do with a seasonal caravan park in Provence? For me, the answer is clear. Our political discussions, mired in jargon and positioning, often lose sight of a human pride
FourthĀ in an illustrated series about place-decoding from the South of France. The FinesseĀ of the Avenue Last month in Cassis, the Avenue Victor Hugo toldĀ the storiesĀ surrounding its pavement and curbs. People walked the Avenue,Ā betweenĀ a small square-with-fountain andĀ the quay, whileĀ the trees, awnings and overhangs