Comment on The Zoning Battle Over Al’s Breakfast – A Form Based Code With a...
The City Council on August 2 voted to approve the Opus project. A development moratorium may follow in order for the Small Area Plan to be completed (and a form-based code implemented!)....
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You Might Be an Urbanist
With all apologies to Jeff Foxworthy (please add your own in the comments section)… …If you choose a slightly longer route to your destination because you know the walk is pleasant, you might be an...
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We Have the Plans, Now to Get the Development Right in Downtown East
The winner of the 2013 Urban Land Institute/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition for the downtown east area of Minneapolis has been chosen. But with existing plans in place and potential...
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You Might Be in a Walkable Neighborhood
More apologies to Jeff Foxworthy… …If the restaurants post their menus in the window, you might be in a walkable neighborhood If streets are used for more than cars, you might be in a walkable...
View ArticleBikes and Businesses Must Unite
Like the Streets.mn Voter Guide, the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition has posted answers to bicycling related questions posed to city council and mayoral candidates. Question six asks “when would you vote...
View ArticleWe Need Transit and the Urbanism that Surrounds It
Kate Wolford’s Star Tribune commentary calling for more transit was spot on. Our peer cities (Denver, Portland, Charlotte, Salt Lake City, hell, even St. Louis!) are ahead of us in terms of built rail...
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A Bold Vision for a Downtown Park and a More Beautiful City
The great mayor of Charleston, Joe Riley, likes to say “there is no reason to build anything that won’t add to the beauty of the city.” Inspiring words. It behooves the Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T....
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Let’s Get the Urban Details Right in Downtown East
On our way to the ceremony unveiling the plan for the five-block Star Tribune property in Downtown East, my son Shaw and I got off the train at the Downtown East/Metrodome station and I was asked...
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CNU 21 Dispatch 1 – Return to Daybreak
It has been seven years since this urbanist last visited Daybreak. In 2006 I wrote an article for ULI (you may have heard of it). At that time Daybreak was a few hundred homes, a school and the idea of...
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Accidental Traffic Calming in the Neighborhood
Here’s a riddle. How do you calm traffic legally but without having to go through city hall? You have two options: have a road reconstruction project; or a major storm that knocks trees down and blocks...
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Don’t Overthink Good Urbanism on Nicollet Mall
The City of Minneapolis is promising to spend a lot of money on some critical pieces of downtown infrastructure. The new Vikings Stadium and Downtown East area, Peavey Plaza, Nicollet Mall all are...
View Article“Except you can’t.”
“The [Facebook Home] ad is an apt, if sanguine, depiction of what I’ve been calling ‘present shock,’ the human incapacity to respond to everything happening all at once. In a rapid-fire, highly...
View Article“Sell out, and you’re really buying into someone else’s system of values,...
Selling out is usually more a matter of buying in. Sell out, and you’re really buying into someone else’s system of values, rules and rewards.… Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies...
View ArticleData Baggage
“Don’t collect data. If you know everything about yourself, you know everything. There is no use burdening yourself with a lot of data. Once you understand yourself, you understand human nature and...
View ArticleStop Being Such a Good Host
“An optimally adapted parasite takes as much from its host as possible without damaging the viability of the host. In order for us to stay viable hosts for the media parasite, we need only enough...
View ArticleNo, There is No Pony. Never Was.
Worried that their son was too optimistic, the parents of a little boy took him to a psychiatrist. Trying to dampen the boy’s spirits, the psychiatrist showed him into a room piled high with nothing...
View ArticleWhat’s the Opposite of Distracting?
“Spending time trying to distract other engineers is a lot worse than spending time figuring out how to sell an extra pair of sneakers. Somebody might use the sneakers.” – Drew Crawford
View ArticleArmsLength++
“Hell is Other People is an experiment in anti-social media. Using FourSquare, this site will track your “friends” and calculate optimally distanced locations for avoiding them.”
View ArticleApple Ressurects AT&T’s “You Will” Ad Campaign
“In what should be a warm, humanizing montage, people are constantly directing their attention away from one another and the real, panoramic world to soak in pixels. They’re choosing the experience of...
View ArticleA Simpler Time
“…Actually, the only facebook posts I can stomach are from the Amish–sad, but true.” -dano414
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