Yes, this is my autographed copy of the High Cost of Free Parking! I had the pleasure of serving on[Read More...]
Amtraking: Traveling by Train
May 2, 2013 By
Have you ever heard of or watched the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)? It is a classic comedy which[Read More...]
Promised Lands: 5 Examples of Housing Developments in Haiti (part 2 of 2)
April 27, 2013 By
In Part 1 of this series, we explored the context that made greenfield or exurban sites attractive for post-earthquake recovery[Read More...]
Promised Lands: 5 Examples of Housing Developments in Haiti (part 1 of 2)
April 24, 2013 By
A good friend and colleague of mine, and a very talented architect, always insisted that with respect to social housing,[Read More...]
APA Conference: Lessons from Chicago
April 22, 2013 By
I was just in Chicago, one of my favorite cities, for the American Planning Association (APA)’s National Planning Conference.
10 Rules for Smarter Smart Growth
April 16, 2013 By
These days, a lot of projects are crashing through the gates of community plans and dashing existing neighborhood character under[Read More...]
San Diego’s Railroad Deja Vu
April 6, 2013 By
In the late 1800s, San Diego lost the race with Los Angeles to become the western terminus of a transcontinental[Read More...]
The ravines of Port-au-Prince (part 2)
March 26, 2013 By
There is no away On some philosophical level, most of us recognize the truth in this adage which has gained[Read More...]
Urban Design Centers and Healthier Communities
March 19, 2013 By
About a year and a half ago I left California to come to Texas. After spending over 25 years as[Read More...]
The ravines of Port-au-Prince (part 1)
March 12, 2013 By
The ravines of Port-au-Prince represent for me a perfect distillation of adjectives about this city.
Coffee with an Architect: James Sandell
March 8, 2013 By
A coffee with an architect is a great way to spend an afternoon if feeling in the need for[Read More...]
Book Review: The Art of Urban Sketching
February 19, 2013 By
Have you ever heard of “urban sketching”? Essentially, it is the art of freehand drawing on location at cities where[Read More...]
The Balboa Park Plaza de Panama Centennial Project is Dead: So Now What?
February 8, 2013 By
On February 4, 2013, a San Diego Superior Court judge rejected the City’s plans to vacate traffic from Balboa Park,[Read More...]
Los Angeles as a Museums Capital: Part II
January 31, 2013 By
Los Angeles is indeed a museums capital. As I shared in a previous article, there are hundreds of museums and[Read More...]
San Diego’s Parking Lot Blight; Requiem for Redevelopment
January 18, 2013 By
An ugly side of redevelopment (RIP), a side rarely mentioned in all the self-laudatory hype, is the demolition. Too often[Read More...]
Images, Instagram, and City Planning
December 28, 2012 By
It takes vision to plan and implement creative ideas to improve our communities. Vision as used here refers to a[Read More...]
Prentice – just the tip of the iceberg…
December 8, 2012 By
As the fight to save the Prentice Women’s Hospital, designed by Bertrand Goldberg in 1972, played out I couldn’t help[Read More...]
Los Angeles as a Museums Capital
November 28, 2012 By
Have you ever considered Los Angeles to be a cultural capital? Or do you think that our city is still[Read More...]
Julia Morgan – Architect Par Excellence
November 23, 2012 By
One of California’s greatest architects, Julia Morgan has few equals. To honor her, the California Cultural and Historical Endowment has[Read More...]
POST OFFICE CLOSURES – A PUBLIC AFFAIR?
November 14, 2012 By
Across the country, amidst cries of protest, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is studying the idea of selling 4,400[Read More...]