Category Archives: Street Design
Me on the On Cities Podcast
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A Short Discussion of Residential Building Heights in New York City
NOTE: The following was written for the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Street Design, The Secret To Great Cities and Towns, where it will appear in a shorter version. This version still needs some editing for its new context. Part 1 … Continue reading
Location, Location, Location: Affordable Housing and Urban Form in Manhattan
NOTE: The following was written for the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Street Design, The Secret To Great Cities and Towns, where it will appear in a shorter version. This version still needs a little editing for its new context. Part … Continue reading
Traffic Flow and the Status Quo: There are better ways to spend $10 billion than rebuilding the BQE
New York City plans to spend more than $10 billion on a project that will speed up climate change and increase the number of New Yorkers killed by traffic and pollution. The good news is that the city will hold … Continue reading
Mariaplaats, Utrecht
Car Free Brooklyn Bridge – photos and drawings
A Car-Free Brooklyn Bridge Is Possible Images and Illustratons AFTER: Aerial view looking east towards a car-free Brooklyn Bridge. Centre Street and Park Row next to the Brooklyn Bridge are reimagined as an extension of City Hall Park. © 2020 … Continue reading
“My Open Letter to NYC DOT Commissioner Rodriquez”
Dear Commissioner Rodriquez, I’m writing to you because I just signed up for a workshop to improve Canal Street that your department is running tonight. I met you when you were a Councilman. I know you care deeply about making … Continue reading
TikTok Urbanism
TikTok Car Free Brooklyn Bridge Car Free Brooklyn Bridge Uncropped
We Built This City To Walk And Stroll
“What if we treated historic districts historically, making the cars accommodate the city, rather than the other way around?”
Crain’s New York: Change the Streets & Change the City
My op-ed in Crain’s New York is in the magazine this week and has been online for more than a week. The online version is longer than the print version but is behind a paywall. You can buy access to both … Continue reading
My Recent Op-Eds
New York Times New York Daily News (print) Crain’s New York Business (print) Streetsblog NYC City Limits Many others in local papers and publications like the Berkshire Record and The Patent Trader. For a complete list, click here. Bonus: Two … Continue reading
My Streetsblog Op-Ed: If Not Now, When? Changing the Car Culture
“We worked for years to reduce car use. If everybody drives a car, there is no space for people, there is no space to move, there is no space for commercial activities outside the shops.” ~ Milan deputy mayor Marco … Continue reading
A Chicane Is Not A Shared Space Place
A space is only a place if people want to be there. The chicane shown above is for traffic calming, not placemaking. Putting that another way, it’s a product of traffic engineering, not a piece of urban design. I understand … Continue reading
“We Built This City To Walk And Stroll”
Post Script: You can see the video here.
Streets for People, or Streets for Profit?
My Op-Ed at City Limits (click to read) Excerpt: AVs will be programmed to stop immediately if a pedestrian steps in front of them to cross the street—and we all know that given the opportunity, New Yorkers will do that … Continue reading
Seaside, Battery Park City, the State of Our Streets, and New Urbanism
I RECENTLY spent a week in Seaside, where I was once Town Architect. In honor of Seaside, I’m uploading two essays from Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns. The first is the opening of the chapter on … Continue reading