Exactly what do we mean when we say crazy stuff like “center of gravity,” “critical mass” and “transit village” when describing whether a neighborhood or transit station area is successful? Good question. I said those things last week in Eric Roper’s insightful Star Tribune piece about the progress of development around the Lake Street station in Minneapolis. Most urbanists know our little code words; we nod and wink about good urbanity, but what do we mean? Well, I guess it boils down to “would you want to take a walk there?” and “would you want to live there?” Setting aside the complicated…

What do the great streets that Nicollet Mall aspires to become have in common? Do they all have benches? Do they all have trees? Are they all vehicle free? Do they all have shade trees? Do they all have a playground? Are they all major regional shopping streets? No. One thing they all have in common is plenty of room on the sidewalk for pedestrians; that is a given. Interestingly, the other thing all great streets seem to share is something not even on the street itself but rather the buildings; they all relate well to the street. There are…

Kare 11 interviewed me yesterday about my elegant idea to remove one downtown Minneapolis skyway per year until they are gone, at which point many of us will be long gone from this world but our children and grandchildren will thank us for leaving them a Minneapolis with more vibrant streets. You can watch the video at Kare 11 here and the story on the Kare 11 website here. Also featured in the story and video is David Frank, Director of Transit Oriented Development for the City of Minneapolis. Never fear, Minneapolis! I don’t think this idea has much traction, but I do hope…

I was interviewed this morning about my latest post outlining how Nicollet Mall can live up to its billing as one of the most vibrant public places in America. As well, it was crossposted at streets.mn, picked up by the Downtown Journal, MinnPost and MPR, the latter of which led to interest in the interview. Takeaways from the interview are these: Even on the nicest days, when Nicollet Mall draws a crowd, thousands of people are still in the skyways and never set foot on a downtown street. Whereas skyways are comfortable on the coldest days, they take people off the sidewalks every day. Great cities…