Peter Calthorpe addressed a Friday morning audience at CNU20 in West Palm Beach. The rise of the Chinese middle class today is very different than the rise of the American middle class in the 1950s, and the impact on land use is immense. For one, it is sixteen stories instead of two! That is one of the many observations by Peter Calthorpe when presenting his work in China. If CNU doesn’t pay attention to China and offer part of the solution to land use decisions as the country rapidly urbanizes, “we are asleep at the wheel,” according to Calthorpe. In…

During the opening plenary at CNU 20 (#cnu20), Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk looked back on 20 years of CNU history and ahead to the next 20. She commented on the importance of being an elite organization. That got me thinking. CNU prides itself, in my opinion, for lack of better term, on “going rogue,” of germinating ideas about urbanism that are against the grain and unpopular. This is an important role. Because of CNU, Plater-Zyberk pointed out, terms like “complete streets,” “live-work,” “granny flat,” and the very idea that design matters and community building is important are part of our everyday. So…

Perhaps fitting on my way recently to see renowned urbanist Alexander Garvin speak about the public realm was my own journey through the public realm of my fair city. In the one block between the light rail station at 5th Street and the Central Library at 4th, I witnessed the range of good and bad public realm that Nicollet Mall and downtown Minneapolis have to offer. From the train platform I stepped on to Nicollet Mall and passed by the adjacent Powers Block, on which once stood the Powers department store. Today the block is mostly surface parking, but there…

TOD took a step closer to reality at the site of the Midtown Farmers Market adjacent to the Lake Street station in Minneapolis. The farmers market will in fact be the centerpiece of a mixed-use project that will include 500 housing units, a public square, and commercial space in a walkable transit village. A development team, L & H Development, has signed a letter of intent to purchase the site, located immediately adjacent to the southwest of the Lake Street station, and develop a mixed-use project there. Starting in late 2009, the L & H Development team, of which was…

Seems like a no-brainer, but it emphsizes just how backwards our energy and urban policies are. I was multitasking yesterday (playing with my kids while trying to listen to NPR in the background) and I caught a snippet of President Obama’s speech about energy policy. In it, he said by the middle of the next decade, new American cars will average more than 50 miles per gallon. That will save Americans an average of $8,000 over the life of their car. Sounds good, right? Let’s contrast that with the savings households can accrue by living in a location-efficient, transit-friendly, walkable…

A recent article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (as fine a midsize city newspaper you’ll find anywhere) predicted a jobs/housing imbalance in the greater Milwaukee metro area. Welcome to the club! There isn’t a metro area in the country that doesn’t have an imbalance of jobs and housing across its various municipalities. I’m talking of course of the imbalance between affordable or workforce housing and jobs that pay affordable or workforce wages – in other words, people who are working in any number of industries, including teaching and stocking the shelves at WalMart, but cannot afford a really nice home.…

Today’s New York Times article about a pedestrian plaza in Little India in Queens will undoubtedly provoke a mixed response among urbanists and retailers across the country. Last September the city of New York blocked off a one-block stretch of 37th Road in Jackson Heights in order to create a “park” and decongest a nearby roadway. According to business along 37th, the plan has worked too well. Business is reported to be way down for those located along the affected street. Gee, I wonder why? You have one guess – that’s right, because it is harder to get to these…

It is always exciting when good urban ideas make it in to the mainstream media, particularly the New York Times. On that note, I was happy to see Bill Keller’s recent Times Op-Ed about Sam Schwartz. In it, Mr. Keller prescribes some sensible transportation solutions for New York City, most of which are the ideas of Sam Schwartz. It is well worth reading, as it includes solutions for trains, buses, cars and even bikes, and a sensible way to pay for it all that could result in an additional $1.2 billion for the MTA. More provocatively, Keller ties Schwartz’s ideas…

I was aware that the Minneapolis Park Board has been trying to redevelop the famed “Fuji Ya” site along the western bank (the Left Bank of Minneapolis) of the Mississippi River, at the foot of the popular and historic Stone Arch Bridge. The Park Board has released its plan for public input, and a presentation of the plan can be viewed here. It includes a new portion of park space along the river, some uncovered mill ruins, a fountain area and skating in the winter, and a restaurant as its focal point (actually, the view from the restaurant will be…

Last week I had the pleasure of touring Veterans Manor in Milwaukee, a joint venture of Cardinal Capital Management and the Center for Veterans Issues. At the corner of 35th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, Veterans Manor provides 52 affordable housing units for veterans. It opened in 2011, and all units are 650 square foot one-bedrooms, affordable at 60% of AMI, although most residents use some sort of rental assistance to cover costs. Occupying a small but key infill site that was vacant for decades, the four-story building has ground floor lobby, business center, fitness center, meeting rooms, offices, and pleasant…