Why do so few kids walk to school? I pondered this after returning home from biking my kid to school and reading this article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press about why kids don’t walk to school. As the article points out, there are myriad reasons why we don’t walk to school. In my opinion, and the article acutely indicates this, it all begins with urban design. A school built in today’s standard issue suburban setting is exceedingly difficult (and not fun) to access on foot or by bicycle. Let me start with why we can walk or bike to…
I disagree, of course, but this excellent article in The Economist lays out the physical and institutional challenges bikers in America face. Despite progress in many cities, including Portland and my own Minneapolis, bicycling is still not given the respect it deserves. And it is more dangerous than it should be. Like Seattle, as The Economist explains, there are too many bicyclist deaths in Minneapolis. Much of this comes down to speed – a car traveling 40 MPH that hits a bicyclist is far more likely to kill him/her than a car traveling 20 or less. It really comes down…
The City of Minneapolis has been getting flak for laying off firefighters while hiring for a new position – a citywide pedestrian and bicycle coordinator. Whatever comes of this mini-controversy, the first task for this new hire should be to ensure that all traffic lights citywide automatically give a walk signal when the light turns green. Cars don’t have to push a button for the light to turn green – walkers and bikers shouldn’t have to, either! This isn’t too much to ask. A recent post of mine lauded the baby steps the city was taking to make the crossing…
Justin Townes Earle has done what nobody has accomplished prior (at least to my knowledge) – write an urban train song. On his excellent new album, “Harlem River Blues,” Justin Townes Earle writes about running the 6 train in New York City, which runs from the Brooklyn Bridge to Pelham Bay Park in Manhattan. At first I didn’t notice – the song starts out discussing it being cold in the tunnels, so I figured it was about mining. And the pedal steel makes it sound country/folk, not urban in any way, much less New York. Historically, our great train songs…
My latest article in Urban Land magazine online was just posted. In it, I explore whether those with an ear to the ground are actually seeing a shift in preference towards the city. It appears so, at least in many markets. Interestingly, a related article appeared in today’s Finance and Commerce in Minneapolis. Do you agree or disagree? Please feel free to send me comments or do so online at the ULI website.
ULI just published an article I wrote about the future of office space. On a recent assignment, I came across an intriguing quote that the amount of office space required per employee will essentially shrink to one-quarter of today’s level. In other words, companies won’t need as much space as employees increasingly are able to work from home or anywhere. Wow, I thought, that would be devastating for the office market. Read the article at ULI here. I personally feel there is some merit to all of this, that the office market is at an inflection point as a result,…
What is the best way to experience and be a part of your surroundings? In city or countryside, this urbanist knows being on foot is tough to beat, but a recent trip to the Boundary Waters (BWCAW) caused me to reconsider. A canoe is hard to beat as the best way to experience wilderness lakes in northern Minnesota. Could a bicycle be the best way to experience the city? Perhaps the canoe and bicycle are kindered spirits. In his 1956 collection of essays about the Boundary Waters entitled “The Singing Wilderness,” author Sigurd Olson describes “The Way of a Canoe”…
In May I caught some flak for a post on my website that discussed the merits of a broken traffic light and how it made crossing a major intersection on foot more palatable. Let’s just say not everybody was amused, particularly those stuck in traffic as pedestrians got to cross the street. Needless to say, the traffic light was fixed, and the silver lining in this story is the improved Walk signals since that time. The intersection in question is 38th Street and Hiawatha Avenue (State Highway 55). This is a treeless, ugly expanse of awfulness where two streets meet…
Story: a guy gets up in front of a crowded public meeting about a proposed project and says “I have two questions. Is this a done deal and will I get assesssed for it?” Upon hearing the answer to the first question is “yes” and the second is “no,” he says thank you and promptly walks out of the room. That is one of the easiest dealings with a NIMBY I’ve ever heard. I wish all public meetings would go this way. Unfortunately, NIMBYs continue to be “mad as hell,” as Scott Doyon discussed in a recent post about NIMBYs…
I just saw Charles Landry speak. Mr. Landry is a worldly urban thinker, and I found his presentation very enlightening. One of the many pithy quotes he recited was “if your plan starts with parking, your vision may not be good enough.” So to butcher an old expression, I must say I concur. Too often, we can’t see the forest for the trees in urban development. We do start with the parking (trees), addressing design and context (forest) secondly. I was just in a charrette where the discussion immediately went to parking. How much parking we could get under the…
