Since new urbanists (in my experience) tend to be very skittish of high-rise development, one might think that their ideological ancestor Jane Jacobs was one of these people who thought no building should be over five floors.But in her 1958 essay "Downtown Is For People," she hinted at a very … [Read more...]
Urban Renewal in Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Housing Authority will seize nearly 1,300 properties for a major urban renewal project in the city's Sharswood neighborhood. The plan includes the demolition of two of the neighborhood's three high-rise public housing buildings -- the Blumberg towers -- that will be replaced with a … [Read more...]
What is wrong with “How to Make an Attractive City”
“How to Make an Attractive City”, a video by The School of Life, recently gained attention in social media. Well presented and pretty much aligned with today’s mainstream urbanism, the video earned plenty of shares and few critiques. This is probably the first critique you may read.The video is … [Read more...]
Planned Manufacturing Districts: Planning the Life Out of Districts
They are called different things in different cities, but they are similar in form and intent among the cities where they are found. For simplicity's sake, a Planned Manufacturing District (PMD), as they are called in Chicago, is an area of land, defined by zoning, that prohibits residential … [Read more...]
Historic preservation: Bad for neighborhood diversity
Even while the likelihood of tax reform in 2015 is questionable, historic preservationists are actively lobbying to save the historic preservation tax credit from the chopping block. Currently, developers who renovate historic buildings can receive up to a 20% tax credit, significantly reducing the … [Read more...]
Join us in Brooklyn for Jane’s Walk 2014
In addition to Sandy's traditional walks in Brooklyn Heights, I will be hosting a walk through Downtown Brooklyn preceding Sandy's Sunday walk.Here's a link to my walk, although they mistakenly listed it for Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. Hopefully, they can fix this, because I … [Read more...]
Spring Fever Links
1) Nate Berg at The Atlantic Cities covers new research on the world's earliest cities. The findings would make Jane Jacobs happy as researchers have uncovered evidence that the earliest urbanization was a case of spontaneous order. Their construction wasn't directed by kings as some historians … [Read more...]
TGIF Links
1. A reader from Vancouver wrote in to let Stephen and me know about a proposed policy to tax foreign investors at a higher rate than local property owners. Support for this policy is growing among residents, and with a mayoral election this Saturday, some are hoping to get candidates to endorse the … [Read more...]