Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Urban Design

Transforming Tysons Corner: A High-Stakes Suburban Retrofit

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 27, 2011 | 7 Comments

“That strip mall just got rezoned for high rise buildings.” “These auto dealerships are going to disappear.” Those aren’t words you hear very often in suburbia, but if you’re hanging out in Tysons Corner, Virginia, you’d better get used to it. This office enclave, which sits dead center between Washington, DC and Dulles International Airport, […]

Rail~volution: Will New Americans Fuel Smart Growth or Suburbanism?

By Tanya Snyder | Oct 17, 2011 | 13 Comments

This year’s Rail~volution conference — the annual gathering of livability advocates, urban sustainability coordinators, and transit agency officials – kicked off today with remarks by Chris Leinberger of the Brookings Institution and Manuel Pastor, who teaches demographics and ethnicity at the University of Southern California. Leinberger noted that Hollywood does more consumer research than anyone […]

From Minneapolis: Ten Street Design Solutions to Transform Your City

By Carolyn Szczepanski | Aug 22, 2011 | 5 Comments

Only 11 cities in the U.S. have earned the title of Gold-Level Bicycle Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclists. In May, Minneapolis joined the select ranks and, last week, the city got a chance to show off its bike progress to a national audience of active transportation advocates and officials. When Mayor R.T. […]

Alex Steffen: We Can’t Avert Climate Change Without Dense Cities

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 9, 2011 | 17 Comments

Alex Steffen goes by the title “planetary futurist,” which makes me realize I should probably spruce up my title to something that makes me sound like I should be wearing a cape, too. What he does is write about sustainable cities, on WorldChanging.com for seven years and more recently in his book, Carbon Zero. He […]

Federal Regulations at Odds with Demand for Urban Housing

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 26, 2011 | 2 Comments

The real estate market is undergoing the most rapid period of change in a generation — and the shift is decidedly urban. A succession of recent studies have found there is an under-supply of urban-style housing — attached and small-lot, single-family homes — on the scale of about 13 million units. On the other hand, […]

With Help From a Republican Governor, Michigan Moves Toward Livability

By Angie Schmitt | May 26, 2011 | 1 Comment

Though he was swept into office in the same class as Scott Walker, John Kasich and Rick Scott, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has set himself apart in a couple of important ways. While his Republican contemporaries were eschewing money for high-speed rail, Snyder welcomed the funds. Just last week, his state received an additional badly […]

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