Legends of the profession - founder of Urban Design Associates, David Lewis

"David Lewis, FAIA, has been one of the most influential architects of the past half-century. Exiled for his anti-apartheid activities, he came to the United States at the height of the civil rights movement and helped pioneer a new orientation to the public from professionals engaged in city-building."

Redevelopment

“Why amenitize an office park when you can build a town center?”

from:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/12/22/turning-office-park-town-center

Car-Free Neighbourhoods

"Just off the coast of Toronto, Canada's largest city, you'll find a group of 15 small car-free islands. These are unique in Canada, because they have the only* car-free neighbourhood in the whole country. But just in case you thought you'd like to live here: you can't. There is a waiting list and strict rules for home ownership, which begs the question, why can't we build more of these places today?"

More Car-Free Neighbourhood examples can be found here:

https://www.fastcompany.com/90456075/here-are-11-more-neighborhoods-that-have-joined-the-car-free-revolution

Front Yard Businesses

 Video of the week:

"How do we add mixed uses in single detached neighbourhoods? People have some ideas…"

Implementation can be as simple as:

1. Use corners first;
2. Expand on what's already happening;
3. Create social spaces, and;
4. Create agreements between neighbours.

Adaptive Streets

"Adaptive Streets is an illustrated handbook to inspire and guide citizens, planners and officials to re-imagine how our streets can be adapted to increase utility and delight as well as enhance human and environmental health. The book presents a collection of strategies, demonstrating how they can be implemented in prototypical streets. Adaptive Streets can be used as a community empowerment tool to create new visions to transform the right-of-way."

from:

https://issuu.com/schwin/docs/14_04_26_adaptivestreets_final

 

Video of the week

Math proves it!

"Car-dependent suburbia is subsidized by productive urban places. That's why American cities are broke. But how bad is it, and who is subsidizing who?"

from: https://youtu.be/7Nw6qyyrTeI

Is it time to design for neighbourhood electric vehicles instead?

 "Half of the work of urban design is deciding where to store cars."

"When designing parking spaces, planners have a size of vehicle in mind—a design vehicle scaled for highway and freeway travel. Yet almost half of all car trips in the United States are for trips under 3 miles,1 which shouldn’t require getting on a highway or freeway. In an era of growing climate threats, we need to rethink what kind of vehicle is necessary for running local trips. It’s time to seriously consider a class of vehicles called neighborhood electric vehicles, or NEVs."

from:

https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2021/10/13/rightsizing-automobile-local-mobility