This Conservative City Built a $132 Million Park Using One Weird Trick

The Atlantic’s CityLab Ι Oct. 11, 2019 In the early 1990s, a crisis of confidence—and urbanism—gripped Oklahoma City. Oklahoma’s capital wanted a bustling, active city center that would attract and retain large corporations and the people who would staff them. But the city had mostly been a luckless suitor. Foreshadowing the Amazon HQ2 cage match, in… Continue reading This Conservative City Built a $132 Million Park Using One Weird Trick

To Fix Its Aging Infrastructure, the US Could Learn a Thing or Two From Chicago

Autodesk’s Redshift Ι May 16, 2019  In its latest report card, released in 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gave US infrastructure a D+. Two years on, this rating still stands—and in the seven times the association has assessed the nation’s infrastructure since the 1980s, scores have steadily declined. By infrastructure type, the best… Continue reading To Fix Its Aging Infrastructure, the US Could Learn a Thing or Two From Chicago

Meet the 61,000 Transit Nerds of Facebook’s ‘New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens’

Chicago Magazine Ι March 29, 2018  When a member of the Facebook group “New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens” (NUMTOT), posted an article about Paris officials considering making the city’s buses and trains free, people were excited. One commenter:  “Yo, I deadass just got a little horny.”  But what followed further down the comment thread was… Continue reading Meet the 61,000 Transit Nerds of Facebook’s ‘New Urbanist Memes for Transit-Oriented Teens’

Carol Ross Barney is Chicago’s New Daniel Burnham

Metropolis Magazine Ι January 2018 As a lifelong Chicagoan, Carol Ross Barney has seen the Chicago River transition from an effluent-filled cargo highway to a vibrant recreational spot, one where her grandsons go fishing. “They can throw their line in and pull out two- to three-inch fish immediately,” she says. It has even become a habitat… Continue reading Carol Ross Barney is Chicago’s New Daniel Burnham

Underneath, Overlooked

Landscape Architecture Magazine Ι February 2017 In 2002, the Design Trust for Public Space published Reclaiming the High Line, a critical voice of support that helped jump-start the growing momentum to preserve that rusting hulk of a rail bed in Lower Manhattan. Now a city- and pedestrian-scaled outdoor art walk and landscape, the High Line is likely the most influential… Continue reading Underneath, Overlooked