So if Copenhagen, Denmark is arguably the birthplace of the modern pedestrianization movement, what’s the leading city as far as a contemporary pedestrianization plan? It’d be difficult to beat what Hong Kong has done since 2000.

As you can see in the plans above, Hong Kong’s newly annointed pedestrian streets aren’t just extensive within city districts, but extensive in districts throughout the city. Streets in green are pedestrianized full-time, blue is part-time, and those in yellow are

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With the holidays around the corner and a new level of green consciousness rising among kids, this may be of interest to proponents of natural cultural districts. We know you can build digital buildings and towns with digital lego, but what about the real stuff? Well, when Lego starts providing pedestrian-oriented buildings, streets and even mass transit sets for kids (and kidults) to purchase, that says we’ve turned a corner as far as what’s cool.

Pictured above are the Market Street, Green

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What happens when you combine one of the world’s premiere creative cities with the world’s premiere urban designer for pedestrianized cities?  Specifically, New York City, via their Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), arguably the most innovative government agency in the U.S., hired architect Jan Gehl, who has done more for the pedestrianization movement than anyone, to ensure the city becomes a world class benchmark in that regard.

The first tangible result from this collaboration is the

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Now that the American Dream has come full circle and is once again ready to be defined by you, what would that be for emerging generations? Well, since they seem to be spending so much time on Facebook, maybe it’s worth checking out how that would be manifested in the built environment. Keep in mind that anyone not part of the Facebook generation will probably be just as uncomfortable with the following vision as they are with Facebook ...

- Facebook is a social network that provides more of

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What is the American Dream?

From the Declaration of Independence (in a more religious time): “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,“ and from from Wikipedia: “The American Dream is belief in the freedom that allows all citizens and residents of the United States to pursue their goals in life through hard work and free

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Quite often, a movement will have a starting point and a champion. If one had to at least nominate some credit in regard to the pedestrianization of streets, then Copenhagen, Denmark and resident architect Jan Gehl deserve some of the spotlight, especially in a city known for rainy cold weather where the common mantra was ‘this is the wrong city for this’.

Jan was a principal figure in transforming Copenhagen’s main downtown street, the Stroget, into a pedestrian zone. The traffic congested

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For those who relish the pedestrian-only districts that are prevalent in Europe, one need venture a little north to Montreal in the summers.

Twelve blocks surrounding Saint Catherine Street, one of the Canadian city’s busiest corridors in the Ville-Marie neighborhood, were opened to pedestrians only (ie closed to cars) for the entire summer, transformed into a grand public square brought to life with outdoor cafes, sculptures and shoppers, creating an overnight cafe society.

What’s most

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For many, the image that first pops into people’s heads who have heard of cohousing is one of boomer hippies sharing communal meals every Sunday in their housing complex. The thing is, it’s a fairly accurate assessment for many of the only 110 cohousing projects in the U.S., and while it’s far from desirable for most people, there are some good lessons from its creation process, which is very relatable to crowdsourced placemaking. Here’s one Brooklyn story:

When a plan to build 40

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While we may be familiar with city policies promoting car-free living, what are the examples in the built world?

That’s where you need to visit the Moda condominiums in the Belltown district of Seattle, Washington. Moda is a model application of truly attainably-priced housing via reducing housing size and eliminating parking spaces. The evidence:

- 83 units have no parking at all, which are $30,000 less than those with parking.
- The units start at $149,950, almost a third of the median

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What are the real, personal financial benefits of going car-free?The friendly folks at the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) have provided a collective body of research, Regulatory Barriers Clearinghouse (RBC), the goal being to help build more affordable, pedestrian-oriented residences, especially in preparation for what they’ve been instructed will be an innovation-minded administration. The following statistical summaries are found within:

- Minimum parking requirements,

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