I always enjoyed a good challenge. “A man doesn’t grow a beard. A beard grows a man” – Internet Proverb A beard isn’t something you grow overnight. Neither is a city. Both these seemingly unrelated entities need to mature, fill in and be properly groomed, yet still maintain their distinct ruggedness. But why when it comes [...]
Tag Archives | urbanism
Uptown – It’s All About Good Urbanism
Several things jumped out at me as I read through yesterday’s Star Tribune article about Uptown and the tension of its recent level of development. I’ll address three here, and they have everything to do with what a colleague of mine calls a “failure of frontage.” First, with the somewhat controversial mixed-use project at 1800 [...]
Baby steps towards a stronger regional plan
Have Metropolitan Council members been reading streets.mn? Of course, I’d like to think so, and the draft principles and goals the Committee of Whole discussed on November 7th reflect some of the ideas you’ve seen here, and generally represent an improvement from plans of old. While it’s hard to read a lot into a goals [...]
What Does Your Ideal Neighborhood Look Like?
Last summer, I spent a significant amount of time traversing the Twin Cities on a mission to purchase a house. I made a point to bike to most of the locations because I wanted to get a feel for the neighborhood. What was the transportation access? Where was the nearest park? Would my neighbors mind [...]
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Bikes and Businesses Must Unite
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Minnesota Vikings Stadium Needs Better Urban Design
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Why I’m proud to be “offended” by the judgemental map of Minneapolis
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Washington Avenue proposed layouts are posted
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SPUD
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No Parking and De-Signing Streets
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Podcast #35 – Twin Cities Greenways with Dacia Durham and Matthew Hendricks
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The Yard at Downtown East
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Minnesota Vikings Stadium Needs Better Urban Design
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Clarifying the Minneapolis Event Rate Meter Parking Debacle
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Alex Cecchini: Ross, you bring up a good point that as long as ou...
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Matt: My point is that if we unbundled parking from tran...
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Ross Williams: "Ross, the assumption that “the” alternative ...
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Bill Lindeke: I like "car storage" too. They're just sitting ...
From the network
- What is the Constituency of a Local Land-Use Decision?: cross-posted at Streets.mn In the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis, a local entrepreneur put together a proposal to develop a surface parking lot into a 5-story condo building with retail s...
- Riding Minnehaha Ave with Kids. Or not.: A few days ago, I was out for a ride with Isaiah's dad, Michael. You might remember Isaiah. He's the now 10-year-old who rode 150 miles in two days as a fundraiser for the Coalition. O...
- The budget tax deal: mnpACT! Progressive Political Blog Sausage may make a fine meal, but don't watch it being made.And so it is with budget legislation. The DFL Legislature has agreed to a tax bill and...
- Minnesota Vikings Stadium FAIL – We need better urban design: The architecture of the Minnesota Vikings Stadium: take it or leave it? Personally, I think it looks like a cross between a laser jet printer, a drunk Frank Gehry and something out of 2001: A Space Od...
- 7 Reasons Conservatives Should Embrace Bikes: There’s a certain bar in my city that is famous for being right-wing. It’s an old family joint in a run-down corner of downtown. The people are surly but friendly, and the inside of the place is h...
- A Call for a New Model: Building a Strong Town is a complex, long-term endeavor. Much as a successful family balances their short-term spending needs with their long-term savings and financial commitments, so too must a Stro...
- A Bold Vision for a Downtown Park and a More Beautiful City: The great mayor of Charleston, Joe Riley, likes to say “there is no reason to build anything that won’t add to the beauty of the city.” Inspiring words. It behooves the Mayor of Minneapolis, R.T...
- Do Local Policies Explain the Decline in Driving?: Driving is declining. Reports like this recent one by USPIRG claim that "The Driving Boom—a six decade-long period of steady increases in per-capita driving in the United States—is over.
- Pedestrians prohibited on streets.mn: Today on streets.mn I examine Bloomington’s latest bungle. Bloomington is the suburb I lived in the longest, it has some really nice topography for the Twin Cities that great parks like Hyland,...
- Bikeway Functional Class: I’ve been reading a lot of bike plans lately, and there seems to be a pretty wide variety of frameworks used by agencies to categorize bikeways. In particular, I’m intrigued by the variet...
- NLX Promotional Material: Just for the historical record, please find attached a scan of the 1 page / 2 sided brochure that the promoters of the Northern Lights Express distributed at the May 11, 2013 National Train Day event...
- 2012 Nice Ride flows revisited: For the last two years, I’ve mapped the flows of the Nice Ride bikes. I’ve always been slightly dissatisfied with the results, since bikes were obviously shown taking routes that any san...
