Walkable Neighborhoods

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Jaime Lerner, the former mayor of Curitiba, Brasil, and governor of Paraná. I had heard many good things about Curitiba, like how he had helped to turn the city around with a superb bus rapid transit system and high density development along transit corridors. His [...]

The 2005 statistics are astounding: The Chicago Cubs, with the 19th best record in baseball at 79-83, averaged 38,753 fans per home game this year – a whopping 98% of capacity. The crosstown-rival White Sox were the World Series champions, had the 2nd best record in baseball at 99-63, and yet fell far behind the [...]

Yes, I can find a way to correlate anything to walkability, even my favorite baseball team’s first World Championship in 88 years. Congratulations to the Chicago White Sox and to the City of Chicago, it has been a long and painful wait. As I sat back in my state of euphoria thinking about the [...]

Detroit may not be the ideal place to live in America. The metropolitan area faces a super-divide, with some of the richest suburbs and poorest inner-city neighborhoods in the country. But, downtown Detroit is slowly starting to turn the corner. I had the chance to walk around downtown about two years ago and was actually impressed by what I saw. They are really trying to revitalize the downtown. There are some gorgeous buildings, breath-taking views, and beautiful art pieces downtown. The connectivity is not bad either. The problem that I noticed: there were no people! I was walking around on a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon and there should have been tons of people. This made downtown feel a bit eerie. Hopefully this is going to change soon.

One reason this may change is because of Detroit’s commitment and encouragement of downtown living. The city has established Neighborhood Enterprise Zone designations that gives incentive for new developments, including sharply reduced property taxes for up to 12 years. Two loft projects currently underway downtown are benefiting from these designations, Grinnell Place Lofts and Research Lofts. Both of these projects are industrial to residential conversions which often make for great lofts. Grinnell Place is located very close to Tiger Stadium and Research Place is near the expanding Wayne State University. Apparently there are numerous urban living lofts in the vicinity of Comerica Park and they have been quite successful, although I did not get to that area on my last visit. (Source: Detroit Free Press via Planetizen ) >>Continue Reading This Article>>

I have visited Reno, Nevada before and I must say that it is not one of my favorite places. The area surrounding Reno is very beautiful, perhaps one of the most beautiful locations in the United States. It is located among the Sierra Nevada mountains and is very close to Lake Tahoe. But the beauty does not extend to downtown Reno, unless you like outdated casino architecture. But, several new projects give hope to the revitalization of downtown Reno. >>Continue Reading This Article>>

Champaign, Illinois, a city located in Central Illinois and home to the University of Illinois, is undergoing major changes that have greatly improved walkability and the quality of life in the city. Read about how they are doing this through “dieting” and “fixing the streets.” >>Continue Reading This Article>>