Tweet Check out my article in The Atlantic Cities in response to Andrew Ross’s book, Bird on Fire Lessons from the Least Sustainable City in the World: In Defense of Phoenix

Tweet Today’s post is by landscape architect and urban planner Kirby Hoyt, someone I met recently and immediately hit it off with. Kirby, along with his partner Rob Izer, just opened shop for their company Edge Industries on Grand Avenue. They call their studio the Funk Lab and it’s a place where great ideas are born, incubated and implemented and so I try to hang out there as much possible. Kirby Hoyt, founder of EDGE Industries, holds a Master of Design Studies from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design and a Bachelors of Landscape Architecture degree from Iowa State University….

Tweet Plans for a road diet on Central between Camelback and Bethany Home have been in the works since March and it’s finally going to happen next month! Yes it’s just a tiny stretch of road in the larger scheme of things, but in reality this is a huge step towards shifting the mindset here in Phoenix away from car-oriented urban design towards Complete Streets. According to the Maricopa Association of Governments Complete Streets Guide, complete streets “ensure that facilities for bicycles, pedestrians and transit are recognized as integral to a properly designed and functioning street. They are as important…

Tweet I’ve hit a wall with the car-free lifestyle. I’m exhausted and cold. Today, a cold and rainy day, with appointments on Maryland and 16th Street and at the Funk Lab down on Grand Avenue, I couldn’t face the reality of taking two buses, the light rail and riding my bike in this weather. I suppose it’s a cumulative fatigue. Over the past month or so, on our car-free stint, everything has taken twice as long and has been at least twice as taxing. I’m tired of having to lift my heavy bike hurriedly onto the bike rack in the…

Tweet “It is better to travel well than to arrive.” – Buddha This Saturday was the third annual Tour de Coops, an event put on by the Valley Permaculture Alliance showcasing cool chicken coops throughout Phoenix. In years past, people visited the coops with their cars. But this year, urban farmer and architect Bryan White, one of the main organizers of the event, had the insight to cluster the coops within Central Phoenix and added a bicycle component to the tour. I was asked to head the bicycle effort. Knowing that there was no way I could do it by…