Archive for the ‘urbanism’ Category

September 10, 2013

Phoenix is Making Way for Bicyclists

by: Paul Loomans

Tweet Today’s post is by guest writer Paul Loomans. Paul was raised in a small town in Wisconsin and got his MBA at UW-Madison. He helped design new products for John Deere in the Midwest and then moved to Phoenix in 1998. Paul is a LEED accredited marketing and development professional , with a focus on community and seniors. He serves on the Administrative and Strategic Planning Committee and the Research and Legislative Committee of the Phoenix Spokes People, a bike advocacy organization. He is car-free, relying mostly on his bike and transit to get around town and he wants to help build…

August 28, 2013

Why Portland’s Visionary Olmsted Park Plan of 1903 Yields Big Benefits Today

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet When you hear the name Olmsted, you typically think of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City. But another set of Olmsteds played a big part in the open space planning of Portland in the turn of the century – Frederick’s sons, John and Charles Olmsted. Between 1885 and 1915, Portland’s population grew by 300%. Due to concerns over this astronomic growth, and also because of the City Beautiful Movement of the time, the Olmsted brothers were commissioned to come up with a long range open space plan in the early 1900s. The City Beautiful…

August 26, 2013

Interview with Portland’s Museum Lady, Carye Bye

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Artist Carye Bye, or the Museum Lady as she’s known to many, has an indomitable curiosity. So she began Hidden Portland for the Curious, a platform to share all the hidden curiosities of Portland, which are all over the place Carye will tell you. As part of Hidden Portland for the Curious, Carye leads a variety of walking and bicycle tours around the city. Check out Hidden Portland’s For the Curious’s Facebook Page. This Friday, August 30, she’s leading a “City Treasures” tour with Know Your City. It will begin at 10am at Director Park and will end at 12:30pm….

August 21, 2013

12 Reasons I’m Still in Love with Portland After 6 Months of Living Here

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I moved to Portland from Phoenix about 6 months ago because I fell in love with this city and I was in need to of a fresh start. Portland hasn’t let me down. I’m still in love with it and here are the reasons why: 1. I love that I can be outside almost all year round I just returned from a visit to Phoenix. Because it is August, you can’t really spend any time outside, since it’s too hot. You’re relegated to going from your air-conditioned home to your air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned store. The blazing sun…

July 24, 2013

Vesta Communities Works to Bring Cohousing to Phoenix

by: Nichole Reber

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Nichole Reber: “What would it look like if we lived in a community-oriented neighborhood?” Claudia Hartman asks. For her and Donna Niemann, real communities are places filled with different generations, socio-economic diversity, and sustainable daily living practices. They’re hoping to manifest this in an eco-hybrid model known as Vesta Communities. The duo took their search for best practices in design, affordability, sustainability and governance on a 2,500-mile journey across Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico—and of course the cohousing communities in Tucson and Prescott. They studied 20 private developments such as cohousing, pocket…

July 16, 2013

Developer Wants to Abandon Alley in Downtown Phoenix Even though it Goes Against the Downtown Code

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet A developer by the name of DTR 25, LLC is applying to partially abandon an alley south of Fillmore Road between 1st and 2nd Avenues in Downtown Phoenix for the purposes of “future development”. The abandonment of this alley has future implications about walkability, how buildings will deal with their back-of-house needs, and the possibility of getting yet another surface parking lot in Downtown. Below are what John Glenn, the Vice Chair of the Central City Village Planning Committee, Arizona State University, and the Central City Village Planner think about what would happen if this alley was abandoned. John…

July 09, 2013

Bike Share in Phoenix: This is going to be big!

by: James Gardner

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer James Gardner. Check out James’s new blog about health and the built environment called Healthy Cities International. The City of Phoenix recently announced its next (baby) step toward a sustainable future city: a bike share program, and has awarded a contract to a vendor, Cyclehop, LLC, for the bikes to be shared. Cyclehop’s website states that the bikes will be state-of-the-art, with an integrated GPS system, allowing each bike to be tracked, and the bicycles can be custom built for each bike share program. According to Colin Tetreault from the Mayor’s office, as early…

July 01, 2013

How Art Interventions Could Totally Change Downtown Phoenix

by: Kirby Hoyt

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Kirby Hoyt: Back in March 2012, I penned an article for this site entitled Urban Appropriation through Art. Remember that one? Right, I thought as much. Anyway, I keep thinking about the urban condition of Phoenix and how even the small things can promote positive change. Phoenix has a condition of transitory land use wherein something like 40% of the downtown is vacant offers so many possibilities for a variety of ephemeral uses. The one I propose would become a sustainable model for Phoenix. Using art as a method of tactical urbanism could…

June 21, 2013

City of Phoenix Selects Design Team to Re-envision Margaret Hance Park

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Great parks add to the heart and soul of a city. Think of Central Park in New York, Forest Park in Portland, and Balboa Park in San Diego. There are few cities that need an infusion of heart and soul more than Phoenix. And so the recent selection of a design team for the revitalization of Margaret Hance Park bears with it a great hope that the park can become a big part of the heart and soul of Phoenix. The City of Phoenix just hired a design team that will take the park from being a green space…

June 18, 2013

Experience a 100 Years of Hawthorne on the 2013 Pedalpalooza Ride about the Urban Architecture of Hawthorne

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet The history of Hawthorne Boulevard is a microcosm of the history of the entire city of Portland. It reflects the city’s early beginnings in agriculture, its economic booms and busts, it’s housing expansion, and it’s movement from horse and buggies to streetcars to buses to personal cars. This Thursday, June 20, 2013, I will be leading a Pedalpalooza bike ride about the Urban Architecture of Hawthorne Boulevard, focusing on a 100 years of history from 1850 to 1950. We’ll be meeting at Albina Press on 5012 SE Hawthorne Blvd. at 2:00pm, we’ll roll at 2:30pm…Click here or here for more…