Posts Tagged ‘walking’

October 10, 2014

Big Data Backs Jane Jacobs: Cities Need Old Buildings

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs said that “Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.” But in an age of burgeoning urban populations and a pressing need to accommodate a more and more people into cities, does this still hold true? Shouldn’t we be replacing older smaller buildings with LEED Platinum high-rises? “Where do older, smaller buildings fit within cities that are seeking to maximize transit investments, increase density, and compete in the global economy” ask some urbanists. A new report…

July 11, 2014

Top 10 Reasons Suburbia is the Wonder Bread of Places to Live

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet I just spent more than two weeks now in the suburb of Chandler, Arizona. As far as suburbs go, it’s not bad. It’s actually considered an “inner ring” suburb, at a whopping 25 miles from downtown Phoenix, which is a testament to how sprawling Phoenix metro really is. Every time I spend time in the suburbs, I am reminded of why I live in the city. Suburbia is like Wonder Bread – bland, easily digestible, convenient, but really it offers little in terms of nutrition for the soul. Here are 10 reasons why: 1. Everything looks the same. Perhaps…

November 05, 2013

Livability 101: Going to the Clinic Without a Car

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Livability means being able to take your kids to school, go to work, see a doctor, drop by the grocery or post office, go out to dinner and a movie, and play with your kids in a park, all without having to get in your car. – Former Secretary of State Ray LaHood You can claim your city is livable all day long, but the real livability test is on the ground, on a daily basis, when you need to get groceries, or a hammer and nails, or go to the movies, or go to a friend’s house party…

May 21, 2013

A City with a Variety of Modes of Transportation is a City with Better Public Health

by: Phil Allsopp

Tweet Today’s post is by guest writer Phil Allsopp. Phil is a writer, activist and speaker about reshaping human habitat to restore the unmet needs of people and community, supporting vibrant economies and responding more effectively to the climatic conditions where people live. By re-thinking design and the policies that shape the form and the performance of the places we inhabit, he believes that it is possible to create a future in which everyone can live healthier and more abundant lives without plundering and polluting the planet on which we depend. Phil’s diverse career in design, public policy and business…

April 08, 2013

Community Action, not Top-Down Overhaul, Will Lead to Walkability in Phoenix

by: Jennifer Gunther

Tweet Today’s post is by contributing writer Jennifer Gunther reporting on Day 2 of Phoenix Urban Design Week’s Urban Tactics Symposium: The AIA Arizona office downtown hosted day two of Phoenix Urban Design Week’s Urban Tactics Symposium, which featured keynote speaker, planner and walkability expert Jeff Speck and a panel of planners, researchers and designers who presented key strategies that can help Phoenix become less autocentric and more of a socially oriented urban space. The author of “Walkable City” gave an overview of the first section of his book, laying down the case for walkability’s powerful impact on the overall quality…

December 31, 2012

A Year of Profound Change Leads to a Big Move

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet 2012 has been a year of profound change for me. I went through a divorce after being married for seven years. If you’ve ever been through a divorce, you know that it feels like the rug (actually, it feels more like the entire ground you walk on) has been pulled out from under you. Nothing looks or feels quite the same. Your old assumptions and your old paradigms don’t make sense anymore and you’re left with a blank canvas (whether you want one or not) on which you must build a new life with new assumptions and new paradigms….

December 18, 2012

Is Boosterism Good for Phoenix?

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Boosterism: The enthusiastic promotion of a person, organization, or cause (in this case of a city) If you don’t have only good things to say about Phoenix and you purport to be an activist, you might be considered cynical or worse, a hypocrite, lazy or ineffective. But I think boosterism is dangerous to the progress of Phoenix because it leads to delusion, which may feel good now but isn’t conducive to moving forward. Knowing where you are now is the first step to making constructive change. The same goes for Phoenix. We have to know where we are now,…

October 15, 2012

Propinquity Deprivation Disorder – A Real Downer in Phoenix

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Since I’ve been boasting a great deal about how much I love Portland, some people have rolled their eyes and glibly said it’s not that great, especially in the winter months. It’s rainy and cloudy and people are prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) there. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a kind of depression that occurs at a certain time of the year, usually in the winter.” I have no doubt this is true. I lived in Pittsburgh for a year and it was cloudy there on most days for all the long and…

October 10, 2012

Why I Fell in Love with Portland Part II

by: Taz Loomans

Tweet Yesterday, I started to tell you about my love affair with the city of Portland. Today I’ll tell you the second part of the story. Monday in Portland was even better than Sunday. My friend Anna George who knows how much I love tea recommended this great tea bar called Tea, Chai, Te. What better place to have breakfast, I thought. So again (and thank goodness for Google Maps on the iPhone!) I punched in the address and saw that it was in a (what ended up being a very cute) neighborhood northwest of where I was staying. At…

September 24, 2012

What’s Around Housing in Phoenix’s Urban Core Matters!

by: Ryan Glass

Tweet Why does it seem like developers drop down an apartment building in the urban core and overlook the rest of the area within walking distance. Do they expect that what’s around it won’t really matter to (potential) residents? It’s lease renewal time at Casa Awesomesauce (population 2 humans and 1 troublesome puppy), thus we’ve been looking around and weighing our options before committing to another 12 months at our current residence. Truth be told, there have been a few interactions with the new management company that didn’t go the way we would have liked them to, and for the…