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1. Why Urban Design Should Come From the Bottom Up (Part 1 | Part 2)

by Nolan Gray | January 15 & 16, 2018

Professional planners are trained to yearn for tighter urban design controls, as if cities without comprehensive, top-down planning would devolve into chaos and disorder. But historically, a decentralized, trial-and-error process was how cities “discovered” which urban design features worked best for their own circumstances.

2. Jayme Closs, Child Abductions, and Human Habitat

by Charles Marohn | January 14, 2018

The story of Jayme Closs should give us cause to hug our children a little tighter, but then to love them enough to send them out boldly into the world.

3. Oregon Frees the Engineers

by Daniel Herriges | January 15, 2018

Remember that engineer who was fined in Oregon for saying, “I am an engineer”? He won in court. Again.

4. Should Single-Family Neighborhoods Be Able to Buy Their Way out of Building More Housing?

Upzoned Podcast | Kea Wilson and Chuck Marohn | January 11, 2018

New Jersey has been using a “cap and trade” model to let single family neighborhoods buy their way out of growth for decades. Should your city follow suit?

5. When Local "Growth" is Really Just Redistribution

by Arian Horbovetz | January 16, 2018

When a new brewpub, restaurant, or entertainment venue opens in your town, is this a sign of growth, or merely a shift in where patrons spend their dollars? And what does that imply about cities that subsidize such things?

(Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons)