It will never be easier than it is right now. “For cities to return to the pre-pandemic status quo would be a historic blunder,” Janette Sadik-Khan wrote last month in The Atlantic. …

A few ideas that have guided my career as an urban planner for more than a dozen years. — I’m fast approaching the 13th anniversary of starting my career as an urban planner. That milestone, coupled with the disruptions and changes to daily life we’ve experienced over the past year-plus, has me getting introspective about what city building could be all about in a post-pandemic world. Below are six…

Some reading to help the shift to a slower time of year. — The calendar page has turned to October. Here in the Great Lakes region, overnight temperatures are dipping into the 40s (or even the 30s in some places), leaves are beginning to change colors, and the sun is setting earlier and earlier. …

What might help the places we live, work, and play rebound in these uncertain times? — It’s been a little while since I published anything here on Medium dot com. A whole lot of tragedy, confusion, and, quite frankly, callous behavior has been on display across America these past few months (not to mention heroics, selflessness, and a little bit of hope), and I’ve been doing…

The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the folly of four decades of disinvestment in shared resources. — I didn’t write last week, and I was barely able to write this week. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has become so all-pervasive, it’s tough to think about anything else. It’s especially tough to think about the future of cities when we have no idea what sort of future we will…

As disruptions spread, it’s plain to see we need to invest more in community organizations and institutions. — I was debating whether to write anything this week given what the world is encountering in the COVID-19 outbreak. We’ve all seen, in ways both major and minor, disruption to our institutions and lives, and in times such as these, the truly important things tend to come into clearer focus.

These fixes won’t take years and millions of dollars to implement. — I could watch that video of Copenhagen on a loop for hours. It’s like witnessing an urban ballet. But there isn’t a city in the United States that is on a par with Copenhagen when it comes to transportation. In researching this piece, it was infuriating…

The urban planning luminary, who passed away in December, left a legacy that still impacts the profession today. — Three houses in a row had plywood nailed up over the windows, their early spring yards already showing signs of overgrowth. …

Ohio’s urban centers are economically vital, why aren’t they better connected? — The popular narrative of the Rust Belt is one of decline, one of yesterday’s thinking and hollowed-out cities. The idea of economic vitality is regularly dismissed out of hand, and the region must struggle to change the minds of people who are not paying close attention. Challenges still exist throughout…