There is a lot that is right about this picture, but two items detract from the aesthetics, value and livability. The street has good form and creates a good outdoor room that is created by the building walls and street trees. The sidewalk is separated from the drive lanes by a parking lane and parkway [...]
A HYDROLOGICAL METHODOLOGY FOR MODELING THE BENEFITS OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE The typical hydrology software packages are clunky when it comes to modeling the effects of Green Infrastructure (AKA Low Impact Development – LID, or Light Imprint). This is largely due to the distributed nature of the Green Infrastructure (GI) Best Management Practices (BMPs). The BMPs [...]
Because I disagreed with the book premise, I read with great interest The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti. Moretti pronounces that innovation hubs are location-specific, need to be located in largish cities, and that your economy is majorly screwed if it is not an innovation hub. The premise is telling me that our [...]
A goal to achieve a basic understanding of climate change science through brief and accessible readings is one of the largest conundrums of climate action. It’s a complex science that actually requires more than brief readings to achieve even a basic grounding. I’ve read a couple of dozen books on the subject, most of IPCC’s [...]
For the past six decades the waste inherent in cheap oil, overblown national public works standards, and car-dominance have resulted in gold-plating (incorporating costly features or refinements into something unnecessarily; often in the name of excessive “factors of safety” or “redundancy”). This gold- plating presents barriers to accomplishing good urbanism in the form of initial [...]
Principles of Green Infrastructure Green Infrastructure (sometimes called Low Impact Development, or LID), far from being a “new technology”, is actually the recovery of a lost technology. For example, bioswales (roadside ditches) and bioretention areas (sunken gardens), French drains (retention trenches) and brick/cobblestone streets (pervious pavers) are actually ancient technologies. French drains and pervious pavers [...]
As a full-service civil engineering firm that is focused and experienced at New Urbanist principles and practices, we have engaged in dozens and dozens of masterplan charrettes throughout the United States and internationally, with some of the top urban planning firms of the world (DPZ and Partners, Moule and Polyzoides, Placemakers, Dover-Kohl and Partners, Sargent [...]
Steve Mouzon, my colleague over at Original Green wrote a great blog that can be found at the link in his introduction: The basic rules of thumb of street tree design are really simple; it’s amazing how often cities and developers don’t get them right. Thoughts? Steve I responded with this: Great blog Steve. A [...]
Aerial Vignette - Kety, TX (Salon des Refusés, Illustration by author) In 2010, Crabtree Group Inc., joined an ad hoc design team backed by the environmental groups, Sea Grant Texas and the Texas Coastal Watershed Program, to create a counter-proposal for a competition that aimed to design a new subdivision. This new subdivision was [...]
Subsidiarity, Cost-Estimating on the Fly, Transect-Based Infrastructure Including Costs
