Front Page

Hawkeye66 writes:

There are several old blocks with 80% degraded structures in our city, we are looking at re-development on a block scale. We have envisioned some mixed use development in a few of these. Has anyone used an RFP or other method to find a developer for these types of projects? I had this in mind: The City would consider doing the teardowns and lot acquisitions and sell it for a reasonable price working with the developer on more dense housing. The water, sewer and roads are already there. Some of the blocks adjacent blocks are commercial already, so it would sort of be a mixed use. ...

by Erin Chantry

This morning when I walked into the West Palm Beach convention center, I was very excited to be able to meet and brainstorm with the thinkers at the forefront of my profession, or at least the people that share in the same urban design theology. I had heard rumblings about the culture of the Congress of New Urbanism and certainly knew that the founders of the movement were opinionated and outspoken. I have always admired this about them and was interested to see the vibe that the conference would have. The attraction and numbers of attendees have way outgrown the close dinner group that began New Urbanism more than 20 years ago, but the heavy hitters like Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Ellen Dunham-Jones, and John Norquist, to name a few, no doubt still have a big hand in the direction and focus of the movement. With the combination of professionals who have the reputation for being devotees to their beliefs and fresh new blood like me, anything was possible. ...

Tide writes:

What if time.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. - "I got about 50 or 60 cars out there and I didn't buy any of them," Earnhardt said. "We get a forklift or a tractor with a forklift or front-end loader and just carry it into the woods and just set it out there somewhere." Why is it no surprise that Earnhardt's backyard is like some backwoods version of the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark?"

What if you were the zoning administrator/inspector for this county? What if this was inconsistent with the property regulations and there weren't any complaints? What if there were complaints (potential multiple infractions, junked vehicles and race tracks)? How would you (if you would) handle the enforcement and the obvious high profile media this would bring - and don't give me the "treat him like any other guy" because you would not be able to from the top down and if you say that you're lying and I preemptively call your BS. ...

Hilldweller writes:

The New Urbanism horse has been pummeled pretty hard in this forum over the years, but the 20th anniversary of the Congress of New Urbanism is a good point to take stock of what the movement has accomplished in the last two decades, a period which witnessed major demographic shifts and a painful economic restructuring. What do we make of CNU's influence on urban planning, and what has the movement meant in terms of a translation into actual built environment outcomes? Is the push for neotraditional urban design progressing, stagnant, or failing? Has it been comprised by an emphasis on automobile-dependent projects on the urban fringe? Is urbanism any more of a desirable living arrangement as a result of the CNU? It's time for an honest assessment of NU, the neverending esoteric debates over sprawl vs. walkable communities are getting tired at this point. ...