Why ‘Parking Minimums’ Ruin Cities
A few weeks ago, the big news in New York City was that the “City of Yes,” a proposal to build 100,000 new housing units over the next few years, didn’t pass in its original form. Because of city council…
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Newsletter: “Freedom,” “Control,” and the Rhetorical Battle For Safer Cities
Freedom and control. These two buzzwords have a lot of sway in the American imagination. Freedom might be the most powerful single word in America. We’ve built an entire national identity around it. These terms have enter the rhetorical fight for creating…
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14 Green (and Blue) Infrastructure Examples to Protect and Clean our Cities
The next catastrophic coastal storm is not a question of if, but when. This article is a playbook of green infrastructure strategies for how we can prepare. In doing so, we can also transform our coastlines to provide cleaner air and waterways, improve our…
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Essays | Persuasion | Urbanism
When Politicians Tell on Themselves: Negative Projection as Propaganda
Once this therapy concept clicked, it gave me a new lens to understand propaganda and political talking points. It took me a bit to grasp it, but once I did, I started seeing it everywhere. It’s called “negative projection,” and…
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Do You Still Believe in Bloodletting? A Lesson From Jane Jacobs
“[City planners] are all in the same elaborately learned superstition as medical science was early in the last century, when physicians put their faith in bloodletting…” — Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities In The Death…
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Guerrilla Gardening Chronicle: Willow Spiral on a Bronx Sidewalk
This month, my urban gardening adventures extended beyond the confines of community gardens and out into the streets. I did so without local government permission and on my own accord. This was, as many call it, “guerrilla gardening.” Or as…
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Urban Zugzwang: Why Cities Must Prioritize People Over Cars
What Is a city? Edward Glaeser captures the essence of urban life in The Triumph of the City: “Cities are the absence of physical space between people and companies. They are proximity, density, closeness. They enable us to work and…
