Community

"When you see self-storage units, the most important thing to ask yourself is, what’s next?"

Pathways to Planning is a new on-line tool to help communities diagnose and address their planning issues and needs. The tool, which was developed by the Orton Family Foundation and the Vermont Forum on Sprawl,…

"Oh… well that is Paris," meaning that no other city can compare. Our reply is that Paris is a laboratory for learning about all types of public spaces, both good and bad. Each individual public space, each building, and each street can teach us something important.

"It is the closest we could get to what we left behind," says John Hopton about retiring in a traditional neighborhood development, or TND, in Lynchburg, Va. By Deborah Nason | Contributor to The Christian…

Seeking to preserve the cultural heritage of Native Americans by applying and practicing permaculture techniques, a group of self-described back-to-the-landers are building what they hope will be a sustainable community northeast of Corvallis near Birch Creek.

Throughout the Bay Area and the rest of the nation, old-style neighborhood shopping districts are sprucing up and sprinkling national chains into their eclectic mix of independent merchants to keep bringing shoppers back.

But if there is one thing we have too much of in this state, it is a suburban-era infrastructure that is quickly becoming obsolete. And so de-malling will likely to continue apace, as home prices skyrocket, department store chains merge, and Wal-Mart takes over the world.

"A hive is a home designed to open out and facilitate connection," Smith said. "Across all generations, family is more important than ever, and people see more value in community. Through hiving, home is the best place to re-establish relationships and connect with others."

So, cities help us with form, with culture, with art, with creativity. Qualities that really lead into the idea that you create a city by creating, first, a community. We wanted to talk to people about what was the nucleus of community in each city and how that could be preserved. …

CAR-DEPENDENT PLANNING is based on an assumption of oil use that is clearly unsupportable in the long term. The production of oil has now peaked and is expected to begin a gradual decline over the 21st century. Clearly, cities and regions dependent on the private car will be likely to suffer, as transport becomes increasingly expensive. Many low-income households in urban peripheries—out of walking range of services—which must own and maintain one or more cars in order to carry out their daily lives will be reduced to poverty.