In Chicago, where I live, land use planning is largely the domain of the zoning code. The Alderman has control over granting variances to the zoning code (Aldermanic prerogative). Thus, the Alderman’s office has tremendous control over whether anything gets built because, despite the fact that Chicago’s zoning ordinance was re-written only 10 years ago, much of…
I would like to follow-up on my Planning for People in Jefferson Park post and expand a bit on what it means to “plan for people”. For at least the past 60 years, the architecture, planning and engineering professions have fundamentally changed the way they designed cities. Cities, a creation of the human race for…
Geography is fun. I’ve been playing around in Google Maps. Here are two maps made locally for my Chicago neighborhood of Jefferson Park. The first, a map of all parking lots in downtown Jefferson Park: The second, a map of election results from the February 24, 2015 municipal election in Chicago. I’ve mapped the…
If you plan cities for cars & traffic you get cars & #traffic. If you plan for people & places…via @PPS_Placemaking pic.twitter.com/MxYvlTS9fS — TODERIAN UrbanWORKS (TUW) (@TODUrbanWORKS) July 9, 2014 Recently there has been a surge of planning work being done in my neighborhood, the once sleepy corner of the northwest side of Chicago…
There is a right way and a wrong way of talking about transit. Specifically, when you propose an idea for transit service without mentioning the details. As a transit planner, I love details. Because transit costs money, and because it is seen by many as government largess, if you are going to responsibly discuss…
We know who wins the battle – physically and generally as a matter of policy throughout the U.S. I hesitate wading into this as it is not normally my area of expertise. Caveat: my professional focus is public transportation. And yet, I feel the need to weigh in because there has been some very good…