An inspiring and free online book imagining a low-carbon future for America's towns and cities In a hoped-for future our collective carbon footprint from climate change will be much lower than it is today. But what will our towns and cities that produce that result look like? I’m pleased to announce the launch of a book that gives us a visual glimpse into that low-carbon future. Imagining a Walkable America is a free online book containing a selection of photo-simulations I’v

Sprawl may surge for a time if we ignore the fundamental needs of human habitat. Commentators in the newspapers and social media are predicting Americans will return to auto-oriented suburbia after the frightening experience of the COVID-19 pandemic—that low density suburbs will increase in popularity by offering a sanitary separation from other people that denser, walkable communities don’t. But this perfectly logical deduction ignores the complexity of our animal motivation

Can urban places make us healthier? Most animals, if given the right environment, have no difficulty being active. That’s what animals are—they are animated life. But put them in the wrong environment, and their vitality will decline. Recent research from Dr. Julian Pittman of Troy University shows that a fish in a small glass bowl of water gets bored and depressed. Yes, depressed. It sinks to the bottom of the bowl and hardly moves. If antidepressants are put in the water, i

A remarkable and growing body of literature is telling us that healthy communities need face-to-face interaction among their members, something that electronic media cannot replace. Physical places enable or prevent that interaction. Humans are social, yet this primary fact of life is oddly absent as a core consideration in modern urban development regulations. To ignore the social needs of our species is to lose sight of one of the most positive drivers for shaping sustainab