Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch

Recently I discovered the existence of a new kind of streetcar - the Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit tram, which has been dubbed ART. The system was developed in China and is trackless - it operates on existing streets (!!). The system has a cost of about one tenth (!!!) of railbound streetcars and it can …

The City in Mind, Part II

I checked in to another neighborhood in my imagined city, and found some things that are a bit disturbing. I wonder how this happened....              

The Loss of the Local

I made a presentation the other day entitled "Teachable Cities." I looked at 10 cities from around the world that had lessons for us as we shape our own urban places, lessons about water and waterfronts, about cars and traffic, about alternate forms of urban mobility, and about constructing or reconstructing a public realm meant for us …

The City Disappears

"Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real." Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses   As the city disappears around us, it is easy to feel lost. This is what I saw today, above, on one of my very regular routes. This is what that place used to look like. …

TEDx Rochester

And now my TEDx talk from last November is up and on YouTube. Thanks to Tony Karakashian and the Rochester TEDx crew, and to WXXI for their editing work.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8YmYM_9ltU