Monday What's on the Web: Next American City

Every Monday I highlight other bloggers or web contributors who are making important or interesting contributions to climate, sustainability, transportation or market transformation. Check back each week for another installment.
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Next American City is a quarterly magazine focusing on how to improve cities.  It also maintains an impressive web site that includes columns, posts and lots of other information on many topics related to improving cities.  The five key topic areas with links on the top page are: Infratructure, Governance, Culture, Economy and Built Environment.  They maintain a monthly podcast called Metro Matters.  People interested in cities, how they function and where they are going will find a lot to keep their interest here.
Recent and interesting columns include:

If Transit Investment Produces Jobs, Why Isn’t There More of It?

Knoxville’s Market Square Shows Pedestrian-Only Spaces Can Work, Too

Smart Stimulus Spending: HUD’s Green Retrofit Program

 

 

Shaping the City

I regularly read Roger Lewis's column, Shaping the City, that appears about every other week in the Washington Post. I always find it interesting.

This last week the article was titled: Lessons of Arlington's Urban Development Needn't Be Just History. Here are a couple of excerpts to whet your appetite for the whole article:

"The phenomenal metamorphosis of Arlington County's Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, among the region's most dramatic real estate transformations, teaches a timely lesson: Successful urban
revitalization requires long-range planning and long-range public investment that sparks private investment."

"The Rosslyn-Ballston corridor is a work in progress, although millions of square feet of buildings already have been developed, mostly since the 1980s. Its urban design is not flawless, and much of its architecture is less than exemplary. But the corridor functions well. It offers pedestrian-friendly sidewalks, on- and off-street bicycle lanes, plazas and mini-parks. It takes less than 10 minutes to walk between any two adjacent Metro nodes on the corridor -- Rosslyn, Court House, Clarendon, Virginia Square and Ballston. People there can get along without cars."

"Why does visionary planning seem to be a thing of the past? Can America no longer afford to undertake farsighted initiatives. . ."

Enjoy!