Archive - Our Built Environment

Building Optimism, An Excerpt

An exploration into why our world looks the way it does, and how to make it better. In book form!

Nov 19 •

May 2024

March 2024

Why Small Developers Are Getting Squeezed Out of The Housing Market

A repost with a few more pictures and a bit more text

Mar 6 •

May 2023

Observations From Paris

How Paris became one of the world's most beautiful cities, and what we we can learn from it

May 30, 2023 •

April 2023

Progressive Cities Aren't Living Up To Their Values

How Ideology is getting in the way of good city building

Apr 15, 2023 •

February 2023

The Importance of Magical Places

Moving beyond the utilitarian in our cities & towns, and into the sublime

Feb 15, 2023 •

December 2022

The Best New Buildings In North America, according to an Urbanist

A running list of some of the best new buildings in the US and Canada

Dec 30, 2022 •

September 2022

A Call To Build A Better World

Why Building The Places Of Our Dreams Is Common Sense, And Desperately Needed

Sep 9, 2022 •

August 2022

America’s Affordable Housing Problem

How America got to be so unaffordable, and what we can do to make it more affordable; an analysis of good-in-theory v. outcome based policies

Aug 17, 2022 •

June 2022

Why New York’s Rent is So Expensive

And How Well Intentioned Policy Is Making It Worse

Jun 30, 2022 •

May 2022

Why Every Main Street Looks The Same

How Municipal Policy & Financial Incentives turned Main Street Into Chain Street

May 7, 2022 •

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