After debuting at the 2010 Venice Biennale, “Cronocaos” — an exhibition about the increasingly urgent topic of preservation in architecture and urbanism by OMA / Rem Koolhaas — is now at NYC’s New Museum. And it’s sure creating some interesting…
Category: Urban Form
Tom Kohler talks about hand-painted signs and a sense of place at TEDx in Savannah
I’ve already written about urban planner Christian Sottile’s great presentation about cities as living beings at the recent TEDxCreativeCoast here at the Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center here in Savannah. Below you’ll find the video of Tom Kohler’s talk and slideshow…
City Talk today: How many tourists does Savannah want?
In my City Talk column today, How many tourists does Savannah want?, I mention three unresolved issues that all raise questions about tourism in Savannah: How many tourists do we want? What kind of tourists do we want? And what…
Urban planner Christian Sottile talks about cities at TEDxCreativeCoast in Savannah (video embedded)
I’ve studied and written a lot over the years about what makes cities work. Many of my ideas have independently coincided with, been refined by, or directly flowed from the minds of Christian and Amy Sottile, who have done truly…
A footbridge over the Savannah River, not as crazy as it sounds
In my City Talk column today, I talk a bit about the proposal to use public bonds (about $50 million worth, probably) to back the building of a new hotel on Hutchinson Island that would serve as a convention headquarters.…
“Where did everyone go?”: why some population estimates are so far off
I have wonkily tracked population data for many years now, so my eye was caught by an article in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Census shock result of flawed estimates”. “How do 121,000 people disappear into thin air?” asks in the opening…
Will metro Atlanta spend more on transit than road-building in the next decade??
Atlanta has long been synonymous with cars, with traffic, with sprawl. But local governments in the metro area appear to be embracing a vision for transit unlike ever before. This isn’t just some pie in the sky vision on my…
More thoughts on population loss in older neighborhoods, the clustering of services, and supporting existing neighborhoods
In my City Talk column last Sunday, “How public policy can fight population loss in Savannah”, I continued my ongoing discussion about some of the demographic issues evident in the 2010 census data, especially the population loss in many of…
Population loss in older Savannah neighborhoods, gains in West Chatham
In last Tuesday’s City Talk column, I wrote about the increasing vacancy rates in Chatham County: According to the census in 2000, Chatham County had 99,863 housing units, with 9,818 vacant (about 9.8 percent). In 2010, the county had 119,323…
Location-efficient communities and $4 gas
There’s a great new article up at Planetizen by Scott Bernstein of the Center for Neighborhood Technology: “$4 per Gallon Gas — Are We Ready?” It’s pretty clear that for many Americans, the answer to that question is a resounding…
“Black flight” rises along with “white flight”
I’m going to be writing a lot in upcoming columns and blog posts about the recently released census data for 2010. In my City Talk column this Tuesday, I’ll have something to say about the increase in the residential vacancy…
Census data for Georgia released, county breakdown map embedded
Well the Savannah Stopover led into a great St. Patrick’s Day, and the Savannah Music Festival is just a week away. But at some point I’m going to be getting back to doing some hard work . . . The…
Pictures of and a few comments about King Street in Charleston
I was in Charleston briefly last week, just a quick wander around town after having lunch with National Book Award winner Jaimy Gordon (Lord of Misrule) and some professors at the College of Charleston. (Jaimy spoke here last Thursday and…
Chris Morrill’s first year in Roanoke: a reminder of what might have been
There’s a great piece in the Roanoke Times about their current city manager — and our former assistant one — Chris Morrill: “New Roanoke city manager keeps a low profile”. Given the recent turmoil in Savannah over the city manager…