It’s one of the rare rainy seasons in Minnesota, and for that rarity I personally am glad having grown up in a climate more like Seattle’s and Portland’s than the Twin Cities. Climate is an important motivator for infrastructure decisions. I have to confess that the climatic explanation for why we have skyways is not […]
This article was first published on Strong Towns, September 24, 2015 If I had to file a complaint against Strong Towns, it’s that our message sometimes gets wrapped up in data, economics, and the like. It can be somewhat hard to comprehend how all the financing and land values work, and at times, I’ve caught […]
The past couple months has seen a robust conversation about development in Minneapolis, starting with Tom Fisher’s Star Tribune piece and followed by Jason Wittenberg’s streets.mn rebuttal. But taste is subjective, so rather than talk about what makes a building “ugly,” let’s instead discuss the ground floor and how it relates to the public realm around it. Building frontages are at eye-level, and together with […]
The following City staff counterpoint is a response to Tom Fisher’s recent article, “Enough visual interest, already!” The article was published online February 13, 2015, and appeared in print the following day. This counterpoint is co-authored by Jason Wittenberg, the Manager of Land Use, Design and Preservation for the City of Minneapolis and Kjersti Monson, the Director of […]
Roberta and I live in a loft in the Union Depot and we are always encountering lost, bewildered and confused travelers. Very often, they step off the Green Line and ask us where the Amtrak station is or the bus terminal. This should come as no surprise as the train and bus platform is not visible from the Green Line platform and there […]
If you’re into architecture, this is a riveting attempt to place most of the 20th century into an “evolutionary tree,” made by the theorist Charles Jencks… I like how Le Corbousier shows up all over the place, including under “purism”, near “brutalism, and somehow under the category “Unselfconcious 80% of environment” (whatever that means)…
As it says (down there) in my bio, I’m a pretty regular user of Minneapolis skyways, especially in any form of inclement weather. Nonetheless, some days, especially this time of year, are not quite cold or inclement enough to make me want to retreat entirely indoors, but still chilly enough to make an entirely outdoor walking […]
May 26, 2014 Summit Hill, Downtown, Lowertown 15.8 Miles Memorial Day is a holiday that has various meanings to folks.There is a certain solemnity to Memorial Day and for good reason, but it’s the unofficial start of summer. It’s an extra day off. For many retailers it is another excuse for a sale. Most importantly, […]
Here’s an obvious diagram that we often forget about… [FYI, 1 meter = 3.2 feet; thus 5 m. = 16 ft., 14 m. = 46 ft., 23 m. = 75 ft, etc.] It’s from one of Jan Gehl’s books, illustrating the actual visual perception of buildings from pedestrian point of view. What it’s showing is […]