Green Enhances Growth
People care about trees, and not just because they’re pleasant to look at look and provide cooling shade. Trees also increase property values and can help boost a community’s economic development.
Livable Communities
Articles and postings focusing on different ways in which we can plan for more livable communities for all our citizens.
Continue to older articles & posts — or return to newer ones — where you see the green buttons at the bottom of the page.
Understanding “CPTED”
A brief overview of how environmental design principles can help deter neighborhood crime.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design in Sarasota, Florida
In Sarasota, police and planning departments have worked together to implement “CPTED” concepts in a rundown, high crime district. The results: reduced crime and a neighborhood on the road to recovery.
Community Noise: Dealing With A Growing Problem
Noise is a problem facing most of our communities, but one that can be dealt with through an effective and enforceable noise control ordinance.
Portals to Our National Heritage
Communities don’t need national landmarks to create connections to our national heritage.
Community Aesthetics and Planning
Historian Larry Gerckens explains how city plan commissions were formed in response to the “City Beautiful Movement” and turn-of-the-century America’s belief in the value of improving the quality of the physical environment.
Creating Vital Communities: Planning for Our Aging Society
Planning for an aging society means planning for people — and providing a built environment that is adaptable enough to meet the changing needs of people as they age.
Lighting & Its Impacts
Street lighting profoundly affects how or towns and cities look. Robert Prouse provides an introduction to the basics of lighting. Plus: Astronomer David Crawford and author E. Annie Proulx on the impacts overlighting on viewing the night sky.
Planning for Trees
Street trees can help define the hearts of our cities and towns. But too often tree planting programs are based on poor planning and faulty assumptions. An introduction to some of the basics of planning for trees.
Rethinking Residential Streets
Streets define the character of our neighborhoods. Yet too many communities still rely on outdated standards for local streets.
