These articles and postings look at different ways in which design and our visual environment can shape the character of our cities and towns.
Available to Order & Download — Our Reprint Collection: Design & Aesthetics (19 articles)
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A dramatic shift in the design and layout of new developments has begun to take hold in cities across North America. Called new urbanism, this movement draws on older patterns of development. Planning reporter Philip Langdon provides an introduction to new urbanism.
What does it take to transform a community from Anyplace, USA into someplace special? Ed McMahon looks at five ways of making a visible difference.
Successful communities understand that when they say no to development that is contrary to the long-term health of their community, they will almost always get better development in its place, argues PCJ columnist Edward McMahon.
Good design can mean more jobs, more tourists, and increased property values.
What impression do you get when you exit the highway and head into town? Can you tell when you’re leaving one neighborhood and entering another? A look at how planning for gateways can help create and strengthen our sense of place.
Almost everywhere we go, stand identically designed fast-food restaurants. A look at how communities can gain control over fast-food franchise design and see that it fits the character of the community.
Damage to the urban fabric of Saratoga Springs, New York — and what it says about our society — by the author of The Geography of Nowhere.
A brief overview of how environmental design principles can help deter neighborhood crime.
How the Project for Public Spaces works to reinvigorate neighborhoods and downtowns.
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.
Historian Larry Gerckens traces the evolution of greenway and parkway systems, and their role in softening the edges of the urban environment.
A look at “visual preference surveys” and how they can help communities plan better.
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.
