GREAT IDEAS

Article image for Great idea: Sustainable urbanism Sustainability

Great idea: Sustainable urbanism

The trend toward complete communities shapes the debate on sustainability and environmentalism, and vice-versa.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEFEB. 2, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Pedestrian shed and the 5-minute walk Design

Great idea: Pedestrian shed and the 5-minute walk

Pedestrian sheds are a foundational idea of designing cohesive communities, but the challenge is the gap between what planners know and developers are building.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEFEB. 7, 2017
Article image for Great Idea: Building better suburbs through retrofit Retrofit

Great Idea: Building better suburbs through retrofit

Suburbs are becoming more diverse and connected to meet the needs of Americans of all ages in the 21st Century.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEFEB. 15, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Tactical urbanism Retrofit

Great idea: Tactical urbanism

The latest trend in urban design and planning gets them off of the paper and out of a big room, testing ideas in the real world. It is fun and hands-on, and making many converts.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEFEB. 16, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Multidisciplinary design charrette Community

Great idea: Multidisciplinary design charrette

A time-compressed design process that gathers all of the stakeholders and practitioners together has great potential for creating more holistic communities, experts say.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEFEB. 21, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Shock and awe for cities and towns Finance

Great idea: Shock and awe for cities and towns

Charles Marohn of Strong Towns and Joe Minicozzi of Urban3 have been sounding the alarm across America about the financial unsustainability of fragmented development patterns and conventional suburban infrastructure.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEFEB. 23, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Cottages for emergency and permanent affordable housing Missing middle

Great idea: Cottages for emergency and permanent affordable housing

The cute Katrina Cottage has proven the versatility and usefulness of cottages that are designed to fit into complete neighborhoods.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAR. 2, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Interconnected street networks Streets

Great idea: Interconnected street networks

In order to get good streets, you have to think beyond any single street—an idea that is at the core of New Urbanism. Dendritic networks lead to fragmented and dispersed land uses.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAR. 6, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Architecture that puts the city first Design

Great idea: Architecture that puts the city first

"The prime ingredient of urbanism is really public space and the public realm. So the urban plan comes first and the building second."
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAR. 9, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Transit-oriented development Design

Great idea: Transit-oriented development

Transit-oriented development links transportation and land use—providing people with maximum choice in how to get around by intensifying activities near transit nodes with high quality public space.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAR. 15, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Missing middle housing Development

Great idea: Missing middle housing

Increasingly in demand today, missing middle housing forms the backbone of the quintessential American neighborhood.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAR. 22, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Traditional neighborhood development Development

Great idea: Traditional neighborhood development

Creating holistic neighborhoods from scratch was one of the first and still effective strategies of the New Urbanism.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAR. 30, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Incremental development Development

Great idea: Incremental development

Great places are built in small increments, and urbanists are restoring America's know-how and capacity for small-scale development by many individuals in their own communities. Do you want to be a small developer?
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEAPR. 5, 2017
Article image for Great idea: The rural-to-urban Transect Design

Great idea: The rural-to-urban Transect

The New Urbanism brought the environmental transect methodology into planning and development of human-scale, complete communities. Now the human habitat can be analyzed as a continuum with the natural world.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEAPR. 13, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Charter of the New Urbanism Design

Great idea: Charter of the New Urbanism

A set of principles that are clear and generative provide a solid foundation for the New Urbanism. Those principles have withstood the test of time and empirical research, and they can be implemented in countless ways.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEAPR. 20, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Mixed-use urban centers Development

Great idea: Mixed-use urban centers

The market is much more receptive to the benefits of mixed-use today, but it is still easier to talk about main street retail than to effectively build it.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEAPR. 27, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Form-based codes Codes

Great idea: Form-based codes

New urban codes have allowed cities and towns to code for complete neighborhoods and public spaces as shared-use places.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAY. 10, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Light Imprint for walkable green infrastructure Sustainability

Great idea: Light Imprint for walkable green infrastructure

A leaner, lighter approach to infrastucture is more cost-effective, sustainable, and livable—an idea worth considering for America in National Infrastructure Week.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEMAY. 15, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Lean Urbanism Equity

Great idea: Lean Urbanism

Lean Urbanism seeks to bring common sense back into the planning and development process—because great neighborhoods are built with many hands, often in small increments.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEJUN. 1, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Rethinking parking Parking

Great idea: Rethinking parking

From coast to coast and in middle America, more sensible parking policies are taking hold and may be the quickest path to urban revitalization.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEJUN. 5, 2017
Article image for Great idea: The public realm Design

Great idea: The public realm

More and more people are appreciating that architecture and urban design of streets and public spaces have the power to connect, engage, and inspire all of us.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEJUL. 20, 2017
Article image for Great idea: Public housing that engages the city Equity

Great idea: Public housing that engages the city

Public housing in the form of complete or partial neighborhoods started with HOPE VI and became standard practice, impacting the lives of people in cities and towns across America.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEJUL. 27, 2017
Article image for Great Idea: Context-based street design Streets

Great Idea: Context-based street design

Building thoroughfares as places of beauty and social interaction requires a context-based approach to design.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEAUG. 29, 2017
Article image for Great idea: The polycentric region Sustainability

Great idea: The polycentric region

Market and local government support for new urbanist values is rising and that is changing the planning mindset in many regions.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEOCT. 23, 2017
Article image for 25 great ideas of the New Urbanism Design

25 great ideas of the New Urbanism

The New Urbanism is a design movement toward complete, compact, connected communities—but it is also a generator of ideas that transform the landscape. Communities are shaped by the movement and flow of ideas, and the New Urbanism has been a...
ROBERT STEUTEVILLEOCT. 31, 2017
Article image for Great Idea: Freeways Without Futures Freeway transformation

Great Idea: Freeways Without Futures

Reducing state and federal infrastructure costs while boosting local economies by strengthening urban places is a win-win from in-city freeway transformation.
ROBERT STEUTEVILLENOV. 27, 2017