RESEARCH
Home design: The community is key
Good news for architects and urbanists.
Shared space intersections mean less delay
Mingling of people and cars at slow speeds is efficient and pedestrian-friendly, according to a University of Connecticut study.
Market rate housing alleviates displacement, report says
We’ve known for a long time that housing shortages are a major driver of high housing prices—and that, as a result, places that prevent new construction also tend to have big affordability problems.
But now, for the first time that we’re aware of,...
Map shows how cities and towns can fight climate change
The impact of the neighborhood on many sources of climate emissions is clearly visible in this University of California research.
Poverty is a bigger problem than gentrification
An infographic from City Observatory makes the case for why concentrated poverty impacts more people in US cities.
US has no peer in traffic death
US traffic deaths are way beyond peer nations and the gap is widening, according to a report released this week from the Centers for Disease Control. Traffic deaths in the US have dropped since 2000, due to safer vehicles and declining miles driven...
Jane Jacobs was right
Older and smaller buildings and a wide range in building age offer real economic and social benefits for neighborhoods and urban centers.
The skinny on healthy neighborhoods
People tend to get more exercise, leading to a powerful salutory effect on health, in neighborhoods with four characteristics.
Big safety benefits from transit
Commuters cut crash risk by more than 90 percent when taking public transit instead of driving, and investment in transit may reduce a community’s automobile crash risk in half, according to research.
The value of walkability and Walk Score inaccuracies
A study by Redfin, the owner of Walk Score, shows that true walkability has tremendous economic value—but Walk Score itself has problems.
Compact development cuts water runoff
Compact development is the best for protecting watersheds because it reduces per capita runoff, according to this graph from the Crabtree Group. Most stormwater narratives state that density is bad because the increased runoff is only considered on...
Traditional cities are having a big decade
Strong demand for historic downtowns and neighborhoods brings a surge of population at a level not seen in 70 years.
'Urban' is bigger than it appears
A "new analytic framework" by the Urban Land Institute ignores walkability and sets back our understanding of cities and suburbs.
Dynamic urbanism in semi-traditional cities
Cities that blend old and new are helping to define urbanism in the 21st Century.
A stubborn reliance on facts
Research papers on topics ranging from climate change to transportation are presented at CNU 25, supporting evidence-based practice.
New research resource for urbanists
Please contribute to our effort and let us know about research and topics that are missing.
Affordability is not a zero-sum game
A new report by Todd Litman offers a vision for optimal urban growth for affordability and livability—laying down a challenge to Wendell Cox, smart growth critic and author of a widely cited report.
To reduce pedestrian deaths, focus on design
We need a strategy for taming deadly thoroughfares that go through cities and suburbs.
Educated young adults drive less
Note: I hope to see you all at CNU 26.Savannah next week.
The mid-20s to mid-30s are peak driving years in a person's life. Eyesight and reactions are undiminished, and you have places to go, things to do, and careers and families to pursue....
Congestion can be good, study reports
Despite long-held beliefs of transportation officials, traffic congestion does not slow down economies, productivity, or job growth; and it may spur positive adaptation.
Demand supports the ‘missing middle’
The demand for multifamily and small-lot single-family housing, especially in walkable locations, will continue to rise over the next two decades, according to Arthur C. "Chris" Nelson, of the University of Arizona. This supply and demand mismatch...
Driving per capita is in a long-term stall
"Normalizing for population, VMT per capita has seen zero net growth since 2002," notes a recent post from the State Smart Transportation Initiative. This reality is at odds with transportation modeling, which consistently overestimates traffic...
Civano: A ‘cool’ community
A Tucson neighborhood with new urban/sustainable design outperforms conventional suburban tract housing environmentally—with lower temperatures—socially, and economically.
Attracting people and jobs to downtown
US Downtowns have been recovering in population and jobs for two decades, and research from the International Downtown Association provides further evidence that that this is a nationwide phenomenon. The study looks at 24 cities of a range of sizes...
A tale of two neighborhoods
Only two miles apart, the Baltimore neighborhoods of Park Heights and Guilford have radically different health outcomes. These two neighborhoods are divided by an Interstate highway (I-83), and were designated differently by financial (“redlining”)...
How New Urbanism research could build better cities
What do we need to know about the success, failure, and future prospects of creating walkable, diverse urbanism?
Form-based codes boost tax revenue and construction, don’t catalyze gentrification
New report aligns with other recent research that form-based codes have not translated to gentrification.
Zoning that supports physical activity rising in the US
A longitudinal study found a 53 percent increase in new urbanist type zoning in the US during the previous decade, and support for infrastructure that boosts physical activity, and ultimately, health.
The life-saving benefits of street trees
A US Forest Service study indicates that street trees save lives and provide direct health benefits that far outweigh the costs of planting and maintenance.