As I finish up this week’s theme of sprawl repair, I want to ask one last question. Can we let the people gentrify (or de-sprawl) themselves? As much as I love the tactical urbanism, the push to return to the neighborhoods left behind, and to fix the broken ones that have been built and broken… Continue reading Can We Let the People Gentrify Themselves?
Month: April 2014
What Happens When Nothing Is Done Structurally About Sprawl
Broken Down House. Derrick Hughes via Flickr. Despite my life hacks from this post, we have to do something on a structural and legal level about sprawl. Unchecked sprawl is the urban renewal of today. Instead of providing the services that are needed in the core of the city, there are many cities (mine included)… Continue reading What Happens When Nothing Is Done Structurally About Sprawl
The Internal Urban Sprawl Killer: DIY and Service Delivery
I have to always admit, that not all urban sprawl is the fault of the homeowner or apartment renter. Thanks to how our economy and our government is structured, there are a lot of people who would prefer a downtown condo or townhome, but are priced out of the privilege of walking to all the… Continue reading The Internal Urban Sprawl Killer: DIY and Service Delivery
#VideoFriday: Our Friends in Nature Tell Us to Take the Bus
Welcome to #VideoFriday. Here at The Black Urbanist and across our other platforms, we will either highlight a great video on placemaking or début one of our own videos, much like we do now on #AudioThursdays. I want to start this series by showing the video below, a very cute and light way to highlight… Continue reading #VideoFriday: Our Friends in Nature Tell Us to Take the Bus
#AudioThursday: Chilling in the Urbanism Speakeasy
Thursdays at The Black Urbanist are now audio days, where either I share great audio on placemaking topics, or I podcast. In lieu of me podcasting this week, I wanted to share my visit to Andy Boenau’s Urbanism Speakeasy, one of the fun podcasts in our neck of the woods. I talked about why I started… Continue reading #AudioThursday: Chilling in the Urbanism Speakeasy
Why We May Never Have the Right Words for the Places We Live
Previously, I’ve written about why words matter. Especially when we talk about what’s a town and what’s a suburb. Once again, people are people and places are places. So how should we talk about places? First of all, if you have a city, with either two large cities, that are economic powers surrounded by several… Continue reading Why We May Never Have the Right Words for the Places We Live
Whose Suburbs Are We Talking About Again?
One of my pet peeves in reading through the various press on metropolitan areas is when the notion of suburb (and on occasion urban) is mislabeled. This happens one of two ways, when an incorporated town, and sometimes city is labeled a suburb and when suburb is used as a euphemism for white American. I… Continue reading Whose Suburbs Are We Talking About Again?
Cruising Down a Curved Road
For the holiday, I went to my grandmother’s house in rural Alamance County for dinner and family time. I’ve written about making the drive before, but this time I want to focus on the areas of curved roads that I encounter on the route. I’ve driven on mountainous curved roads that make you slow down… Continue reading Cruising Down a Curved Road
#ThrowbackThursday: Does It Matter Who Owns the Corner Store?
This week’s #throwbackthursday post piggybacks on recent statements by the RZA, a member of the Wu-Tang Clan. In an interview with the website Shadow and Act, he stated that gentrification is just the natural order of things. He also mentioned that people have to learn how to utilize it. The context of this interview was… Continue reading #ThrowbackThursday: Does It Matter Who Owns the Corner Store?
Serving with Pleasure
So I didn’t make it to the city council meeting last night. Yet, we are one of many cities that sees fit to web stream our meetings, so that people who can’t be at the chamber for some reason (and for those who can’t fit in the chamber) can watch what’s being said and voted… Continue reading Serving with Pleasure