Good morning Detroit! I’m live from my family bunker up in the Northwest side of the city to give you my take on my experience here at CNU 24. I’m already regretting missing the first two days, plus time here early, considering I have a base here. Even though I’ve been here twice, being here… Continue reading Day Three at #CNU24: My First on the Ground–Old Friends, Good Debate, Great Places
Year: 2016
5 Years of the Congress for New Urbanism: CNU 24 Conference Preview and Where and When to Find Me There!
Name any professional conference where a relative newcomer can come in, either invited or uninvited, state that at a certain time and certain place, they are going to put out an idea, record said idea and have a parent of a movement show up and give you props on what you said, even though you’ve… Continue reading 5 Years of the Congress for New Urbanism: CNU 24 Conference Preview and Where and When to Find Me There!
The Quest for a Forever Home in an Era of Mass Gentrification
I’m on the quest to purchase my dream house, my forever home. Right now, that house is in Washington, DC and it’s one of the many row houses. It’s on a bus line or a flat street on which I can bike easily. Metro proximity is a bonus, but I’m ok with it taking me… Continue reading The Quest for a Forever Home in an Era of Mass Gentrification
On a Woman and Her Bikes
Anyone who’s owned at least one bike, even if it was just a tri-cycle, has a story. As I’ve added to my fleet recently, here’s my story. It was Christmas of 1988. I can’t spell out any other details, but there’s photographic evidence, snapped by a parent of mine really being geeked out by my third Christmas.… Continue reading On a Woman and Her Bikes
Why Are Black Folks Moving?
Movement and migration is constantly on my mind. And whenever I hear someone claim to know where black people are moving to and why, my ears really perk up. Especially when they do what USA Today did recently and crunch some U.S. Census numbers and make the kind of maps they did in their recent story… Continue reading Why Are Black Folks Moving?
The Urban Hierarchy Was Never Dead
Nearly four years ago I declared that the urban hierarchy is dead. I was already refuting The Urbanophile, Aaron Renn, but I thought I had a good case. After all, this was before I graduated from my MPA program, before I rented an apartment that almost bankrupted me, before I moved halfway across the country to… Continue reading The Urban Hierarchy Was Never Dead
Six Ways to Lead Your Cities Anyway
What do you do to make sure you can create your city, as it is? Last post, I wanted people who I’d worked with or tried to work with in the past to listen and allow me the space to be myself and work in improving my home city. While that message was needed, it forced… Continue reading Six Ways to Lead Your Cities Anyway
Let People Lead in Your Cities
What if the real reason people aren’t staying in your city is that they can’t lead? Can’t they be themselves? They can’t make the money that they need or even the money that they want? Won’t you listen to their complaints and make changes? Won’t you treat them like adults? Do you silence them? You… Continue reading Let People Lead in Your Cities
To Create a Perfect City
All it took in many cities for development in the old days was one man who bought up bunches of land and started building houses on it, which he turned around and put up for sale. One man. Probably white and already wealthy. Several plots of farmland. Land which used to be fields and served… Continue reading To Create a Perfect City
If You Are Using this Blog To Justify Displacement–STOP.
As we pass another Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and as I prepare to launch something to help us tell stories better, a small, but necessary rant. Yes, I’m a card-carrying new urbanist. I love pretty buildings, bike lanes, fancy hipster crafts, and restaurants. Yet, I’m still a black American young woman, who is tenuously… Continue reading If You Are Using this Blog To Justify Displacement–STOP.