By There’s no perfect city. We also can’t expect people to fix cities and not bear the brunt of what it means to be the only person in a city who seems to have all the answers. And I am not that savior. I love helping you fix them, but I
How I Get Around the DC Metro Without A Car (And You Can Too!)
I mentioned in a prior post that I do a fair amount of walking and I no longer have my car now that I’m in DC. I wanted to break that down and help folks getting started here without a car to understand how car-free life works. This is very
The Real Answer to Why I Moved, for the Second Time in 18 Months, to DC.
People have been asking me why I moved. I’ve given them answers and sometimes they’ve not been as foolproof as I’d liked for them to be. And now a month out from the move, I feel like I can answer the question a bit better. “But you can buy a
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
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
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
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
My Placemaking Wishes for 2016
It’s that time again, where I rub my lamp and hope that several things in the world of placemaking come true. I’ve made a set of wishes in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 and I’m honored to share another set of dreams for 2016. And without further ado, this year’s
On Mobility and American Expats in America
I believe that a city lives or dies by how much people can move in and out. About four years ago, I reflected on the idea of being an American Expat in America. That idea is that despite the fact I was no longer an active member of my hometown
