I know they are sites of capitalism, but when I go to the mall, I’m there to find things I need to make my own tools of system dismantlement and comforts through the storm. As we re-examine many of these spaces, they will thrive only if we see them as
It Really Started With A Train Part 1– My North Carolina Amtrak Fantasy Map
I’m finally getting around to doing a fantasy transit map. My inspiration? My trip home from D.C. to Greensboro via the train. It takes approximately 8 hours to do it in the daylight and 5.5 hours to do it in the middle of the night. And those are the only
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
By Kristen Jeffers
Cities/Cityreads/Commons/downtown/Family and Place/gentrification/Government/Housing/How-To/Issues and Ideas/Podcast/transit/urbanism
On the Second Presidential Debate of 2016 and Knowing Your Truth About Where You Live
I wanted to discuss a comment about cities that came up in the debate/ town hall last night. Note, this is not a post endorsing one or the other, although I’ll say that I’m with her. But the issue brought up is one that trips up a lot of people
What We Need Is More, Not Less, Transit In Our Major Cities
There’s a reason I walk around with my DC SmartTrip card hanging around my neck. And I post time-lapse Instagrams and such of the KC Streetcar working well. Why I wish I could park my car for good and why I relish walking in even 90 degree heat, if it
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
Why Road Gentrification Is Good Gentrification
I’m a firm believer that transportation is one place where equity can and should be had. At the end of the day, a street is a street, we all have to use them and their presence should not be the signal of gentrification you worry about. It should be the
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
By Kristen Jeffers
Cities/Cityreads/Essay/Family and Place/Greensboro/Kansas City/transit/Transportation/urbanism/walking
From an Ambassador to Kansas City (Excerpt from Triad City Beat Fresh Eyes Column)
Roughly six weeks ago, after loading almost all of my worldly possessions into a moving truck, relatives helped me pack the rest into two cars and we departed our southwest Greensboro home at about 5 a.m., navigating the freeways past my father’s gravesite at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, on
How to Make a Men’s NCAA Basketball Bracket, if You Are a Tobacco Road Urbanist
Sports build community. From pride-of-their-suburb Little League teams, to pulse-of-their-city World Series pendant holders to that proud handful of farmhouses who raised that NASCAR driver, sports makes a community. I grew up in a pre-Carolina Panthers, original Charlotte Hornets, retiring Richard Petty, saying hello to Stormy, but never to a
