BLOG: Yes, building height is an urban design issue
While a building's design is the provenance of architecture, its height and how it functions should be dictated by the context in which it is to be placed, which is where urban design comes in.
View ArticleBLOG: Key elements of Portland’s new Comprehensive Plan
As I’ve mentioned before, the city of Portland is currently engaged in the most important planning work for any community: preparing a new comprehensive plan. The last time this was done in Portland...
View ArticleBLOG: When historic preservation is more than just a pretty facade
Charleston, S.C., the home of the U.S. historic preservation movement, has helped to create a great surge in the viability of conserving older structures.
View ArticleBLOG: Design review and the planning process
In a previous post I mentioned the importance of design review in trying to get the city we’ve planned for. Unfortunately, the design review process in Oregon is artificially constrained by state law...
View ArticleBLOG: The tragedy of Lake Tahoe
I just returned from the Lake Tahoe area after spending the week at a cabin on the edge of the Desolation Wilderness, an incredibly beautiful natural area on the west side of the lake. But within a...
View ArticleBLOG: How do we revitalize east Portland?
I have written generally before about the opportunities for change presented by ongoing planning projects in east Portland, and now things are really starting to come into sharper focus as the planners...
View ArticleBlog: A new blueprint for Portland’s future
Well, it's finally out. After many years of public meetings, extensive staff research and discussions with other agencies and among city bureaus, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability has produced...
View ArticleBLOG: Division street development and parking
I had a chance this week to take a tour of part of Southeast Division Street in Portland. As you may know, there has been considerable controversy in this and other parts of inner Portland concerning...
View ArticleBLOG: Walkability is the key to an urban quality of life
"Walkability” has become the shorthand term for a range of features that help define the quality of a place.
View ArticleGoin’ to Houston: What’s walkability?
The lack of zoning in Houston may have played a role in the incredible lack of attention to the walking environment.
View ArticleBLOG: Is Houston the most livable city?
Last time I talked about Houston’s incredibly poor walkability – a major attribute of what makes a community livable. Of course, there are many measurements one could devise for defining livability,...
View ArticleThe ‘Walmartization’ of France?
The last couple of posts I’ve talked about some of the planning issues in Houston, including issues having to do with “walkability” and livability generally. I also recently spent time in France, and...
View ArticleBLOG: Houston vs. Portland
I made another trip to Houston last week, which provoked some thoughts about the contrast between what has happened as a result of planning in Portland over the last few decades, and the situation in...
View ArticleBLOG: Making higher density work
In the past I’ve written quite a bit about the reliance the city of Portland has placed on its “centers and corridors” strategy to absorb most of the new residential growth the city is anticipating in...
View ArticleBLOG: Teardowns and other hot neighborhood issues
In the past I’ve talked a lot about the main areas of growth and development for Portland’s long-term future – the urban centers and major corridors. But recently a number of controversies have...
View ArticleIs a major population increase in our future?
The amazing run of great weather this winter here in the Northwest has some of us thinking again about one of the potential major implications of climate change – an increasing influx of “climate...
View ArticleBLOG: Coping with a population explosion
Blogger and urban planner Brian Campbell continues to ponder the implications of a population explosion in the Portland metro area and examines what steps should be take sooner, rather than later.
View ArticleBLOG: Bad planning vs. good planning
A couple of weeks ago there was an op-ed in The Oregonian headlined “Portland creates parking headaches with bad planning,” which again raises the parking and housing affordability problems that have...
View ArticleBlog: Good planning and the market
Placing blame on government for issues like affordable housing is to misunderstand the way the private market works, writes urban planner Brian Campbell.
View ArticleBlog: The importance of resilience and sustainability in planning
Blogger and urban planner Brian Campbell suggest the best way to think about resilience in planning is as a major component of overall community sustainability.
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