URBAN DESIGN: The best downtowns encourage community
Buildings that shut out street life are all about isolation, a concept we’re experiencing to an uncomfortable degree.
Urban Design column
Articles
URBAN DESIGN: Planting trees: A simple act with many benefits
We shouldn’t accept the existence of barren, tree-less blocks downtown or elsewhere in our city.
URBAN DESIGN: Urban beauty offers a competitive advantage
Indy needs to pay more attention to the role aesthetics play in drawing people and investment.
URBAN DESIGN: Want to get to your destination faster? Slow down
Cities trying to slow down traffic are seeing numerous counter-intuitive benefits.
URBAN DESIGN: Ghosts, monsters haunt Market East district
The neighborhood that includes City Market, the Julia M. Carson Transit Center and numerous other assets is loaded with potential and entrenched obstacles.
URBAN DESIGN: Retrofitting obsolete retail areas represents opportunity
Numerous examples show how places like Castleton can be recast on a human scale.
URBAN DESIGN: One year in, scooters offer lessons from the streets
A century ago we were learning lessons from another disruptive technology that had people in an uproar: the automobile.
GALLAGHER: D.C. has much to emulate in sustainability efforts
The distinctive geometric grid of streets and avenues that define Washington, D.C., heavily influenced the original plat of Indianapolis. As we consider our city’s future, it may once again be time to look to the nation’s capital for inspiration.
Tom Gallagher: Urban character not limited to metro downtowns
Urban living means more than just locating in the downtown core of the biggest cities. What people are looking for is not a compromised blend of suburban and urban, but an urban condition scaled to their lifestyle.
Much at stake in the design of our downtown plazas
As the Indiana Pacers contemplate an outdoor space adjacent to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, it’s a good time to consider the design elements that make a successful plaza work.
URBAN DESIGN: Urban dwellings need separation from the street
New multi-family projects often fail to provide the privacy statement delivered by the porch, stoop or plinth.
URBAN DESIGN: Score high on ‘Stroller Index’ to keep millennials in city
Young parents give urban neighborhoods seal of approval for safety, walkability.
URBAN DESIGN: Red Line predecessors led to city prosperity
Previous expansions of public transportation were also followed by population growth.
URBAN DESIGN: Minneapolis getting kudos for Indy-like housing policies
Northern city’s headline-grabbing policy isn’t much different than what we’ve already accomplished.
URBAN DESIGN: Placemaking and retail go hand in hand
Far from dead, bricks-and-mortar stores have the power to boost city in quest for workforce talent.
URBAN DESIGN: Creating more car-free zones would lift city’s quality of life
Making pedestrians, cyclists a priority has driven economic development in cities around the world.
URBAN DESIGN: Parking has outsized influence on downtown’s built environment
Do we want to be known as a lively urban place … or a place for parking?
URBAN DESIGN: Weak link between food deserts, poor nutrition
Easy access to groceries no panacea for bad nutrition, but built environment has role to play.
URBAN DESIGN: Density will lead to more thoughtful communities
Places thrive when they’re designed to bring us together, not keep us apart.
URBAN DESIGN: Who owns the streets? All of us, even scooter riders
Over-regulation is a threat to the complexity—and beauty—of urban living.