Urbanism

"We kind of live in this eternal present of cities being a certain way and always seeming to remain that way." And that's bad, says today's guest.

A new book looks at the destructive 20th-century urban development style — freeways, downtown office towers, suburban housing developments — that keeps Americans so dependent on their cars. Here's an excerpt.

"This is not a feminist agenda. This is just logic," said one woman in power.

The urbanism YouTube sphere is thriving — but who's getting the views?

Alice Street, a film by Spencer Wilkinson, is the story of the people who created a mural at 14th and Alice in downtown Oakland

Are suburbs and small towns poised to make a comeback thanks to COVID 19?

Editor's note: Streetsblog San Francisco is thrilled to launch a three-part series today by renowned Danish architect and livable streets luminary Jan Gehl. The pieces are excerpts are from his book, "Cities for People" published by Island Press. Donate to Streetsblog SF and you'll qualify to win a copy of the book, courtesy of Island Press. Visit the Island Press website to find many more great titles by the nation's leading publisher of books on environmental issues.

Our daily urban lives shape our imaginations in so many ways. Few things box us in like our everyday transit options, and the patterns of traffic that shape our sense of public space. These patterns themselves are historical of course. A quick look back at the famous Market Street film shot a few days before the 1906 earthquake shows how chaotic and unpredictable the flow of traffic was when San Francisco's main artery hadn't yet been paved and standardized. Similarly, leaving the U.S. and visiting other countries provides a fantastic opportunity to experience other assumptions and possibilities for urban space, and surprisingly perhaps, a different range of vehicles.

Editor’s note: This concludes our 5-part series of excerpts from Peter Calthorpe’s book, “Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change.”  Thanks to Island Press, a few lucky Streetsblog readers will be selected to receive a free copy of the book. To enter the contest, fill out this form. We'll choose the winners tomorrow.