Morning Cup of Planning: Friday, January 20th

As we bring the week to a close, this Friday’s Morning Cup of Planning began with another article by Kaid Benfield over at Switchboard. Here he discusses a study that observed walking distances of residents in older residential neighborhoods whose commercial districts were located at the core compared to those living in suburban developments with commercial services located along a major arterial corridor. Next up, from the Atlantic Cities, read about one topic not always taken into full consideration during the design process, user age. Here the question is “how do we create cities in which both 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds can move about safely and enjoyably?” Then over at SustainableCitiesCollective, we revisit a video from 1948 portraying the ideals of urbanism and compare them to present day. How much different are they? From Rustwire, read up on an example of how developers in the current economy are attempting to literally build a facade that hides a deeper issue. What may look good from the outside is only temporary and may not always be the healthiest option for a towns internal workings. Lastly, from Strongsville, Ohio to the Strong Towns blog, Charles Marohn writes “to build Strong Towns, a community’s emphasis needs to shift from creating growth quickly and easily to building value in a broad and incremental way.” If you do not read any other article in this weeks Cup of Planning, be sure to read this one.  Hope you have a good weekend and please join us again on Tuesday for another serving of your Morning Cup of Planning!