Good morning all from Greensboro, where it’s been Christmas for several hours now. Tomorrow we start the Kwanzaa and the extended Christmas season. We welcome 2013 in a few days. It’s that notion of 2013 that I want to meditate on right now. In 2012, I celebrated two years of putting together this blog, which […]
Every year for the last two years, I’ve put up my wishes for the urban fabric. This year, my wish manifests in one word: Maintain. It’s nice to have brand new town center neighborhoods, but let’s not forget to maintain the old ones, especially those that were already town centers. It’s nice to have brand […]
Streets like my own are becoming more desirable for Black Americans and others looking for better deals down South This weekend( April 20-21, 2012) I have the honor of being on a panel at the UNC Global South Symposium on the “reverse migration” of African Americans. In honor of this, I’m re-posting my original thoughts […]
Image by Jay’s Fine Art Photography A hip-hop blog. It’s time we stopped equating urban culture with black culture. While black culture is a part of urban culture, it’s not the whole picture. However, there will be the occasional hip-hop song because I like music. A complete slam of suburban and rural living. I’m all […]
Image via Apartment Therapy. When you think loft apartment, you probably think New York. Maybe LA. However, plenty of old industrial cities have wonderful lofts. Some of those lofts are fairly affordable on an average professional salary. Like Durham. This week for Apartment Healing, I’ll be highlighting a classic Durham tobacco loft. This is Apartment […]
Politico has written some great longreads recently on cities in the Piedmont region of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. So good, they have helped me refine and shape my urban theory. Namely, they’ve helped me be at peace with just being an urban theorist and influencing the world in that way. Before I went to Roanoke, one […]
We are just 10 days from Christmas and we just finished Hanukkah a couple of days ago. Throughout October-January, people will celebrate more than they have all year it seems, at least on a national scale. How has that manifested in different cities? What are some of the holiday traditions you’ve observed. I’ll share a […]
As of Saturday June 11, the Congress for New Urbanism has convened for 24 times. Since its inception, it’s gone through an evolution, an evolution powered by its roots in the architectural tradition of design and critique. It’s precisely this history which makes it still relevant in the greater design, development and governance (which I’m […]
Anyone who’s owned at least one bike, even if it was just a tri-cycle, has a story. As I’ve added to my fleet recently, here’s my story. It was Christmas of 1988. I can’t spell out any other details, but there’s photographic evidence, snapped by a parent of mine really being geeked out by my third Christmas. […]
Name any professional conference where a relative newcomer can come in, either invited or uninvited, state that at a certain time and certain place, they are going to put out an idea, record said idea and have a parent of a movement show up and give you props on what you said, even though you’ve […]
I un-ironically wear a raspberry beret sometimes in the winter, and yes, I do throw it up in the air and tell the world that I’m going to make it after all. I was already cliche Minneapolis before I even set foot there the first time. Two of my favorite speaking opportunities have been in the […]
This post is really long overdue and I was pushed to write it after seeing a couple of things on my timeline, as well as sorting out my thoughts as I make the move to Washington, DC from Kansas City. I’ve also been trying to be more literary in how I post here and less reactionary. […]
Hey everyone! For those of you who are on my email list, you probably noticed one of two things: It didn’t come at all and the link didn’t get posted to social media It came and it was all about stuff I’m doing, all my new blog posts and no links to any good articles. Also, […]
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 when it comes to talking […]
