The Case for a Feeling Architecture
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The Case for a Feeling Architecture

My mother is a psychologist, so our family talks a lot about emotion.More specifically, we discuss the experience of emotion, because, as she likes to remind me and my sisters, “We don’t think our feelings—we feel them, in our bodies.” According to my mother, it’s this experience of emotion that gives our lives a sense of meaning and vitality; as a result, her work isn’t about intellectual insight or abstract theories, but rather about giving her patients a new experience of themselves in the world.

Defining the 15-minute city
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Defining the 15-minute city

Defining the 15-minute city The “15-minute city” may be defined as an ideal geography where most human needs and many desires are located within a travel distance of 15 minutes. Here’s what that means. ANDRES DUANY, ROBERT STEUTEVILLE    FEB. 8, 2021 The 15-minute city is gaining significant traction politically and in planning circles, but what does it…

The Storefront Accelerator
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The Storefront Accelerator

The Storefront Accelerator By  Jaime J. Izurieta Your storefront can make you money. Odds are it is not and you are wasting a great opportunity.  Design brings people into your store. It attracts new customers and tells them what your business is about. Once inside, it guides them to what you want them to see.  Most…

To Save the Planet, Start with Sidewalks
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To Save the Planet, Start with Sidewalks

Why does social life matter so much for our sustainable future? And what does the future of our planet have to do with our sidewalks?

Imagine if the places where we live were shaped by our social lives, re-imagined to make it easy for us to gather, shop, have fun, eat together, and meet new people. With this mindset, we would fundamentally change our communities. Maybe this vision is closer than we think: Perhaps, all we have to do to bring this to life is start with the sidewalks.

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Oxnard Draft Downtown Code & Architectural Guidelines

Oxnard recently released the Draft of the new Downtown Code & Architectural Guidelines. Click the image below to get your PDF copy. If you would like to comment on this document please contact us.

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Gentle density: Making neighborhoods transit-ready

A recently built accessory dwelling in a new urban subdivision in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Source: Mission Heights development. ROBERT STEUTEVILLE    AUG. 30, 2018 Fayetteville, Arkansas, is a rapidly growing city—the largest in Northwest Arkansas, a region with major corporate headquarters including Walmart, and a major research university in the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is a low-density city…

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Housing and Oxnard

Oxnard has a severe housing shortage. Earlier this year SB 827 attempted to help communities build more housing. If the direction of SB 827 is correct the “fixes” relate mostly to zoning that incentives sprawl and makes it almost impossible to build in city cores. I will not go into the failure of SB 827…

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From Vision to Policy, Making New Urbanism Work

“Brilliant podcast on placemaking, public policy, planning departments and the public. I cannot recommend this podcast highly enough.” Editor.   JULY 26, 2018   BY STRONG TOWNS This is our sixth dispatch from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), which took place in Savannah, Georgia in May. Chuck Marohn attended CNU and hosted a series of in-depth podcast conversations…

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Making Cities More Dense Always Sparks Resistance. Here’s How To Overcome It.

“NIMBYs are not necessarily the problem. They are behaving normally for humans. The problem is politicians and other decision-makers who know better, who don’t do the right thing because of NIMBY fear. If you’ve had a long process, heard from thousands of people, investigated and understood the technical issues, know your aspirations as a city,…

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Twelve Steps of Sprawl Recovery

Image courtesy of the Village of Providence Twelve steps of sprawl recovery In communities across America sprawl is giving way to more diverse places. Here are a dozen keys to that trend. STEVE MOUZON    FEB. 13, 2018 The storm clouds of sprawl addiction had been gathering for years, but it took the Meltdown and the ensuing…