We know today that these maps were, in many ways, self-fulfilling in that they led to a cycle of devaluation, disinvestment and displacement in many of the areas designated as declining or dangerous.
Read MoreRedlining, which influenced lending practices until the 1968 Fair Housing Act made its precepts illegal, had far deeper consequences than any single bad appraisal or refused loan.
Read MoreThe headline-grabbing solutions like “smart city” technologies, electric cars and net-zero-energy buildings, while important, can feel like a search for proverbial silver bullets and, in any case, are massive undertakings that seem distant and out of our hands.
Transit is absolutely an important component of successful, livable places. But it’s all the things that surround transit that the new zoning overlay addresses.
Design is often misconstrued to be a luxury. Yet, at its core, design is about creatively solving the problems we all face at any scale.
We also have an abundance of potential catalytic projects—either in design or gaining momentum—that, thoughtfully executed and with the right partners in place, could set the bar for our next 100 years.
Now, in my observation, Columbus has made up the gap in its downtown while making its neighborhoods even stronger.
In the design of our cities, we too often default to the average male as a stand-in for everyone.
The recently released transportation plan from the Biden administration includes numerous initiatives that will be significant to cities, but the $80 billion designated for upgrading passenger rail is one of the most significant and could vault Indy forward.
The making of lasting and consequential memorials, however, can be a supremely difficult task, even under the best of conditions.
It is striking, though, how often cities that are far north of us outrank us in quality of life and livability metrics—indices that typically include weather as a factor.
It is important to understand, too, that a desire for urban living is not simply a hipster trend or a temporary phase of youth.
Healthy cities have multiple housing types at a variety of price points.
Businesses in Indy’s downtown and elsewhere in the region are counting on you for their survival.
The people who’ve been riding it are the ones who keep our economy moving.
Healthy city centers have enough people living in them to keep businesses alive in good times and bad.
Art and artists have always been a comfort during crises.
People who work together in diverse groups learn from one another and build places all of us can be proud of.
It’s time to try new things, like turning over some of the public right-of-way for restaurant seating.
We need to be smart about the lessons we take away from our experience with COVID-19.
Buildings that shut out street life are all about isolation, a concept we’re experiencing to an uncomfortable degree.
We shouldn’t accept the existence of barren, tree-less blocks downtown or elsewhere in our city.
