That underscores my point about the trolley. We can't support mass trans for the masses (which is really what the voters voted for IMO). But we did vote for it and it is going to built. It will serve some downtown dwellers and tourists and primarily add to the disneyfied Urban feeling than actually serve the grander purpose of moving the masses.


Maybe that's fine.

That's what a lot of maps has done and that's why we did many of those projects, entertainment. It's a lot cheaper to go to downtown OKC, ride the trolley ride, ride the canal boat ride, buy some cotton candy or some Pitznickle candy than it is to go spend a similar weekend in Chicago, New York or the actual Disneyland.

As far as affluence goes, I don't have a problem with people having money or living downtown. I'm not part of the 1% but have plenty of money and can afford to live just about anywhere I want, including downtown. Rich people have to live somewhere. If I worked there I would want to live there. I don't and I don't.

To underscore what I said and to bring back the literature referenced, this all comes at a price and does not stand up to the social and political claims some make that our great new Urbanism is going to save all of us from the evils of suburbia or that if only we didn't have suburbia to drag down the urban life we could have urban life the way we want it.

We've encouraged "revitalizing" downtown. That means gentrification and all that comes with it, including disnification of our downtown and Urbanista snobs unfortunately.

Holy crap you've got an axe to grind. You criticize a lot, but you haven't said what you want downtown to be. I've tried to figure it out but I can't. It's clear you see downtown as a playground for the rich, but I can't figure out what you would do differently.

We have to deal with political realities. We aren't going to convince voters to fund a billion dollar commuter rail system today. It just won't happen. It's easiest to spend our money and our efforts downtown. It's a high profile location and has public support.

Holy crap you've got an axe to grind. You criticize a lot, but you haven't said what you want downtown to be. I've tried to figure it out but I can't. It's clear you see downtown as a playground for the rich, but I can't figure out what you would do differently.

We have to deal with political realities. We aren't going to convince voters to fund a billion dollar commuter rail system today. It just won't happen. It's easiest to spend our money and our efforts downtown. It's a high profile location and has public support.

I started grinding my axe when the comment on this board was made by one of the regulars about OKC surbubia "Let it rot." Similar viewpoints occur on this board by the Urbanistas pretty regularly, with no real all encompassing solutions, just misguided politics.

I'm calling it like I see it and like others who study this see it. If you have something to refute that, cough it up.

So your basic issue is that you want tax dollars spent in location X, even though we can't afford to fund low-density X anymore, so you are taking it out on those of us who want responsible and sustainable government spending in location Y. So let me ask again, what is your solution to sustain suburbia; higher taxes, toll roads, free-flow of oil at below market prices, etc...?

So your basic issue is that you want tax dollars spent in location X, even though we can't afford to fund low-density X anymore, so you are taking it out on those of us who want responsible and sustainable government spending in location Y. So let me ask again, what is your solution to sustain suburbia; higher taxes, toll roads, free-flow of oil at below market prices, etc...?

I've given some of my solutions in the past and we've had short discussions on them. My solution is not to stake out a part of the city, gentrify it, kick the poor and middle class into other areas, call that the burbs and vilify them from my lofty unaffordable perch. Let me know when you solve that problem with your plan in a manner the planners and developers will accept.

I've given some of my solutions in the past and we've had short discussions on them. My solution is not to stake out a part of the city, gentrify it, kick the poor and middle class into other areas, call that the burbs and vilify them from my lofty unaffordable perch. Let me know when you solve that problem with your plan in a manner the planners and developers will accept.

You mean like what happened from 1945 to 2013 which resulted in nearly every person over the age 18 who wants to be a fully functional member of society in OKC having to own a car. I think your problem is that you don't even realize you are part of the problem. And don't take it personal - it is not just you. I am part of the problem as well - but at least I can see I am part of the problem and am trying to fix it.

If you have an hour you might want to give this a read. I think it will help you better understand the solutions New Urbanism are trying to implement. However, you are right about one thing - a lot of planners, developers, home builders, traffic engineers, and elected officials are trying to keep these solutions from being implemented. You should help us fight them.

http://www.cnu.org/sites/files/charter_book.pdf

If you don't have an hour just read essays 7, 8, 9, 12, and 13

Everyone who lives downtown is part of the problem too. Everything they use is trucked in and piped in from somewhere else and almost all of the economy associated with downtown depends on interstate transportation. That's not going to change when some wealthy people move there and drive up the property values.

Found this in my email today from The New York Times Sunday Book Review. I thought it might interest some.

A HISTORY OF FUTURE CITIES

By Daniel Brook

Norton, $27.95.

“Arriving at each new city,” Italo Calvino wrote in “Invisible Cities,” “the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had.” Brook provides just such an unexpected past in his persuasive and lushly detailed new tale of four cities — St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Mumbai and Dubai — offering an intellectual history of cities at the crossroads of East and West, rich and poor, modern and conservative. Beginning in St. Petersburg, which Dostoyevsky called “the most abstract and intentional city on the globe,” Brook explores the architecture and urban planning of these megacities to understand the aspirations of their founders and inhabitants. In Shanghai, we meet the foreign colonizing “Shanghailanders” who, despite their purely capitalist intentions, created a global metropolis that became “the crucible for a distinct Chinese modernity.” In Mumbai, the Raj’s “bizarro London” gave rise to new stylistic and political hybrids, from “Bombay Gothic” architecture to the Indian National Congress. But Brook’s argument is not just a historical one. His modern “future city” is Dubai (and, by extension, other booming cosmopolitan centers of the East and South). While Dubai’s excesses are easy to mock — it boasts not one but two replicas of the Chrysler Building — Brook takes the city-state seriously. After all, in his reading of today’s ersatz global architecture, “the copies have become more important than the originals.” Not content with the idea that millions flock to these cities merely for the promise of higher wages, Brook argues that the draw “is more than just the lure of great wealth; it is the lure of participating in modernity.”

And from the other end of the spectrum we get this....

Dubai-style island off coast of Barcelona provokes dismay - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/10068945/Dubai-style-island-off-coast-of-Barcelona-provokes-dismay.html)


The artificial island would be reached by a walkway from the mainland where a 984ft Space Hotel equipped with a vertical wind tunnel and the world's first zero-gravity spa will provide an "other worldly experience for guests wishing to travel to distant galaxies".

A multinational consortium led by US-based Mobilona unveiled its ambitious project last week when it lodged a request for planning permission with Barcelona City Hall.

With an initial investment of 1.5 billion euros (£1.27 billion), the hotel complex will also include a 24 hour shopping mall, a marina capable of mooring yachts up to 656 feet in length, and private apartments, some of which will be available on a "timeshare" system of 20,000 euros for an annual one-week occupancy right.

...

The plans however have already been dismissed by Barcelona's mayor as "not in keeping" with his vision for Barcelona.

"We have no need or desire to take on projects of this nature," Xavier Trias, the mayor from Catalonia's centre-right nationalist CiU party, said in an interview with the Catalan news channel 3/24, while admitting the City Hall will give the proposal due consideration.

"We are a city of culture, knowledge, of creativity, and of innovation, and our project (for the city) will follow a different path."

"We have no intention of turning Barcelona into a spectacle," he added.


Mayor Trias, I stand up and salute you.

. . . and, borrowing again from Barcelona, I think the design of the Neo-Urban hotel under discussion on the east edge of UrbaniaOKC should incorporate some of these classic elements. Plus a trolley.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AMBJssLVfDU/UCUh24MVYcI/AAAAAAAAArM/7bLuj_-gS9Y/s640/Sagrada_Familia_Church_gaudi_holly_family_barcelon a_spain_catalonia_travel_barcelona.jpg

Those gizmos on top of the spires could be wind generators (windmills) to power the cranes that would lift you, your armor, your horse and Sancho Panza so you could tilt at them. (not you, amigo, the general "you"/visitor to Disneylandia =)


"We have no intention of turning Barcelona into a spectacle," he added.
Onion Headline: Mayor of Barcelona Needs Glasses And Forbids Them

I started grinding my axe when the comment on this board was made by one of the regulars about OKC surbubia "Let it rot." Similar viewpoints occur on this board by the Urbanistas pretty regularly, with no real all encompassing solutions, just misguided politics.

I'm calling it like I see it and like others who study this see it. If you have something to refute that, cough it up.

You haven't stated an opinion. You've just run around calling people "urbanistas". There is nothing to refute because you never put forth an idea of your own.

There's a reason we went down the Maps path, why it came into being, why I and others supported it. It has absolutely nothing to do with New Urbanism, despite the pretense of some. I'm good with the intents of where that came from and where it's taken us for the most part, with the exclusions of the ones who have come after and want to co-opt that into something it never was, a Downtown versus Suburbia, AKA Downtown against 90% of the city. Read some history. That appears to have all been before your time.

This is a fantastic point. The majority of people in this city (not people who post on OKCTalk, and not the people we yammer at incessantly in our personal lives) don't think about mass transit at all. If you asked my parents about mass transit in Oklahoma City they would stare at you blankly. "Why would we want that?" Most people have very little interest in it. After all, they have cars. But a streetcar? That sounds kind of cool. It will be a Disneyland ride to people at first, they will get on it just to get on it. But if it is designed properly, people will notice how useful it is. After some time to adjust to the idea, people may be much more willing to consider funding light rail.

We are taking baby steps here.

Yeah. We're building a streetcar not because we need it and it will be tremendously useful. We're building it because it's cool and useful for public relations.

The most appropriate way to sell the public on light rail or any other large mass trans option is to show them it's needed, is affordable and will be used. That happens with those actual conditions in place, good hard studies, leadership and a cooperative, willing voter base. Apparently those conditions aren't in place to start with.

Yeah. We're building a streetcar not because we need it and it will be tremendously useful. We're building it because it's cool and useful for public relations.

The most appropriate way to sell the public on light rail or any other large mass trans option is to show them it's needed, is affordable and will be used. That happens with those actual conditions in place, good hard studies, leadership and a cooperative, willing voter base. Apparently those conditions aren't in place to start with.

I seem to recall saying that changing public attitudes towards mass transit was a secondary benefit of the streetcar. Clearly you like to argue for argument's sake, and this is your pet thread. But, do you seriously think that a state that rejected federal funding for health care will altruistically pay for public transit for those who can't afford it? People aren't going to read studies, nor are they going to be willing and cooperative unless they see it as something that benefits them. Do you ride the bus? Do you have any friends who ride the bus? I have a couple of very pro-transit friends who inconvenience themselves by riding the bus to do what they see is the right thing. I know no one else who has ever considered riding it. And yet, despite having been a glaringly inadequate system as long as I have lived here, it has generated almost no political will to change it, much less increase funding. So, if the streetcar secondarily changes attitudes towards mass transit, I see that as a good thing.

For those who haven't seen it, the Travel Channel has a series on extreme parking around the world. While some of the content is more fun and whimsical (bikini meter maids in Australia for example), much of it is dedicated to solving parking problem in congested cities or anywhere parking is an issue. Here is short video on parking in Rome where up to 80% of all traffic is created by people looking for a parking space.

Extreme Parking, Roman Style Video : Extreme Parking : Travel Channel (http://www.travelchannel.com/video/extreme-parking-roman-style)

A little more extreme in Germany

JguJpX7bS6k

I found this story to be of interest. In the book Suburban Nation there is a chapter on the victims of urban sprawl and Howard Kunstler has spoken a lot about the social isolation of people, especially older people, caused by the suburban style single development style. And of course, it is well documented that the sedimentary lifestyle that is a result of urban sprawl produces all of the medical problems this guy was being treated for. While this story doesn't identify the man's lifestyle situation his 'symptoms' match those identified by new urbanist. I did find it sad that the expert in the second half of the article doesn't find the same cause as the person the story is about.

Baby boomers are killing themselves at an alarming rate, raising question: Why? - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/baby-boomers-are-killing-themselves-at-an-alarming-rate-begging-question-why/2013/06/03/d98acc7a-c41f-11e2-8c3b-0b5e9247e8ca_story.html)

In the book Suburban Nation there is a chapter on the victims of urban sprawl and Howard Kunstler has spoken a lot about the social isolation of people, especially older people, caused by the suburban style single development style.

^Copyright 2000 with actual studies sometime before then. And then there's this, whatever impact it has on social isolation. In other words, we wouldn't really know much of anything about how much people are isolated today by reading that book.




http://facebookjustice.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/socialmediatl_05.png

Something else for the NU library...






http://i.imgur.com/dxfWK.jpg

teaching - Examples to teach: Correlation does not mean causation - Cross Validated (http://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/36/examples-to-teach-correlation-does-not-mean-causation)

Howard Kunstler - Dissecting Suburbia

caution - occasional bad language

Q1ZeXnmDZMQ

Interested if any of you guys have read Walkable City by Jeff Speck yet? Thoughts on it? I just got it in the mail and am really excited to start it.

Read it three times. You might also be interested to read his report he did for the City of OKC not long ago: http://okc.gov/planning/resources/OKCSpeckFINAL.pdf

I read his report. Haven't watched his talk yet. That was next on my list. You gave a talk at the Placemaking Conference as well, correct?

I just reread his report for the City that you linked to. Is the City doing any of the things he suggested in the report? My favorite suggestion is terminating Gaylord at 3rd.

Something else for the NU library...






http://i.imgur.com/dxfWK.jpg

teaching - Examples to teach: Correlation does not mean causation - Cross Validated (http://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/36/examples-to-teach-correlation-does-not-mean-causation)


http://www.venganza.org/images/PiratesVsTemp.png

I posted this in the Windsor thread but I wanted to include it here because it can serve as a model for so many parts of OKC. This presentation was done in Christchurch, NZ where they are trying to build a new town from sprawl - New Riccartron. The presentation is very comprehensive including a way to multi-purpose streetcars to deliver goods and products during late night and early morning hours instead of using trucks.

fTrj2f9t3So

I got stuck in an extended weather delay leaving Atlanta last night so I took a look at the in-flight magazine and I am glad I did. There is a story about the revitalization on Baltimore. Here is the link to the story and some quotes.

GO: AirTran Inflight Magazine (http://www.airtranmagazine.com/features/2013/06/baltimore-june2013/index)

http://www.airtranmagazine.com/contentFiles/image/aaaaa-590x400.jpg


Usually, a city changes slowly, organically, adapting to its time, its people, its surroundings. Changes occur naturally, a city evolves. Not so in Baltimore, where the rezoning will make a whole lot of change happen, fast.

...

Charm City is reinventing itself—becoming Baltimore 2.0 if you will—and undertaking a massive transformation in order to better reflect its current way of life. While a city rewriting its zoning code may sound boring, this particular rezoning will bring about a lot of exciting changes—from new green spaces and mass transit to the preservation of its waterfront.

“We are trying to reflect how things have changed with technologies and what people want in a city now,” Baltimore’s Department of Planning Director Tom Stosur says. “That means things like more mass transit and bike parking.”

...

Stosur and his planning team found that the zoning code written in the ’70s was set up with a very suburban mindset—accommodating cars, not people, building garages, not green spaces—an idea they are now trying to reverse to create a more urban Baltimore. The old zoning code strictly separated residential, commercial and industrial spaces. Now, the idea is to make mixed-use spaces possible.

...

Stosur says that this type of community growth is exactly what he’s going for, allowing residents and tourists to be able to explore the city more freely... and on foot.

“We want a mix of uses to be possible so that people can walk to a market or do some shopping without getting into their cars for everything,” he says.

Not being car-reliant is a big part of TransForm Baltimore’s mission. It will introduce new transit-oriented development zones around things like Baltimore’s above-ground north-south Light Rail, the free Charm City Circulator bus, Metro subway and the not-yet-built Red Line, an east-west mass transit rail.

...

Currently, many big developments along the water—particularly Key Highway across from the American Visionary Art Museum in Federal Hill—block pedestrian views. The new code aims to establish public-access corridors (open 24/7) that lead pedestrians closer to the water.

...

“I picture Baltimore becoming a very welcoming place for new investment and development,” Stosur says. “But we are still keeping and improving the best of the tremendous history and neighborhoods they we already have.”

Found this piece in The Edmond Sun. Good read!

'New urbanism concept is alive in Oklahoma
William F. O'Brien
Special to The Sun

EUFAULA — American journalist Lincoln Steffens wrote from Moscow: “I have seen the future, and it works.” He wrote this in the early 1920s after seeing the effects of the Russian Revolution. But Steffens was wrong, and now the Soviet system is seen as a modern form of barbarism.

But a true glimpse of the future may be seen in Oklahoma at the site of the community of Carlton Landing that is adjacent to Lake Eufaula. It is being constructed in accordance with the tenants of what is known as the “new urbanism” design movement. That concept has been pioneered by architects, urban planners and environmentalists'

- See more at: New urbanism concept is alive in Oklahoma » Opinion » The Edmond Sun (http://www.edmondsun.com/opinion/x789508998/New-urbanism-concept-is-alive-in-Oklahoma#sthash.I6PynZKy.dpuf)

Carlton Landing

Lake Homes for Sale in Eufaula, Oklahoma | Eufaula, OK Real Estate | Carlton Landing (http://www.carltonlanding.com/)

One thing you will notice from their site plan is that there is very little private ownership of natural area frontage. The natural assets are available to everyone equally. In modern pod subdivisions natural spaces are usually located in people's backyards so only those homeowners can see it or enjoy it.

Here is a quick example. The first picture is of a subdivision in Norman. All of the lake front is in someone's backyard. Even with a path around the lake you still have to be in people's back yard which makes the lake visitor feel like an intruder and violates the homeowners backyard privacy. The second photo is from Lake Baldwin (Orlando). Here the lake is open to everyone. Also, note the cul-de-sacs in photo 1 and none in photo 2.

Photo 1 - Norman
http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x378/KerryinJax/pond1_zpsd615daa5.jpg

Photo 2 - Lake Baldwin, FL
http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x378/KerryinJax/pond2_zpsf0cb1d32.jpg

Next time I get a Lovella's craving, I will drive to Carlton Landing to see what it is like. I am interested to see how much is done and what it is like.

On a side note - isn't Lake Baldwin built on the old RTC/NTC Orlando naval base? I went to nuclear power school there a long time ago. I heard it was redeveloped into a high end area after it was BRAC'd in 1995.

On a side note - isn't Lake Baldwin built on the old RTC/NTC Orlando naval base? I went to nuclear power school there a long time ago. I heard it was redeveloped into a high end area after it was BRAC'd in 1995.

Yes it is. I actually have trip planned there sometime in the next few weeks as part of a new urbanism tour I am putting together.

I often think the most overused word in OKC redevelopment conversations is "iconic". If everything is iconic, nothing is. The vast majority of structures in urban areas will not be iconic. They will be ordinary, unremarkable - normal. They serve the function needed and that is good enough. OKC needs a ton more unremarkable development downtown rather than trying to make everything stand out. Thoughts?


The case for unremarkable buildings - Strong Towns Blog - Strong Towns (http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2013/8/27/the-case-for-unremarkable-buildings.html)

That's in interesting thought but I don't think I really hear the word "iconic" used that much.

Not as much as in the past for sure. For a while everything was going to be iconc - boulevard, Skydance Bridge, Myriad Gardens, convention center, park,..... thankfully it has fallen out of favor as the word du jour.

Not as much as in the past for sure. For a while everything was going to be iconc - boulevard, Skydance Bridge, Myriad Gardens, convention center, park,..... thankfully it has fallen out of favor as the word du jour.

Actually, I didn't even hear it that much for any of the things you mentioned except the Skydance Bridge.

I often think the most overused word in OKC redevelopment conversations is "iconic". If everything is iconic, nothing is. The vast majority of structures in urban areas will not be iconic. They will be ordinary, unremarkable - normal. They serve the function needed and that is good enough. OKC needs a ton more unremarkable development downtown rather than trying to make everything stand out. Thoughts?


The case for unremarkable*buildings - Strong Towns Blog - Strong Towns (http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2013/8/27/the-case-for-unremarkable-buildings.html)

Amen Capt. Dave. There was a while there that I thought the only adjective many of our civic and political leaders knew was 'iconic'. I really don't think they know what that words even means. I was watching a program a while back (man I wish I could remember what it was called) that defined an iconic structure as being recognizable in a drawing using 4 line or less. If it took more than 4 lines to trigger the recognition part of the brain it isn't iconic.

As for the main theme of your post, OKC needs more urban fabric and less skyline peaks, and that urban fabric needs to have variety in it but not every building has to 'raise the bar' by itself. I have a lot of items on my to do list by my 5 year plan still involves developing 3 to 5 story buildings. Buildings just need to define the public realm and enhance the neighborhood, they don't need to be in a coffee table book as singular works of art (but that seems to be all architects and the people who hire them want to build).

Exactly - we need several "ordinary" buildings executed well. I think the MidtownR group does this with their rehabs. Marva Ellard did so with the Sieber. The Edge and Bricktown East apartments do as well. Even Legacy functions well in its primary role even if many people do not like the details. But soon it will be nearly unnoticeable because it will no longer stand out as one of very few downtown mixed use developments. It will just blend in with everything else. I think we are trending that direction and we will soon see "ordinary" outnumber attempts to erect monuments to the designer very soon.

Exactly - we need several "ordinary" buildings executed well. I think the MidtownR group does this with their rehabs. Marva Ellard did so with the Sieber. The Edge and Bricktown East apartments do as well. Even Legacy functions well in its primary role even if many people do not like the details. But soon it will be nearly unnoticeable because it will no longer stand out as one of very few downtown mixed use developments. It will just blend in with everything else. I think we are trending that direction and we will soon see "ordinary" outnumber attempts to erect monuments to the designer very soon.

I love the way the "ordinary" stuff houses absolute jewels. I can't remember the thread I saw on here that seemed to be just that -- I think it was the Sieber that is referenced above.

Project for Public Spaces

Project for Public Spaces | Placemaking for Communities (http://www.pps.org/)

For those looking for photos of great public spaces, walkability, new urbanism, old urbanism, and the like - knock yourself out. They also host a blog site on many subjects.

Just putting this here for future reference.

Oklahoma City Thunder: Kevin Durant weighs in on contract, real estate and being proud of his mom | News OK (http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-thunder-kevin-durant-weighs-in-on-contract-real-estate-and-being-proud-of-his-mom/article/3898196)


One thing we haven't talked to you about is your decisions with real estate. You've purchased some property in the area and sold another. Is there anything you can tell us about what that all means?

...So living downtown now is quite an experience because I see so many people and see so many different things. I don't feel secluded. When I was living out in Edmond, in the Gaillardia area, I felt so far away from the people. But now I feel right in the mix so it feels cool.

Great Tedx Talk by James Kunstler
"How Bad Architecture Wrecked Cities"


http://youtu.be/Q1ZeXnmDZMQ

I love that talk. I listen to it whenever I need a pick-me up.

On a related note - I am now a certified New Urbanist according to the University of Miami. I completed the New Urbanism course back in September and the final test grade was release today. I was planning on joining CNU at the Advocate level but it turns out I scored high enough on the final (not sure where the bar was set) to become accredited, so I guess I have to bump my membership up to the Urbanist level. In January I start real-estate school so I can start laying the ground for my next adventure.

JTF, you go boy. And don't stop until you you've dragged us all along with you. I have no idea what you're hatching, but I'm sure OKC will be better off for it.

Sid, I totally get it. This is something I care about more after having lived in Asia for several years. After being in such great places, I just can't help but proselytize to whoever will listen about the virtues of design, place-making, density, transit, and bike/walkability.

I just wanted to put this here so I can find it later. Thanks for posting it CaptDave.


Why Crumbling Urban Freeways Should be Torn Down And No New Ones Should be Built - Firefly Living (http://fireflyliving.com/2013/10/28/why-crumbling-urban-freeways-should-be-torn-down-and-no-new-ones-should-be-built/)

You are quite welcome. Here is a collection of pretty good blog posts that may be interesting:

Our blogs | Better! Cities & Towns Online (http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs)

On a related note - I am now a certified New Urbanist according to the University of Miami. I completed the New Urbanism course back in September and the final test grade was release today. I was planning on joining CNU at the Advocate level but it turns out I scored high enough on the final (not sure where the bar was set) to become accredited, so I guess I have to bump my membership up to the Urbanist level. In January I start real-estate school so I can start laying the ground for my next adventure.

Nice -congratulations. I was looking at that program but decided to wait until I finish grad school.

Thanks guys. The class was a lot more work that I thought it would be. It is a 3 month course but they allow a one-time transfer into the next session and since I was only doing it for myself I decided to take the extension which stretched it out to 7 months. There was so much information presented that even with the additional time I still couldn't get to all of it. I was on sensory over-load for several months.

If anyone is planning on taking the course here are a few tips.

1) Read Suburban Nation and the Charter for the New Urbanism now. Buy the Best Practice Guide as soon as you get your registration verification email (you get a substantial discount on the book if you include your registration email with the order).

2) Highlight like crazy. If someone's name or a study is mentioned - highlight it. If a list is presented (like the five B's or the eight keys to waterfront development) highlight it and know what each item means. If statistics are presented - highlight them.

3) Take everything you highlight and type it into a word document. This will make it very easy to search for answers during the final exam. Plus you end up with a handy quick reference guide.

4) The on-line course consist of a power point style presentation. At the beginning of each section there is a short list of learning objectives. I tried to answer each learning objective using the information from that section (things aren't always presented in the order of the learning objectives so you have to think about each item presented and which objective it goes to). Document all of this in the Word Document for quick reference later

5) Go through the on-line course from beginning to end the first time without taking any notes just to get an idea of what each section is about and to figure out how to budget your time. Some sections are much longer than others.

6) Get ready to watch hours and hours and hours of videos. I hooked my laptop to the TV so I could watch them in comfort. One of the videos is a 2 hour lecture by James Kunstler which isn't available anywhere else. That alone was worth the price of admission.

7) If you can - take the transfer but do it at the last day to do so because you lose access to the class as soon as you let them know you are transferring. I used the short time gap to get some of the reading done.

8) The final is around 100 questions (mine was 96 questions) and you are given 3.5 hours. I took just over 3 hours. Don't stay on one question too long. A blank answer is the same as a wrong answer, so just skip the question and come back to it at the end. That way if you have enough time you can do more research but if you are running low on time you can always guess.

9) The class material had a lot of hyperlinks to wide variety of website. I put them all in one folder so I can go through them on a cold winter day.

^ I need to remember where I read this! Great info - thanks. Maybe I will be able to start Summer 2015'ish.

Great find Sid. I am putting this here so I can find it later.


HUD and DOT launch housing and transportation cost calculator | Better! Cities & Towns Online (http://bettercities.net/article/hud-and-dot-launch-housing-and-transportation-cost-calculator-20848)

Just finished Long Emergency and Too Much Magic by Kunstler. They're both harder to read and more compelling than Walkable City. Of course Kunstler's Long Emergency is a vision of doom for the mega city, so these books may not be totally relevant to the thread. Still would encourage people to read them as he basically just regurgitates the message from his books in his lectures, at least the ones I've seen.

The Long Emergency is on my Wish List. From what I have seen, it is only doom for the mega city if we don't change our development patters. That ones the do will survive and the ones that don't will fall into ash heap of history.

Go ahead and pick it up! Once you get past his upper Atlantic homerism and the fact he was a theater major, its very stimulating. As far as the mega city, he credits New Urbanism for become the accepted standard for new development, but warns of the danger of technology dependent architecture, such as skyscrapers and high-rise residential.

I am about half way through the The End of the Suburbs and there is a passage that says El Paso, TX has passed a city ordinance that any design firm involved with any city project must have at least one member of the team certified in New Urbanism. On top of that they made all City Engineers and department heads also get certified. Maybe they are on to something.

I found this story today.

El Paso Teaches New Urbanism to Architects, Engineers (http://www.governing.com/columns/urban-notebook/gov-city-governments-make-new-urbanism-part-of-work-culture.html)


El Paso ended up offering a nine-week session on new urbanism to its department heads and engineers, and has since opened the course up to the private sector. The city has also started requiring that any design firm that wants to do capital work with the city has to have someone on the team accredited in new urbanism practices. According to McElroy, approximately 100 city staff and 100 private architects and engineers have taken the course and passed the accreditation exam.

JTF, is there a CNU chapter here? Just curious. Went to their website but it seems you can't really find any useful info until you pay to join. I'd love to get involved in some way. For now it's showing our local friends that yes, you can walk around in downtown OKC and do stuff, which is still a step forward for most OKC residents :)

OKC doesn't have a CNU chapter, but you can join CNU as an Advocate for $40 years and get access to their monthly newsletter and other info. Like you, I wish there was a way to be more active at a local level but nothing exists that I am aware of. I guess the best we can do right now is just share what we know with anyone who will listen.

I just finished The End of The Suburbs by Leigh Gallagher (Assistant Managing Editor of Fortune Magazine). It includes lots of good material from demographic data, to housing statistics/trends, to anecdotal evidence about the demise of the suburbs. The author pulls lots of quotes from well-known New Urbanist but also includes quotes from an interview she did with Douglas Yearley, CEO of Toll Brothers (the inventor of the suburban McMansion and now one of America's largest urban builders).

The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream Is Moving: Leigh Gallagher: 9781591845256: Amazon.com: Books (http://www.amazon.com/The-End-Suburbs-American-Moving/dp/1591845254)

You know when one of America's best known suburban home builders goes urban that change is in the air.

Toll Brothers City Living | Home (http://www.tollbrotherscityliving.com/)

OKC doesn't have a CNU chapter, but you can join CNU as an Advocate for $40 years and get access to their monthly newsletter and other info. Like you, I wish there was a way to be more active at a local level but nothing exists that I am aware of. I guess the best we can do right now is just share what we know with anyone who will listen.

A Chapter organizing committee requires 20 local members, and a full chapter requires 40 or 50 members and requires the local committee to set up its own 501c(3). I've checked. :)

A Chapter organizing committee requires 20 local members, and a full chapter requires 40 or 50 members and requires the local committee to set up its own 501c(3). I've checked. :)

Certainly realistic here in the next few years, it seems? I get the feeling people here are even subconscious curious about this urban lifestyle, even if they don't take full advantage of it. Have a friend and his wife who live at Level - they've yet to try out Slims, WSKY, they don't shop at NR, but they still moved downtown. I wonder how many others there are like them who felt the pull downtown but have yet to take advantage. Imagine how much more they'd like it.

What should we do when "rugged individuals" do dumb things? ;)

A (somewhat) small example of why planning and government matter | New Urbanism Blog (http://newurbanismblog.com/small-planning-government-matter/)

Not sure if this belongs here, but just wanted to post it for the record of those who don't look at development going on in Edmond. Edmond really seems to be doing great things with their downtown.

Planners look at retail/urban housing mixes in downtown
James Coburn
The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — A presentation by Freese Nichols consultants of Fort Worth was made Wednesday to city staff and leaders regarding the Downtown Master Plan.

The Central Edmond Urban Development Board has revisited plans made in a 1998 Downtown Master Plan through public meetings and presentations to protect the future development of Broadway.

“Right now we are at the point of providing an assessment of not only the physical environment, but also the market conditions,” said Wendy Shabay, an associate urban planner with Freese Nichols. The next meeting in January will focus on recommendations.

The Central Business District area goes from Danforth to Ninth Street, to slightly west of the railroad tracks and then borders the University of Central Oklahoma and then to Ninth Street and Boulevard. This study will be limited in scope from Danforth to Fifth Street.

“You’ve got some challenges. Small blocks, fragmented land ownership, parking issues. We understand that. But that’s not a-typical,” said Paris Rutherford, principal at Catalyst Urban Development, located in Dallas.

The blocks define the real estate potential. Smaller plots generally push either lower density or higher development costs, Rutherford said.

Edmond is benefited by having a major university, Rutherford said. As a strategist, he partners with Freese Nichols in planning that is rooted in marketing realities.

“There is probably 40,000-50,000 square-feet of retail, primarily restaurant driven, and university driven retail that can occur within (a) 10-year period,” Rutherford said.

The area around downtown has about 56-acres of owner-occupied housing that can occur. There is 34-acres of renter occupied property, 15 acres for office and 3-5 acres retail programming, Rutherford said.

“So that says the retail is probably in a mixed use program that is combined with other uses,” he said.

One positive is that just about everything from the core of downtown to the University of Central Oklahoma is walkable. Most other cities are more spread out without the potential to connect, Rutherford said. There are areas between the core of downtown to Fifth Street with a lot of pavement and open spaces that do not hold together as a development pattern.

“We don’t disagree that there’s pressures of parking,” he said. “But there’s also another kind of parking problem that exists downtown. That is the impact that all these spaces that are parking lots have on what you experience.”

Structuring key linkage points of parking needs to be identified to generate activity for services and restaurants, Rutherford said. There is a need to identify development zones that are connected together.

“But it’s not necessarily that we’re going to take one block, tear it all down, put a building in here and have everything else be a parking lot,” he said.

There are ways to address the needs of churches while also addressing a community’s needs for economic development, he said.

The area lacks enough natural amenities such as Shannon Miller Park and Stephenson Park. Strategically located outdoor spaces will activate an urban environment, Rutherford said.

“It makes it easy to understand there is framework for investment,” he said.

- See more at: Planners look at retail/urban housing mixes in downtown » Local News » The Edmond Sun (http://www.edmondsun.com/local/x853086162/Planners-look-at-retail-urban-housing-mixes-in-downtown#sthash.33voSYBw.dpuf)

The downtown area of Edmond has tons of potential and it looks like the city leadership is heading in the right direction.

Kerry, Just read this article about the suburban design/location of Apple's new HQ affecting it's future recruiting efforts. I figured you would appreciate it.

Why Apple's Suburban Spaceship Could Lose the War for Tech Talent | Wired Business | Wired.com (http://www.wired.com/business/2013/12/apple-suburban-mothership/#!)

I saw someone re-tweet this article and thought it would be good to post here.

Urbanist Buzzwords to Rethink in 2014 - Atlantic Cities Staff - The Atlantic Cities (http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/12/urbanist-buzzwords-rethink-2014/7959/)