Fanis Grammenos

Driving makes people fatter and less healthy, right? Fanis Grammenos warns planners and urban designers that the answer is not so simple, and misusing the statistics will weaken effective debate.

In a previous article, Fanis Grammenos challenged planners' assumptions about the superiority of the rigid street grid, exemplified by Portland, Oregon. In this follow-up, Grammenos praises a neighborhood of Portland that took a different approach altogether to the organization of streets.

Athens, Greece has all the elements of good urbanism - density, diversity, destinations, distance (to transit) and design. So is Athens a poster child for good urbanism? Fanis Grammenos takes an in-depth look.

Is there an ideal model for a city's circulation, a "supermodel"? Fanis Grammenos reviews a new paper that proposes the use of organic forms first recognized by Christopher Alexander.

If we are "urbanists," does that mean we're anti-suburban? Or do choice and economics define our choices? Architect Fanis Grammenos reflects on his own history of shelter and the ideology of urbanism.

For American planners, Portland, OR is held up as a shining example of urban planning, and credit is given to its compact grid. But is Portland's grid worthy of adulation? Perhaps not, say Fanis Grammenos and Douglas Pollard of Urban Pattern Associates.

Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company was hired to turn a greenfield about 50 miles north of New Orleans into a 1,280-unit blend of town and rural living. In the process, they proposed a radical new way of looking at the street grid. Fanis Grammenos explains.