Tom Condon of the Hartford Courant makes a plea for better designed buildings and spaces in Hartford.
"A visitor, will...before reaching the city line, see several buildings that are absolute dreck and should never have been built. All of Hartford's major arterials have been invaded by these architectural zebra mussels....We need to bring back a sense of design integrity to these vital corridors. The city's starting to come back. There's a sense of momentum. But this time, let's pay attention to how the city will look. Let's get the design center going....Design centers are being used successfully in St. Paul, Baltimore, Chattanooga, Nashville and many other cities across the country. In his 1998 downtown plan for Hartford, planner Kenneth Greenberg recommended the Insurance City create a design center. As with so many of Greenberg's recommendations, it was a good idea that sat on the shelf....We need to do this. Good design is economic development, someone said."
Thanks to Connie Chung
FULL STORY: Get Design Center Off The Drawing Board

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Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
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Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US
A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont