Features like blank street facades literally turn us off, decreasing mental stimulation and bringing on restlessness and stress. Research points to worrying consequences for people who find their city, well, boring.

Colin Ellard, an environmental psychologist and neuroscientist, connects the bland facade of a Whole Foods store to study participants' lackluster mood. "These people were bored and unhappy. When asked to describe the site, words such as bland, monotonous and passionless rose to the top of the charts."
When asked about their experience roaming a more interesting locale, "the words that sprang to their minds were mixed, lively, busy, socialising and eating. Even though this site was so crowded with pedestrians that our participants struggled to find a quiet place to reflect on our questions, there was no doubt that this location was to their liking on many levels."
Ellard discusses why we prefer stimulating places, streets full of people and activity. It can even be argued that staid environments contradict our intelligence as a species. "At a psychological level, these constructions fail us because we are biologically disposed to favour locations defined by complexity, interest, and the passing of messages of one kind or another."
Maybe we accept un-ornamented, utilitarian spaces because we expend so much attention on the digital world. "But unless our electronic connections can supplant our physical surroundings, the widespread adoption of global, functional designs will have [negative] psychological consequences of the kind described here."
FULL STORY: Streets with no game

Houston Apartments To Be Demolished for Freeway Widening
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San Francisco Just Ended Single-Family Zoning
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Land Banking to Prevent Transit-Oriented Displacement in Los Angeles
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State Reports Seeks To Guide Warehouse Development in New Jersey
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Manhattan Congestion Pricing Could Start in 2023
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has resubmitted its environmental impact assessment to federal officials, who sent the agency over 400 additional questions earlier this year.

Whitefish ADU Ordinance Could Ease Housing Crunch
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Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission
City of Rolling Hills Estates
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Harvard Graduate School of Design Executive Education
City of Apache Junction
City of Helena
Gallatin County, Montana
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.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course aims to provide an introduction into Urban Design Sketching focused on how to hand draw master plans using a mix of colored markers.