Howard Blackson
The Future of Municipal Planning: Is John Nolen Rolling Over in his Grave?
Are today's city planners fulfilling the promise of John Nolen? Howard Blackson explores a profession losing its influence, and ponders how to get it back.
Infrastructure: By-Passing Tomorrow for Easy Implementation Today
We solve problems with over-engineered, anti-urban infrastructure schemes even though we have no plan for funding their future maintenance obligations. Howard Blackson uses San Diego as an example, and offers up some pedestrian-oriented solutions.
Neighborhoods First (and Goal)
Howard Blackson's words of advice for San Diego's new administration are applicable wherever it is you call home. Neighborhoods first!
Design to Support the Homeless
How might planners advance the dialogue with politicians and citizens for design that supports the 633,782 homeless people in the US? Howard Blackson offers some insights for San Diego, the 3rd largest population of homeless among US cities.
Don't Jump on that Trend Just Yet
Howard Blackson's "Next Urbanism Lab" series looks at recent trends and lessons learned for urban designers. While the Bilbao Effect, the Vancouver Model, the High Line, and Active Living may provide seductive role models, local insight is key.
Is Your City an Innovator or a Follower?
Howard Blackson walks through the planning layers of San Diego for a history lesson as well as a look to the Next Urbanism.
Annual PARK(ing) Day Lessons (Re)Learned
Last Friday was annual PARK(ing) Day, and for Howard Blackson, who participated in a pilot park(let) project in San Diego, the reasons to enable context appropriate civic space was underscored again.
On the Importance of Light, Air and Connectivity Above the Street Level
As we increasingly relearn the lessons of city-building, just getting the ground floor right is no longer good enough.
Love Thy Neighbor Through Delineated Design
Getting along is much easier when the fronts and backs of buildings are rational: public activities out front, private out back, and a street wall to keep them orderly.
Shoring up the Disappearing Public Realm
As libraries and and post offices are replaced by private development while streets and sidewalks lack funding, what can be done to enliven the public realm?
City Deficits "Driven" by Suburban Patterns
As San Diego is paralyzed by the cost to maintain its infrastructure, Howard Blackson revels in a eureka moment, provided by Chuck Marohn, in recognizing the city's explicitly suburban pattern of development is a well-documented financial blunder.
Financing Post-Recession Development
Building in the New Economy isn't business as usual. Howard Blackson lays out policy, planning, land assembly and financing tools to help us with our task at hand.
New Tools for Broke Cities
Howard Blackson looks at new tools for fixing cities, including form-based codes, plans for complexities (neighborhoods, urban patterns, architecture), classification of character, and funding systems.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
