What sets these courtyard apartment buildings apart from other types of apartment dwellings. The answer is in the organization.
Urban Planning
A Tale of Two Cities: Sharing the Road in Amsterdam and Istanbul
While the idea of an official “Shared Street” may be new and somewhat unsettling to Chicagoans today, the idea is anything but new or untested. We only need to look back to the pre-car dominated city to see how the streets used to be much more public territory than they are today. The image below of […]
Uptown's Proposed Shared Street at Argyle: How ADDING Uncertainty Can Make Our Side Streets Safer
Anticipating City Made festival this weekend, when Andersenville will turn Clark between Argyle and into an open air market and street party for two days has us wishing that some of our city’s streets could always be a little more integrated. Anyone who’s ever attended a block party or recalls a childhood game of kickball […]
Another One Bites the Dust: the Tiny Tragedy of Teardowns in Chicago Neighborhoods
Walking to work this morning I noted yet another pile of construction debris on the foundation of a former house just around the corner from moss HQ. Seeing an old house demolished always seems like a small tragedy. It’s true; some older buildings certainly HAVE outlived their useful lifespan, are in poor repair or structurally unsound. Sometimes the […]
The Great Strip Mall Debate: There Really Are Pros and Cons, But Chicago Doesn’t Need Any New Ones
The strip mall question has re-emerged in Chicago news feeds in response to Alderman John Arena (45th) who wants to ban any new strip mall construction in the Jefferson Park business district. So the question re-emerges. Are Strip malls a miracle of convenience or a blight on the urban landscape. One thing is certain – they […]
50 Years On, the Wilderness Act Should Remind us that We Need to Value All Nature
Did you “get away” this weekend? Labor day weekend is traditionally celebrated outside – whether it be grilling in the back yard, picnicking in a city park, heading for a lakefront cabin in one of our neighbor states or aiming for a little slice of America’s wilderness preserved in our state and national parks and […]
Our Green City: The Green Legacy of the Burnham Plan
The Burnham Plan laid the groundwork for our city’s green space and set aside the lake shore path. Thank Daniel Burnham every time you see green in Chicago.
That’s Garbage: Talking Trash About Waste Generation
The USA generates 251 million tons of trash a year – that is 42 times more than the Great Pyramid at Giza. Where does it come from … and go?
Today, Let's Drink to Clean Water … and Then Do More to Protect Our Water Supply
Monday’s Chicagoist headline, “It’s Okay to Drink the Water, Chicago,” is accurate but perhaps a little dismissive of the larger issues about drinking water which should be raised in all our minds by the recent drinking water scares topping news across the country. This weekend’s public drinking water ban in Todedo, Ohio follows the ongoing […]
If They Build it We Will Park – So Why Require More Parking With Every New Construction Project?
Bring on the predictable outrage, folks, but we’re about to do it … we’re about to say … There is WAY too much free parking available in Chicago. We should stop building more of it! For all the hoopla over the (admittedly) terrible parking meter deal made by Mayor Daley and regardless of the sticker […]
The Melee that is Montrose Beach Parking Lots
Our proposal for an updated Montrose Beach Park – which both maintains the already extensive multi-user quality of the park and enhances it with less parking!
Combined Sewer Overflow: How a Using Rain Barrel can help Keep Sewage Out of the Chicago River
Did you know that when it rains in Chicago we dump raw sewage into the Chicago river? No one is happy about it … but its no accident.