Feature
Agricultural Urbanism
“Growing Local” is a great example of how New Urbanism has evolved to keep current with recent developments in urban planning. While the interface of agriculture and urbanism was barely touched upon in urban theory only, 10 or even 5 years ago, the economic downturn and increasing food prices have made the relationship between people and their food a key issue in addressing the sustainability of the built environment for the long term.
May 30th, 2011 by Matthew Trussoni
Integrating Bikeability & Urbanism
One of the competitive advantages of urban living is having activities that are useful in many areas of your life. Biking is great example of this; people can ride their bikes to work, or go for a pleasure ride on the weekend. Both Milwaukee and Madison are leaders in providing great biking options and have been recognized on Bicycling Magazine’s “America’s Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities”.
May 24th, 2011 by Matthew Trussoni
No Train to Madison for CNU 19
The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is holding their annual congress in Madison from June 1-4. The prominent group of planners and architects has kept “congress” as the name of their annual meeting instead of changing it to “conference”, as most organization do, for a specific reason: the open discussion of topics related to urbanism.
May 23rd, 2011 by Matthew Trussoni
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele and Transit
Chris Abele was recently elected to fill the remainder of Governor Scott Walker's term as Milwaukee County Executive. That gives Abele less than one year to accomplish anything as Milwaukee County Executive before he must seek re-election. Given the relatively short time for which Abele is assured to be in office, what can the newly-elected County Executive hope to achieve when it comes to transit?
May 19th, 2011 by Jeramey Jannene
Groundbreaking Events on S. 2nd Street this Thursday.
Not only is there a planned ground breaking ceremony this Thursday, May 19th, for the Milwaukee Fix, but also a ribbon cutting for the redesigned S. 2nd Street. Both of these developments are ground breaking events for Milwaukee.
May 17th, 2011 by Dave Reid
Brookings Institution Study Doesn’t Match MCTS Ridership
The Milwaukee County Transit System lost ridership at more than six times the national average in 2010. The lingering effects of the recession drove down ridership nearly everywhere, but MCTS was hit especially hard and saw record low ridership for the second year in a row. A large part of the reason for the 4.75% decline in ridership was fare increases coupled with the elimination of 3 routes and the elimination of the information call center. In short, the continued funding reductions to the bus system did exactly what one would expect them to do, caused fares to go up, routes to be cut, and ridership to plummet.
May 13th, 2011 by Jeramey Jannene
Alterra Opens Milwaukee’s First On-Street Bike Corral
Cities such as Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Minneapolis have install on-street bike parking in recent years, and now you can add Milwaukee to the list.
May 7th, 2011 by Dave Reid
It’s Time to Bike and Walk the Hoan
In June thousands of bicyclists will be riding over the Hoan Bridge during the UPAF Miller Lite Ride for the Arts, many of which will be signing up because it will be such a rare opportunity that can't be missed as the bridge isn't currently accessible to bicyclists.
Apr 30th, 2011 by Dave Reid
Garbage Land – Book Review
Garbage Land, by Elizabeth Royte, is billed as a book about "the secret trail of trash". The author follows her waste streams from her Brooklyn home to their various destinations across the Northeast. This includes ride alongs with "san men", visits to metal scrappers, discussions with composters, tours of MRF plants (materials recovery facility), water treatment plants, and the Fresh Kills landfill.
Apr 17th, 2011 by Jeramey Jannene
Storefront Design Updates
Two small projects, one in East Town and the other on the East Side, are currently taking an existing poor design situation and attempting to activate the street through new designs.
Apr 11th, 2011 by Dave Reid
Wisconsin’s TIF policy needs changes
A couple years back, I authored a report for the Public Policy Forum about tax incremental financing (TIF), and warned that communities can use TIF too much, or too little.
Apr 5th, 2011 by John Kovari
