Read about alley redevelopment

Here's a really good article ("Cities Give Alleys New Life") on some recent alley redevelopment projects, including several in San Francisco. This type of development is a successful way to encourage people-sized streets and places by utilizing unused/rundown spaces that already exist in our cities.

Related:
2 American Alleyways Repurposed as Narrow Streets

Lockerbie Square, Indianapolis

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A pretty good example (at least for the States) of a pleasant single-family residential neighborhood with narrow-ish streets. Cut down the width by about 5-10 or so and it'd look like a Japanese neighborhood. The trees completely covering the streets are nice too.

New from Nathan Lewis

Life Without Cars 2014

Once a year, we take a little time to imagine Life Without Cars. Many people live without cars today, and also without bicycles (at least for daily transport use), mostly in urban areas with good public transportation. In the developing world also, most people don't own cars, and live in urban areas with good public transportation. Before 1900, nobody used cars. ...

Continue reading at the link!

A short opinion piece from Scotland that you should read

Car-free city centres a must by Norman Armstrong

"REPORTS in The Herald as I write (November 20) tragically illustrate points I made (Letters, November 15), that our addiction to oil and cars constitutes the overwhelming problem facing western society, a problem disproportionally concentrated in Glasgow."

Required reading for today!

Here's an article that's a must-read for anyone interested in building better places in our communities. Density is not the answer, Place to Non-Place ratio is.

Places and Non-Places