by John W. Olson | May 29, 2011 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Landscape Architecture, Streetscapes, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design
Almost every city has the same thing in common. That is the love/hate relationship with water… specifically storm water. We all love water because it is such a precious resource that we are dependent upon. However, it is storm water that our civilization has grown...
by John W. Olson | May 9, 2011 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Landscape Architecture, Sustainability
My fear is that technology and innovation have almost made our civilization regress at an inverse relationship to innovation. Don’t misinterpret my statement. I love technology as much as the next person, just ask my iPad sitting next to me. We cannot take the word...
by John W. Olson | Feb 14, 2011 | Landscape Architecture, Streetscapes, Sustainability, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism
The wood paving block is a forgotten material in modern day design and construction. The material was foreign to me prior to a ‘Skinny Streets’ tour that I was on at the 2007 Congress for the New Urbanism conference in Philadelphia. The tour focused on the historic...
by John W. Olson | Jan 16, 2011 | Landscape Architecture, Streetscapes, Sustainability
Parking lots are a primary contributor to stormwater runoff in our cities due to their scale and impervious character. Parking lots, unless they are low-frequency use parking lots, must have a certain level of imperviousness to them for the functional aspect of...
by John W. Olson | Jul 8, 2010 | Landscape Architecture, Town Planning, Urbanism
At South Main, the image to the right shows a light imprint tool that provides a hard surface path from the street to the sidewalk. By using stone ,rather than concrete, rainwater can replenish the ground water instead of becoming stormwater. Stone pathways...
