by John W. Olson | Feb 16, 2013 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism
An interesting question that I believe requires exploration in towns and cities is in the priority of level of service. Level of Service (LOS) is a term used to describe the quantity of congestion and velocities for any given street. Letter grades are given for each...
by John W. Olson | Dec 19, 2011 | Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design
In the last blog post, Congestion Part 1: Addition by Subtraction, I asked the question “Is congestion really such a bad thing?” You may have read thinking that John is off the deep end on this one. Well perhaps, but what if I am right that congestion is...
by John W. Olson | Sep 5, 2011 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism
Euclidean zoning has been incredibly efficient at organizing the land uses of our towns and cities. The organization patterns have become so efficient at segregating people and places that our communities do not realize the effects of the rigid zoning patterns until...
by John W. Olson | May 23, 2011 | Landscape Architecture, Streetscapes, Sustainability, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism
The New York Times published an article yesterday, With Eye on Climate Change, Chicago Prepares for a Warmer Future, about adaptations to climate change. I was particularly interested in the infrastructure portion of the article as we need to consider infiltration...
by John W. Olson | Apr 4, 2011 | Comprehensive Planning and Codes, Sustainability, Town Planning, Urban Planning and Design, Urbanism
This is the third in a series of three blog posts where I have provided my projections of development as they relate to: Master Planned Communities; Government’s Role in Development; New Urbanism; Transportation; and Homeownership. So what is the “new economy?” The...