Ignite Annapolis! (2025)

I hope you enjoyed my 2025 Ignite Annapolis talk “Need or Greed” about the competing priorities in the housing market as to whether housing is considered a fundamental human need (so we want costs to go down) or as an investment product (so we want values to go up). Unfortunately, you can’t really have it both ways. This is the current housing crisis we find ourselves in.… Read More Ignite Annapolis! (2025)

Mixed Up In Barcelona

We spent the 2022 Thanksgiving week in Barcelona. In general, it exceeded expectations with all of the interesting aspects of any large European city, excellent walkability, good transportation options, great cultural amenities, interesting architecture, and oh the food! Because of my interest in urbanism, it’s always fun to experience a new city with that lens, especially one that has been written about extensively in urbanism circles. But, of all of the possible facets of city planning to observe, the one that really jumped out for me was the extreme mixture of uses and how it manifests in the city.… Read More Mixed Up In Barcelona

Dealing With The Planning Dogma Of The Past

A recent project that came before the Annapolis Planning Commission was made very challenging by the planning dogma that arose in the mass suburbanization era of the last half of the 20th century. The choices made 40-50 years ago to the development pattern in Annapolis that seemed like the next great thing at the time required us to choose the least bad option. What can we learn from that?… Read More Dealing With The Planning Dogma Of The Past