Act Like Your City Matters
What does it mean to make a habit of the kinds of actions that build civic fabric?
September 27, 2024
Rethinking Warehouse District Live
The much-maligned weekend block party is a worthy public safety experiment and a useful vehicle for trying to make downtown a nicer place to be.
July 10, 2024
Urbanism and its Alternatives
Urbanism is celebration of what happens when a lot of people must efficiently occupy not a lot of land.
June 25, 2024
One Stone, Two Birds: A Transformative Stroke For Downtown Minneapolis
The City of Minneapolis shouldn't subsidize a new basketball arena. But it shouldn't automatically pass up a promising opportunity either. Here’s a plan for how all parties can get something great.
February 7, 2024
Retail Districts Need A Local Base
Popular retail districts like Uptown in Minneapolis and Grand Avenue in St. Paul are struggling thanks to a real estate market that got too hot for its own good.
January 23, 2024
Optimism About Minneapolis For The New Year, And Beyond
Minneapolis isn’t the world’s greatest city yet but it has a lot going in its favor and a political culture that is easy to bet on over the long term.
December 28, 2023
Two Types of Rent Regulation: Control and Stabilization
Different approaches to rent regulation come with different problems, which contemporary debates about these policies have tended to ignore.
November 6, 2023
The Short And Long View Of Downtown Minneapolis
Downtown Minneapolis is in better shape than news reports might suggest. But fixing its longstanding problems—overreliance on big events and a disconnected built environment—will require a new approach.
October 11, 2023
Big Brother Is Muddling Through
The government is constantly screwing up because it is an institution made up of humans no better or worse than anyone else.
September 8, 2023
Minnesota Is Not California
Thanks to the internet, it’s easy to learn about the problems and policies of other places. But it’s critical to understand this information in the context of local conditions.
April 21, 2023
Reformer Response: Defenders Of Bad Faith Environmental Lawsuits Must See Forest For The Trees
Environmentalists should not be quick to defend every lawsuit filed under environmental laws, such as the bad faith attack on the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
February 14, 2023
Reformer Op-Ed: The Bizarre 2040 Plan Ruling That Could Jeopardize All Comprehensive Planning
Recent judicial rulings against the Minneapolis 2040 Comprehensive Plan make no sense from a practical standpoint, leaving everyone worse off and deeply confused.
January 20, 2023 
How To Make Better Arguments Before The Planning Commission (Or Similar Bodies)
People give ineffective testimony before Planning Commissions because they don’t understand what these bodies do.
December 21, 2022
How Minneapolis Could Become A Missing Middle Housing Factory
To realize the promise of the Minneapolis 2040 comprehensive plan, the City must get involved directly in the development process.
August 22, 2022
The Reality and Myth of the Minneapolis 2040 Plan
Both proponents and opponents of the plan have an incentive to act as if the plan turbocharged housing production. But it hasn’t, and in some ways, that’s the point.
June 20, 2022
The Fundamental Problems With Free Transit
The movement to make transit free ignores real practical issues and prioritizes the wrong things.
March 23, 2022
The METRO System After 2030: Two Big Ideas
After 2030, expansion of the Twin Cities transit system will hit a wall if planning for the future doesn’t begin soon. When looking ahead, two big ideas merit serious consideration.
February 23, 2022
The METRO System In 2030: Three Proposed Changes
Around 2030, the Twin Cities will built an impressive rapid transit system of fourteen lines. But with a few changes, the METRO system could be even better.
February 16, 2022 
The Importance Of Making Good On Plans
When institutions implement their plans, they create a positive feedback loop that increases citizen engagement and state capacity.
December 30, 2021
Reflections On A Progressive Urbanist Council
Eight years of progressive leadership on the Minneapolis City Council led to deeply impactful changes in the City of Lakes that won’t be erased by a single electoral defeat.
November 10, 2021
The State of Downtown St. Paul Streetscapes
Downtown St. Paul has been helped and harmed by staying out of the limelight. By mapping its streetscapes, we can see that it holds the keys to its future.
October 18, 2021
The State of Downtown Minneapolis Streetscapes
Downtown Minneapolis has come a long way in recent decades. But by mapping its streetscapes, we can see how far it still has to go.
September 27, 2021
What Is The Conservative Position On Zoning?
American conservatives have difficulty explaining their position on zoning and land use, and this has consequences even for progressives trying to solve urban problems.
August 16, 2021
How Cities Change
Three models for how cities navigate changes to their land use and infrastructure, from the present NIMBY model, to the prior incremental model, and a hypothetical planning model.
July 5, 2021
Comments To The Philadelphia Zoning Board Of Appeals - June 2nd, 2021
My testimony before the ZBA in favor of the “poop building" development proposal.
June 3, 2021
Car Parking Minimums Are Bad, Don’t Overthink Getting Rid Of Them
Everyone agree that parking minimums are bad policy, but planners in some cities want to keep them anyway for reasons that don’t make a whole lot of sense.
May 18, 2021
Some Relatively Optimistic Predictions About Post-COVID Cities
Throughout the pandemic, pundits have been predicting an end to cities as we know them. But as the end of COVID comes into view, there’s reason for some cautious optimism.
March 23, 2021
Five Takeaways From Ten Years Of Minneapolis Planning Commission Approvals
What can we learn from a decade of housing development approved by the Minneapolis City Planning Commission?
February 23, 2021
Five Takeaways From Forty-One Years Of Twin Cities Housing Development
What can we learn from forty years of housing starts data about the Twin Cities metro region?
February 22, 2021
Preserve The Future, Not Just The Past
The cause of historic preservation has gained increasing power in American cities, despite getting further away from its reason for being. It’s time for new priorities.
January 11, 2021
What MnDOT Can Learn From Main Street
Recent work suggests that Minnesota’s Department of Transportation may have turned a corner in terms of designing main streets that build wealth and cut carbon.
December 28, 2020
A Transit Planning Order Of Operations
Why does does American transit planning keep producing bad projects?
August 23, 2020
A Unique Opportunity For Minneapolis' North Loop Viaducts
Minneapolis’ hottest neighborhood is split by two highway viaducts for no reason. It would make sense to tear them down, but there’s an even better option available.
April 5, 2020
The Potholes And Potential Of Saint Paul's Ayd Mill Road
St. Paul has been pouring money into a stub of the interstate system that it never should’ve owned in the first place. At the next opportunity, the city should remove it and replace it.
February 18, 2020
Bus Lanes Now For Downtown Minneapolis
A plan for local and commuter bus lanes in downtown Minneapolis.
January 6, 2020
How MSP Can Become A Transit City In One Decade
Transit in Minneapolis-St. Paul is a non-entity for the vast majority of people in the vast majority of places. But in the next decade, the Twin Cities region has a chance to change that.
January 1, 2020
To Decarbonize Transportation, MnDOT Needs To Challenge Itself To Reduce VMT
Waiting around for electric vehicles to save the day isn’t an acceptable plan to reduce carbon emissions. In order to meet climate goals, Departments of Transportation need to take action on the one thing they have the most control over: Vehicle Miles Traveled.
September 27, 2019 
Building A Network Of Rapid Buses — How To Serve Northeast Minneapolis
Addendum — Not all routes need to go downtown if buses are fast and transfers frequent.
July 9, 2019
Building A Network Of Rapid Buses — A Future Network
Part 3/3 — What could a network of the twenty best aBRT lines look like?
June 14, 2019
Building A Network Of Rapid Buses — Evaluating The Corridors
Part 2/3 — Which corridors make the most sense for aBRT?
June 13, 2019
Building A Network Of Rapid Buses — The Universe Of Alternatives
Part 1/3 — How does the street network of the Twin Cities create a potential aBRT grid?
June 12, 2019
Inquirer Op-Ed: New City Council Zoning Bills Should Give Pause On Climate
An editorial published in the Philadelphia Inquirer in opposition to a proposed zoning commission that could possibly lead to reduced density.
May 22, 2019
The Riverview Modern Streetcar Is Still Not Good Transit
Against all reason, Ramsey County continues to advance a $2 billion dollar project that would make transit service in the Riverview Corridor worse.
January 18, 2019
Towards A Network Of Rapid Buses
The straightforward success of the METRO A Line demonstrates the need for Metro Transit to think about aBRT as the bedrock service of a future network.
September 2, 2018
Two Perspectives On The Housing Crisis: Affordable Housing Vs Housing Affordability
Small differences in how we talk about the urban housing cost crisis can have big implications.
July 30, 2018
Changing Housing Politics Means Changes For Transit Planning
An implicit bias on major transit projects towards transit-oriented development on greenfield sites should be reconsidered in light of changing housing politics.
June 13, 2018
The “True Test” Of A Region’s Transit System Isn’t Serving Commutes
What type of travel should a transit system be designed to facilitate?
May 26, 2018
Three Complaints And Three Ideas For Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Future METRO System
A crayon map for the Twin Cities region.
November 24, 2017
Invincible City: The “Miracle” Of Bilbao And Lessons For Post-Industrial Cities
The post-industrial renaissance of the Basque capital has lessons for other struggling cities, but the importance of hiring a starchitect to build a new cultural institution isn’t one of them.
October 18, 2017
The Riverview Transit Study Prioritizes Everything Except Good Transit
What happens when a transit study looks into every detail except the most important one?
August 1, 2017
North By Midwest: Minnesota Strikes Out In Search Of A New Identity
Running away from the flyover country brand.
January 9, 2017
MC Planner: Rochester, Minnesota, Bets Big On A Hospital
If Med City wants to stay competitive, it needs to become more interesting.
December 30, 2016