Serving as a resource for individuals who are working to save places that matter to their community is critical to the mission of Preservation Maryland. Since fall of 2017, the organization has assisted City of Brunswick … [Read more...]
Jeff Speck’s Step-by-Step Guide to Making Better Urban Places
If you are involved in the world of city and neighborhood design, you probably know (or at least have heard of) the work of urban thinker, writer, lecturer, and city planner Jeff Speck. He has authored or coauthored a … [Read more...]
Gentle density: Making neighborhoods transit-ready
Accessory dwellings can triple the density on a single-family lot while preserving the character of neighborhoods. Fayetteville, Arkansas, is a rapidly growing city—the largest in Northwest Arkansas, … [Read more...]
Why Are Developers Only Building Luxury Housing?
"Developers in my city are only building luxury housing. They're not building anything that ordinary people can afford." If you’ve said this lately, or heard someone else say it, here are five possible reasons … [Read more...]
Environmentalists and development: a complex relationship in a hyperbolic election season
In election races in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, candidates are claiming they “support the environment” or “are for smart growth.” Some of those candidates also seem to be against most development, while others are more … [Read more...]
Places that Pay: Benefits of Placemaking v2
“Reconciliation is making peace with reality, our ideals, and the gap in between,” via Her Honour, Janice C. Filmon, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. Much of our work here at PlaceMakers is about redirecting the … [Read more...]
The dumbing down of Smart Growth will fail to preserve MD landscape
If you’re not yet worried about Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s abandonment of Smart Growth, you might want to read a new study on how Dumb Growth could cost Frederick County taxpayers some half a billion bucks. First, a … [Read more...]
Ten key ingredients of a green and healthy community
If someone asks what a green community, or a healthy one, means to you, what comes to mind? I’m willing to bet that for most people it is the visible and tangible aspects: a lovely city park, perhaps, or mature street … [Read more...]