Storefront Churches

Robin reviews the new Storefront Churches exhibition at the National Building Museum. In the July 16 print and online editions of the Washington Examiner.

Sustainable town planning

On May 21, we attended a National Building Museum/American Planning Association symposium examining a century of city planning. Discussion snippets:

* Carolina Barco, Columbia’s Ambassador to the U.S., described Bogota’s evolution. In 1992, the city was overwhelmed by crime, traffic jams and other ills. Planners devised a multi-pronged solution including improved public transportation, better policing, an arms-for-food exchange, and building libraries next to parks and closing bars by 1 a.m. Bike commuting was encouraged and peak time license plates were issued, getting 40% of the cars off streets during rush hour.

* University of Michigan’s Robert Fishman resurrected a book about urban utopias. Projects included Yorkship Village’s elegant 1918 wartime emergency housing in Camden NJ and the Radburn NJ greenbelt town proposed four decades before Columbia, MD. Lessons learned: simple beats comprehensive and highways spawn sprawl; once the National System of Interstate Highways was approved, “the toothpaste was out of the tube.”

* University of Florida dean Chris Silver spoke about visions for new cities that would reverse overcrowding and underservice.