Urban Indy

People for Urban Progress presented their latest idea for massive reuse at the Think Farm event on November 11th.  They are in the process of refurbishing the stadium seats in vacant Bush Stadium and locating them at bus stops around the city. I love the idea of taking something that has exhausted its use, and giving it to a cash-strapped organization that has an obvious need.   Smart and resourceful organizations such as PUP have the capacity … Read entire article »

Earlier this year I witnessed a terrifying event while out in my neighborhood.  Textbooks would refer to it as a “pedestrian-vehicle conflict”, something that can be observed at any number of intersections several times a day.  Seeing it play out in reality, I began to realize that our built environment has done a very poor job of training drivers to watch out for pedestrians.  One glance at the number of pedestrian fatalities statistics shows the … Read entire article »

Here’s what I’ve come across in Metropolitan Development Commission (MDC) and Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission (IHPC) filings as of 11/17/11 (click links to read staff reports on these cases): 1. MDC 11/16/11 – Business Resolution NO. 2011-R-027: Authorizes the DMD to convey the former Winona Hospital Site properties located at W. 33rd Street and 3232 N. Meridian Street (aka 3209 N. Illinois) to TRex Enterprises, LLC, in consideration of certain commitments being made by the redeveloper for … Read entire article »

Residents of Indianapolis, I have a simple question to ask that is rooted in some deep philosophical debates. What kind of city do you want to live in? Is it the type of city where you get in your car to go get everything? Is it the type of city where you can walk out your front door, and walk across the entire city on foot without ever walking along a street and fearing a car … Read entire article »

The story of Franklin Township’s new fee for School Buses has struck such a chord with people that it has now reached NPR.  The program hits some familiar themes: Budgets are tight, property taxes are capped, and the district is forced to do more with less.  However, being an urban design blog, I wish to highlight the fact that the township is built to be poorly equipped to cope with this problem: The dominant theme of … Read entire article »

From time to time I like to troll through the city’s aerial photography records and see how the configuration of our city has changed over time. In particular, it’s fascinating and depressing to see the changes that interstate highway construction brought upon our urban neighborhoods. In some cases, the construction bisected once contiguous neighborhoods; in others, construction completely wiped them out. There’s a particular area I’d like to focus on here — a rough rectangle … Read entire article »