Urban planning Archives - The Handbuilt City

January 1, 2024 Nat M. Zorach

Preserving The Letters: Planning Law

Planners– don’t procrastinate until New Year’s Eve. You literally have two whole years in your licensure cycle. Do your continuing education units *today.*

grand traverse resort parking lot, cars, surface parking

October 11, 2023 Nat M. Zorach

Musings from Up North: Are Planners Pragmatic Dreamers? Or Just Jaded Bureaucrats?

Michigan has a ton of professional talent. It’s also got a lot of planners who are stuck in the passenger seat in a vehicle driving 85mph in the left lane, headed toward Sprawl City. Can we fix the worst politics of the profession and still keep our jobs? Or, is it simply incumbent upon us to figure out better, more sustainable solutions wherever we can?

MDOT rendering of a ten-lane boulevard that will replace I-375.

Cars Government Mobility Urban Planning

September 20, 2023 Nat M. Zorach

MDOT: “An I-375 With Fewer Than Ten Lanes Would Take Away People’s Right To Get Around”

Our favorite road engineering agency is finally again talking about replacing the useless stretch of interstate that is I-375. Unfortunately, the plans just keep getting worse and worse.

land use planning parking lot parking spaces

Business & Economics Cities & Urban Planning Construction

June 27, 2023 Nat M. Zorach

Ten Things You Can Hire Me To Work On.

A brief survey of things that I do.

Affordable housing Housing Real Estate Urban Planning

February 6, 2023 Nat M. Zorach

Will California Get Out Of Its Own Way?

The Bear Republic has been bearish on housing prospects. But a new bill could change that– provided the state and its residents can shake off its affinity for car-dependent suburban sprawl.

auburn-hills-transit-downtown-michigan-SMART-service-funding

Transit infrastructure Urban Planning

February 21, 2022 Guest

Into Exurban Oblivion: Auburn Hills Mulls Ditching Transit Service

In one of the farthest-north suburbs of Detroit, a municipality’s elected representatives are discussing the possibility of eliminating fixed-route transit, which has the support of an overwhelming percentage of the electorate, to save around $800,000 per year. In this guest co-editorial, Calley Wang and Nat Zorach argue that this is a really, really terrible idea.

the sears tower looms beyond the brutalist campus of the university of illinois chicago, where the summer institute on sustainability and energy (SISE) takes place.

Mobility Public transit Transit infrastructure

July 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Best Nerds Podcast No. 2: Innovation and Equity in Transportation

Our second podcast is finally out. I take responsibility for the delay. There were some technical issues I ran into,

Transit infrastructure Urban Planning

June 23, 2021 Nat M. Zorach

Dreams of Better Transit Signage. How Legible Is Your City?

Transit advocacy should necessarily focus on making sure transit systems can be easily accessed. In many cases, that begins with signs to show people where to go.