Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist
@UrbanCourtyard
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I write about using courtyard blocks to make cities better for families here and NOW also on Substack https://t.co/g7IUKy4bBK
Chicago
Joined May 2024
History rhymes.
lol I love the description of the origin of 1811 central plan for NYC. The city council wanted to further develop Manhattan but was “unable to do so itself for reasons of local politics and objections from property owners,” so it asked the State to take over. NY State appointed a
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If I had gobs of money to spend on a fancy house, it would be within walking distance of a pharmacy, a French restaurant, and my kids’ school.
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Best trend on Twitter right now is Chicago dunking on New York’s public areas
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Some people don't like it that I'm saying nice things about government, but CLEARLY it takes strong city leadership to counter state DOTs and national developers who wish to maximize ROI at the expense of housing and neighborhood quality. In the past, city planners at a
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We go to the river walk for dinner and a light show and post-prandial walk after sunset.
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Don’t talk to me about the High Line
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Because you know the courtyard-like developments in the rendering are Texas donuts and not real blocks
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Anyone connected with this contact me and I’ll send them my song and dance about courtyard blocks
@UrbanCourtyard Has been beset by delays, but the Panther Island development in Ft. Worth could be a good one. On track for 2032 as of this year. The courtyard dominated model was part of earlier design iterations, and more current ones don’t have as many, unfortunately.
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@UrbanCourtyard Has been beset by delays, but the Panther Island development in Ft. Worth could be a good one. On track for 2032 as of this year. The courtyard dominated model was part of earlier design iterations, and more current ones don’t have as many, unfortunately.
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Like we find in other great American cities in Louisiana, Georgia, NY, Illinois …
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Let’s stipulate that glass-and-steel high rises aren’t your jam, that low-density residential neighborhoods are also anathema. Are there any neighborhoods in Texas that are small-lot, mixed-use, multifamily? Walkable and family friendly?
@UrbanCourtyard Is there anywhere in Texas that doesn't look like a total dystopian hell?
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Very hard to have a shady side of the street when streets have 10 lanes
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Oh and they have a lot of cooling green courtyards. I took these in June, when it was VERY WARM, and it was like a 15 degree difference going from the street into the courtyard
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Rome isn’t global south, but it gets pretty warm there. Notwithstanding the extreme high summer temps, the city still teems with pedestrians, who stick to the shady side of street (there are shady sides of the street because they have narrow streets and good street walls) and
Visiting any country in the Global South makes you realize why walkable urbanism is dead. Walking around sucks when it's hot. And the whole world is only getting hotter.
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To get courtyard, you need two simple, cheap building types … The basic box and the corner buildings. Who wants to prefab the parts for modular construction? Who wants to do it with pretensioned stone beams?
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Seeing Dallas gives me insight into why Texans think AUSTIN is a good city. This is VIBRANT in comparison! When do families living in apartment complexes in downtown Austin let their kids explore the city??
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Best recent public project in the Chicago River Walk, and it’s not close. At all. Because the river walk does what ALL urban public spaces should do: mix outdoor space with commercial space. High Line fails to mix uses, thus failing at the purpose of urban organization.
The High Line in NYC might be the best public project built in America over the last 20 years
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