Working on creating better, more beautiful places to live in. Developer, Writer, Urbanist, Professor, Optimist. Check out my writing below!
Brooklyn, NY
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It's a hopeful work about our ability to create places today that are as good as have ever existed. Our best days are not behind us. All it takes is a little bit of Optimism to get started!
Check out the link on Amazon below!!
shorturl.at/2sOW0
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Lancaster, CA transformed its downtown in just 8 months by redesigning it's main street from a mini-highway to a tree-lined boulevard.
For the cost of just $11.5M, the project has generated $273M in economic output since 2010, creating 800 jobs, and nearly doubling tax revenue!
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What people What environmentally
think environmentally friendly actually looks
friendly looks like ❌ like ✅
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The fact that it's impossible to walk somewhere as simple as a coffee shop nearly anywhere in the US, because we've made it illegal, is really one of the craziest things about modern America. We have to build walkable cities!
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And for a state or city to let me be the one who develops it, thanks in advance!
This city in this picture is Rovinj, Croatia, a place whose beauty and charm defy imagination. I mean, look at it!
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A near perfect street in Valencia.
Tree lined, narrow street with buildings right up to the property line in a variety of styles, but all at a human scale, and some with commercial uses on the ground floors.
This is a street for people!
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One of the more underrated buildings in New York, The American Radiator Building!
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Exciting News: San Diego's City Council has unanimously approved the creation of a 7-block pedestrian plaza in the heart of the city!
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Utrecht may be the most under-ratedly beautiful city in the world
ALT Canalside in Utrecht. Photo credit to utrechtalive
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Brooklyn Heights (arguably the best suburb in North America) an excellent model in how to build places for all ages, household types, and stages of life, without compromising on beauty
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The city of the future isn't about taller buildings, wider highways, & monumental architectural statements.
The city of the future is more like the city of the past. It's highly walkable, interconnected, community focused, & sustainable. Most importantly, it puts people first!
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Every once in a while a building makes you stop and say "Wait, what? That's real? I didn't know we could make places as magical as this anymore!" and this is one of those for me
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There's something magical about public spaces that feel intimate through enclosure of beautiful buildings and narrow paths. A lovely form of citybuilding!
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Trillion dollar idea:
Tree lined streets where homes are affordable & everything you need is only a short walk away, from grocery stores, coffee shops, work, friends, family, or anything else!
ALT A tree lined pedestrian street in Seattle's Pioneer Square, with beautiful mixed use buildings lining both sides of the street
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The design of storefronts is critically important for the vitality of cities.
When the ground level is welcoming, it activates the street which leads to more people walking around, safer neighborhoods, & more prosperous small businesses. When its neglected, the results are sad.
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Vietnam offers a really intriguing vision of what our future cities can look like that's not often considered in the west: colorful, vibrant, full of character, dominated by two wheels (just substitute gas powered motorbikes with electric ones & e-bikes!), and yes, a bit chaotic!
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Americans will travel around the world to live in walkable cities for a week & love it, but somehow think building walkable places here is impossible or crazy
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In the last 10 years, Frankfurt demolished its technical town hall (left) & reconstructed part of its old town that had been previously destroyed (right). There's now more homes, businesses, & vibrancy.
We don't have to be prisoners to the mistakes of our past, we can do better!
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(I wrote the original tweet on my computer and then realized it's incomprehensible on mobile based on formatting, so hopefully the above is easier to see for those on their phones!)
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Can't think of many things that would be better for my mental health than walking down a street like this everyday
ALT Gorgeous street in Amsterdam. Photographed by sarea_kk on Instagram
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If I were Mayor of Los Angeles, I would simply allow for buildings like these on every block and create the best city in America
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It doesn’t take a lot to create wonderful places in our cities!
ALT Street in Seville, shot by petitesuitcase
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Brilliant concept for a new mid-rise in Manchester.
So many new apartment buildings would benefit from taking notes on this design!
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New York is amazing for many reasons, but particularly because people will pass by a building like this and hardly register it because there are so many exceptional buildings, when it would be on postcards as a defining attraction for almost any other city.
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If every city’s streets looked more like this, the world would be a better place!
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When we don't build our towns & cities around cars, some pretty amazing things can happen!
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A Yokocho is a narrow Japanese alleyway that’s packed with intimate small bars and places to eat.
They’re magic realms hidden away from the world, free from the traffic & anonymity of big city life. How lovely would it be if all of our cities had such places?!
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These buildings are new and terrific. We should build a lot more like them, everywhere!
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100 years ago, small towns across the US were building incredible structures like this.
Today, big cities can barely approve cheap one story buildings.
It's time we demand better from our built environment!
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We mourn lovely buildings that have been replaced by empty space & sad structures, but we don't have to accept it. If we're thoughtful enough, we can reverse the tide!
The old Galliard Auditorium & the new Gaillard Center in Charleston, on the same site, just a few years apart!
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There's no good reason why duplexes like this shouldn't be legal in every neighborhood in America
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First snow of the year in my area, so this will be my aesthetic for the next several months
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The great high-rise masonry revival is well underway in New York, long may it continue!
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A handsome new 6-story building with 11 homes on a narrow lot.
This should be legal in every city in America by right!
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Some fantastic looking newish townhomes in Columbus. The best part? They replaced a parking lot!
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Suburbia at its finest - Park Slope!
This sort of walkable neighborhood with a gentle density, tree lined streets & a robust offering of retail/commercial amenities was the standard for suburban development in pre-war America. We'd do well to re-apply its form today!
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While the world has been focused on Saudi Arabia’s ambitious (and outrageous) Line & Neom proposals for new cities, they’re quietly building another sort of city, with its foundations firmly planted in Arabic tradition.
Diriyah Gate is a $20B project on the outskirts of Riyadh
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Wonderful new housing in a small city in Indiana.
There's no reason we can't build high quality housing like this everywhere!
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They built Sim City on a beach in Albania
Community note
The image is of a proposed Beach Urban Development concept project funded and designed by Oppenheim Architecture in Vlorë, Albania but these are merely concepts, not currently built nor has construction begun as of the date of this post. These renderings were produced by MIR.
designboom.com/architecture/o
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Most people would love to live in a beautiful city where they don't need a car to get around.
The problem is, there aren't many places like this. The few that offer economic opportunity with many things to do are unaffordable because they're so scarce. We should build more!
ALT Aerial of Amsterdam, source u/KhalilSajjad on Reddit
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Solving the housing crisis in major North American cities will require building a lot of mid-rise buildings across many neighborhoods that are currently low rise
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As the year ends, I wanted to provide an update on our quest to build the best new housing in America.
The purpose of this project is not to claim, or be given, this title with objectivity, but rather the pursuit itself. If we aim high, we may well fail, but we will fail well
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How to build a beautiful city:
Human scaled, fine grained, walkable, curving streets that provide enclosure & a sense of mystery at what might be around the corner. Throw in some cafes, bars, a few commercial uses, trees, & cap it off with a cute usable covered passage!
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This handsome 6 story building is an excellent template for cities to adopt/encourage. It delivers much needed accommodation without overwhelming the street level, while also beautifying neighborhoods.
Gentle Density done well!
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The dream of owning a single family home has historically been fairly narrow: a McMansion or ranch home with a large front yard that never gets used, with a several car garage.
It's high time to update this dream for the 21st century: beautiful, walkable, sustainable townhomes!
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Our cities are at their best when we unlock creativity to do bold, and sometimes crazy things.
This can result in remarkable places that exist for no reason other than to inspire joy and wonder. We should be encouraging this as much as we can!
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The idea that buildings like this should be illegal in the vast majority of our cities is absolutely senseless. They’re beautiful, economically productive, and lead to far more sustainable cities.
It’s well past time for us to rectify the mistakes of the past
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Stringing lights in cities is a simple, but magical way to improve our streets.
The warm glow draws us in, making us feel cozy in places that might otherwise go unnoticed.
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We shouldn't be afraid to take risks with the decoration & ornament of our cities.
Worst case, we can always replace things we don't like. But when it goes right, these little moments of wonder are fantastic!
ALT Home in Emilia-Romagna, image credit to la.giuliag on Instagram
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Don't lose hope in our ability to do great things.
We can still do fantastic work & create lovely places like these condos in Columbus, Ohio!
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Tokyo is far stranger, and far more wonderful than I could have expected
It’s the most compelling city in the world
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Who says we can't create great new communities in the US anymore?
USC Village is a new mixed-use neighborhood that provides housing for 2,500 students, has shops, grocery stores, & restaurants, & incredible open space!
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It's been a little time since I gave an update on our quest to try to build a better 5-over-1, so here are some notes!
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We need more housing desperately, but can it please be a bit better than stuff like this?
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Removing on street parking in Toronto in favor of dining parklets led to a nearly 50x increase in revenue as compared to parking fees.
The math is common sense - we should build cities for people, not cars!
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Building like this is illegal nearly everywhere in the US today. We should make it legal.
Thank you for your time
ALT Narrow streets in Barcelona as photographed by yamildoval on Instagram
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For those new here - hi! My name’s Coby, and I’m working to create more beautiful, sustainable, & attainable cities.
In addition to my own projects, I work with folks around the world to create better places. If you’re interested, reach out!
Book coming soon, should be good!
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Building housing more densely doesn't mean you have to sacrifice open space, light, or air. Older cities have long taught us this. The notion that a private yard is the only way to get outdoor space is wrong & antiquated.
42 newer homes on 3/4 of an acre, with great open space!
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It’s not reply bait, it’s an attempt to get people to appreciate and then demand something like this in the US so they don’t have to uproot their lives just to be able to walk to the grocery store or to see friends.
The notion of leaving instead of improving is a big problem!
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Tree lined streets are great, but buildings faced with greenery are often just as good!
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This post has spread to a staggering amount of people. The jokes & memes have been amazing, but it also seems like it's really touched a nerve. In positive, & more cynical ways.
I'd like to dive into what makes this place special, & why we don't quite have an equivalent.
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