Five Urbanist Goodreads for the week of October 12

We Create Here was an initiative within the Gazette Company to develop evolving narratives and authentic conversations throughout Iowa's Creative Corridor. read more

What Keeps U.S. Mayors Awake At Night? - Next City

Parse the mayors' answers by size or wealth of the cities, and answers often align. However, slice by political party and more distinct variations come to light. When asked about their top two challenges, the mayors overall cited aging infrastructure and fiscal (budgetary) matters the most.

A lot of interesting info about what mayors are spending their time thinking about.

Places and Non-Places - Strong Towns

Cities are collections of people, so I find it perverse when I see how much land is forbidden, unsafe, or otherwise not designed for people. Every wide road or parking lot I encounter as a pedestrian is just another obstacle, pushing the destination I am trying to get to further away. Even before I became an urbanist, I contrasted the pedestrianized shopping street in the city center - which needed no landscaping or other padding to be pleasant and enjoyable, with the rather spaced out suburban environment.

Andrew Price explores how much land we devote to stuff that isn't people.

[naviga:h3 class="entry-title"]Placemaking's Ripple Effect: How a Beach Downtown is Making Waves in Detroit - Project For Public Spaces

Watching park visitors encounter the Beach for the first time in person is a thrill for anyone who cares about cities and public spaces. Adults break into a smile, or do a double-take, and children run across the sand and start digging without hesitation. As people settle in, you start to notice the ways that the Beach is designed for comfort and activity: “Just throwing down sand is just sand – there's nothing behind it. There had to be the entire design – the deck, the bar, the amenities…Otherwise it wouldn't have worked at all,” Badrak notes.

What happens when you build a beach in dowtown Detroit? A lot of amazing things.

Why is New Urbanism So Gosh Darn Creepy - Gizmodo

Maybe it was because the late-summer thunderheads were building on the horizon as I rolled into town, but to me, South Main had a freakish air to it. The homes-many of them for sale-gleamed in their primary colors as contemporary, almost urban takes on the Victorian architecture that dotted Colorado's former mining towns. There were a few people at the local cafe and a large outdoor recreation store playing one of those jam band songs that lasts 23 minutes. It was so perfectly staged, I felt as if I had walked onto a set: Sesame Street meetsLittle House on the Prairie.

Why do New Urbanist developments ape the architectural styles of the past? It's worth wading into the comments on this one.

[naviga:h3 class="js-clip_title"]Pittsburgh's Mayor Peduto Wants to "Leapfrog" Your City in Bicycling & Livability - StreetFilms

Pittsburgh's Mayor Peduto Wants to "Leapfrog" Your City in Bicycling & Livability from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

Pittsburgh's mayor has made cycling infrastructure one of his top priorities. See what he's accomplished in an incredibly quick timespan.