Letter from the Editor

MAKE CITIES BETTER FOR EVERYONE

Welcome to the sixth annual edition of Block, Street & Building. It has been an honor to return to the magazine after helping to edit the inaugural issue in 2015.

For the past five years this magazine has presented the opportunities and challenges — and celebrated the successes of — New Urbanist efforts in this state. But now it’s 2020 and “uncertain times” has already become cliche.

I wrestled with what to suggest for this 2020 edition. The primary questions I wanted to explore are about the role of cities. What can cities do to recover? And what does it mean to make a city better?

It’s a fact that many of the people in our communities are struggling to thrive. It seems like some of our neighborhoods and districts have always been the way they are now.

I get frustrated because it’s not true. We can do things that make places better for the people who live there — quite a lot of things actually. Those solutions and our approach to finding them are the focus of this edition. Cities and the manner in which they are planned and constructed play a role in every aspect of our lives, from our home lives to our work lives and all the spaces in between.

For most of us almost all of our memories are made within urban environments. I get frustrated when it seems like we have forgotten that our decisions about design and development can actually make communities better. This isn’t just about the bottom line (but it’s about that, too). This is about keeping life worth living.

This edition explores the foundations of the New Urban approach in the context of current events. New Urbanism is concerned with making cities better for everyone. Incorporate this approach in your city’s recovery, and dream bigger. It would be a tragic error to merely respond to current events. If our cities emerge merely stronger, we will have failed.

It simply isn’t enough to just be better at what we were doing before 2020. We must study the science of city-making alongside the art. When we compare what we learn to our strengths and weaknesses we will know that we need to emerge changed, even transformed.

The year is now more than half over. And just like before, every day still counts.

Matthew Petty