Almost 70% of commutes in New York City are done by walking, biking or taking transit. That’s the highest of any American city according to Atlantic Cities:

Probably the biggest driver of this is urban density. That’s because walking, biking and taking transit becomes impractical when you live in a sprawling city. If you want to get people out of their cars, pay attention to the urban fabric of your city.

As someone who used to drive to work (out of necessity), but now relies predominately on public transit, I see one of the big advantages as time. If you’re like me, you probably feel time poor. Taking transit gives me a block of time in which to respond to emails, catch up on reading and generally just think.

In fact, this blog post was written on the subway.

Some buildings should be torn down. And others should not be. The challenge, sometimes, is figuring out which is which. But when a great building is torn down, I get upset. 

I get upset because good architecture should represent the place and era in which it was built. This means that, in a lot of cases, it’ll never be replicated. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

Take for example the old Penn Station in New York City. Designed by renowned architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, the station opened in 1910 and was an iconic Beaux-Arts structure. Here’s an historic photo:

In 1963 the building was demolished. It was eventually replaced with a building that, I think most people today would agree, is quite awful. And while it did teach New York City a lesson about historic preservation, the loss still sucks.

Ultimately I think that preservation is about balance. I’m obviously pro-development but, at the same time, I don’t believe in erasing our history.

Almost 70% of commutes in New York City are done by walking, biking or taking transit. That’s the highest of any American city according to Atlantic Cities:

Probably the biggest driver of this is urban density. That’s because walking, biking and taking transit becomes impractical when you live in a sprawling city. If you want to get people out of their cars, pay attention to the urban fabric of your city.

As someone who used to drive to work (out of necessity), but now relies predominately on public transit, I see one of the big advantages as time. If you’re like me, you probably feel time poor. Taking transit gives me a block of time in which to respond to emails, catch up on reading and generally just think.

In fact, this blog post was written on the subway.

Some buildings should be torn down. And others should not be. The challenge, sometimes, is figuring out which is which. But when a great building is torn down, I get upset. 

I get upset because good architecture should represent the place and era in which it was built. This means that, in a lot of cases, it’ll never be replicated. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

Take for example the old Penn Station in New York City. Designed by renowned architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White, the station opened in 1910 and was an iconic Beaux-Arts structure. Here’s an historic photo:

In 1963 the building was demolished. It was eventually replaced with a building that, I think most people today would agree, is quite awful. And while it did teach New York City a lesson about historic preservation, the loss still sucks.

Ultimately I think that preservation is about balance. I’m obviously pro-development but, at the same time, I don’t believe in erasing our history.