Blog Articles
Throwing a Building Away: Adding to the Landfill
At the rate we're going, the Larimer County Landfill will be maxed out by 2024 according to the Director's Report published last month. The growth and redevelopment of our built environment is contributing to the amount of waste deposited into the landfill yearly....
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Ginger & Baker: a Delight to the Senses
Materials, patterns, textures, and colors shape our lasting impressions of a place as profoundly as does its overall formal organization and composition. -- Sarah Williams Goldhagen I had the privilege of eating lunch at Ginger and Baker last week, followed by a tour...
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Auto Idolatry
America's car culture is a form of national idolatry. The United States has prostrated itself to the automobile. Even if you don't believe there is a God, I invite you to bear with me as I use this spiritual analogy to make a point about what our vehicle use, built...
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Our Built Environment Affects Us In Ways We Don’t Even Realize
Have you ever walked into a place and felt an immediate sense of welcoming or belonging? Or perhaps as you entered you were instead hit with bewilderment or a sense of unease. You might not have any idea why you felt the way you did. Or you may have attributed that...
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Occupancy Ordinances – a comparison chart
Have you ever wondered how the Fort Collins occupancy ordinance (commonly known as U + 2) compares to other cities? Well, wonder no longer. The following two tables give brief summaries of occupancy regulations from around Colorado as well as from other communities...
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Walk & Wheel Skills Hub – Fun with a Purpose
Oh, to be a kid again. I used to play all sorts of games of pretend when I was young. When I was in elementary school, we lived in a small town just outside of metro Boston and I spent a lot of time exploring, imagining, and riding my bike. There's something about...
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We All Just Want to Belong
As a nation, as a state, and as a city, we're faced with issues where people are in direct opposition to one another. It's easy to develop an "us" vs. "them" mentality about almost any issue. We can get caught up in the divide (pointing out how ignorant, selfish, or...
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What is a subsidy?
In talking about affordable housing, transportation, development and other issues related to urban growth, the term "subsidy" often pops up. It's generally used pejoratively and seems to refer to such a large variety of situations that the meaning can start to get a...
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Fort Collins Is Changing… Becoming More Urban
Almost every time I walk my dogs, or ride my bike, or drive my car around the city of Fort Collins, I see something new. I'm not saying that I see something I hadn't noticed before. I mean I see something that didn't use to be there. Driving north on Shields between...
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The Technology That Goes Into Electric Bikes
Congestion on northern Colorado roads is an increasing problem, consuming both our time and patience. The bus works well for some, but with several routes running only once or twice an hour, and other parts of town receiving no bus service at all, it remains an...
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Preserving Bikeability and Walkability by Preserving Historic Buildings
By redesigning our world for cars, we have damaged the walkability and bikeability of our communities. Before the introduction of the automobile, cities and towns were naturally built on a human scale. It simply wasn't feasible to do otherwise. But as cars grew in...
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Proximity to Parks in Fort Collins
The City of Fort Collins adopted a strategic plan in 2015 that seeks to preserve and enhance the quality of life for residents as the city grows and fills in. Nature in the City, as the program is called, aims to: ensure that all residents have easy access to nature,...
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