Chris Turner Blog

The Congress for the New Urbanism Turns 20
Next month in West Palm Beach, the 20th annual Congress for the New Urbanism convenes. Ahead of the big show, the movement's leading lights share their enthusiasm for reimagining cities for the world's first fully urban century.
The stats that mattered this wild, woolly March
From the harshest heat on record to record investments in offshore wind, this has been some kind of March. Here are some key figures from a record-breaking month.
How the street failed Trayvon Martin
Numerous observers have noted that Trayvon Martin was killed on the streets of a gated community for the crime of 'walking while black.' His murder was aided and abetted by a failed urban design model tragically lacking in 'eyes on the street.'
You know what the kids are into these days? Not General Motors
For the first time in generations, automobile use is on the decline among American youth. So how's General Motors responding? Fuel efficiency? Smaller, smarter cars? Nope. Pandering. Shameless pandering.
The art of the super-collider
Berlin-based artist Julius von Bismarck has been named the artist-in-residence at CERN, home of the Large Hadron Collider. If more of the world's research labs followed suit, maybe we'd have a better understanding of their work.
Is walking a form of activism?
For all but the last hundred years, walking has been humanity's primary mode of transportation. Today, though, simply strolling down the block in the evening might constitute an act of dissent. Some notes on the nascent pedestrian revolution.
The Lorax speaks for the SUVs? Yeah, sounds about right
The Lorax, defender of the trees, shilling for a gas-guzzling SUV? Cue the outrage, right? Wrong. The Lorax has always been part of the entertainment-industrial complex, and he remains as green as a spokescreature can be in that context.
Sustainable streets are popping up everywhere
Target opened a 24-hour boutique in Toronto this week, 10 years after its first pop-up retail experiment in Manhattan. The pop-up revolution is all grown up — and ready to inject urban sustainability with a big dose of fun.
The trouble with 'carbon bombs'
A new study shows Alberta's oil sands are nowhere near the climate terror that coal is. Which is a kind of relief, because we have a market-ready substitute for coal power up and running already.
The week in review for Big Renewables
A striking infographic demonstrates the latent power of Big Solar in the United States. A powerful image from the Irish Sea illustrates the staggering scale of Big Wind. This is the kind of week it was for a booming global renewable industry.

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