Start here · Essential guide
Creating Livable Cities: Principles of Urban Design
A plain-language tour of the core urban design principles behind pleasant cities: mixed uses, human scale, connected streets, legible districts and flexibility.
Streets and Public Spaces
Livable Cities
Design principles and strategies for pleasant places to live.
Creating Livable Cities: Prioritizing Urban Development for People
Why planning that starts from daily human needs, not vehicles or buildings, changes the questions a city asks and the choices it makes in practice.
Creating Livable Cities: Strategies for Reducing Traffic Congestion and Air Pollution
How cities approach traffic congestion and air quality together, through demand management, transit and street design, and why results vary from place to place.
Creating Livable Cities: Strategies for Urban Development
What planners track to judge livability, from access to services and housing mix to green space, plus the limits of city rankings and single-score measures.
Creating Livable Cities: Strategies for Urban Development and Renewal
How renewing older districts can raise or lower livability for residents, with attention to sequencing, phasing and the impacts of change on people already there.
Creating Livable Cities: Strategies for Urban Development and Renewal: A Case Study
A clearly labeled hypothetical composite neighborhood renewal that walks through typical steps, trade-offs and uncertain evidence, with no real place named.
Making Cities Livable: Strategies for Urban Renewal
A short checklist of renewal moves that tend to improve daily life, from basic repairs and lighting to safety, services and places for neighbors to gather.
The Art of Urban Design: How to Create Beautiful and Functional Cities
The craft side of urban design, including scale, proportion, sightlines and street frontages, and how beauty and function can reinforce or conflict with each other.
The Importance of Urban Design in Shaping Social Behavior
How street layout, seating and building arrangement influence how people move and meet in cities, and why design nudges behavior without determining it.
The Power of Urban Design: Shaping Cities for the Future
How design choices made now lock in patterns of movement, energy use and public life for decades, and why flexibility matters when the future is uncertain.
The Role of Urban Design in Promoting Public Health
Design features that encourage physical activity, including visible stairs, safe crossings and recreation space, and what the evidence can and cannot tell us.
The Role of Urban Design in Shaping Public Health
The indirect health links in urban design, including air quality, noise, daylight, heat and mental restoration, and why evidence is often mixed and context-specific.
The Role of Urban Design in Urban Renewal and Development
Core design principles used in renewal projects, including fitting scale, connecting to the existing street grid, mixed frontages and building on what is already there.
The Role of Urban Design in Urban Renewal: Creating Livable Cities
How urban design connects to everyday livability in renewed neighborhoods: comfort, safety, access to services and the intangible feel of a place.
Urban Development and Transportation: Creating Livable Cities
How transport choices shape noise, safety, air and daily convenience, and how those experiences add up to residents' sense of whether a city is livable.
Related topics
More in streets and public spaces
Public Spaces Placemaking, design and art in plazas and parks. Walkable Cities and Mobility Walking, sustainable transport and street design. Downtown Revitalization Bringing central business areas back to life with a balanced mix of uses. Main Streets Reviving traditional commercial streets in towns and neighborhoods. Waterfront Redevelopment Turning city shorelines into open, working and resilient places. Mixed-Use Development Combining homes, shops and workplaces, and the density that supports them. Future of Cities Trends, technology and mobility shaping cities ahead. Public Art and Culture Art in public places and its role in renewal. Technology in Cities How digital tools and smart city ideas fit into planning, renewal and city services.