The Case for Large Parcel Infill
What CNU 34 taught me about streets, retail, phasing, and the discipline required to build complete neighborhoods.
Build Better Places
Documenting my journey to build human-scale housing in the United States.
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Latest posts
How to Build a Housing Movement
What a campaign for Single Stair reform taught me about advocacy, coalitions, and changing housing policy.
The Smart Money Builds Places
How long-term developers can turn greenfield land into enduring value
Vibe Shift Part 3: What Kind of Housing Will America Need by 2050?
The future belongs to places that match the country America is becoming
Vibe Shift Part 2: When Suburbia Stopped Scaling (The Demographic Flip)
How a housing system built for one era began to strain in another
Vibe Shift Part 1: Why the Postwar Suburb Made Sense (And Why That No Longer Matters)
A three-part look at how changing economic and social realities are reshaping the American built environment
How a single building can improve a community
A developer’s guide to creating value with centers and shared public space
Twelve Books for Building Better Places in 2026
What I’m reading to understand housing, cities, and the limits of reform
Software-defined Land Development
Evaluating new data and AI tools that improve decision-making in Real Estate Development and Urban Planning
A Playbook for Profitable Community-Scale Infill Housing
Good urbanism meets good business by making complexity work for the block and the bottom line.
How learning about classical architecture can help us build better places
My reflections on the INTBAU Let’s Build a Beautiful City Summer School: a renaissance in thinking around beauty, function and longevity in building.
A Shared Vision for Better Cities at Utopian Hours
Why I’m heading to Torino this fall to explore what urban vision, regeneration, and public space can teach us about building better places.
Better Places for Kids: Learning from Raffi, Jane Jacobs and Christopher Alexander
What if we built our neighborhoods like we build theme parks—for joy, safety, and wonder?
Are Single-Stair Apartments Safe? The Code Debate Shaping U.S. Housing
What the national wave of single stair reform efforts reveals about fire safety, institutional gatekeepers, and the future of small-scale multifamily housing in the U.S.
How a simple change in building codes can help solve the missing middle housing gap
Exploring the single-staircase opportunity to unlock more neighborhood-friendly housing.
The Cold Start Problem: How to Begin Building Better Places
One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced since starting my journey to build human-scale communities is what I call the cold start problem. Namely, how do you start to build a new community? History is littered with ideal cities that have no inhabitants and building projects that missed the mark. And the more I dig into it, the more I realize that it’s actually two problems—each making the other…
Building Better Places, One Step at a Time
Rethinking real estate to create places worth living in.