Two weeks ago, our CTO, Andy Likuski and I attended the MOVE Smart Mobility conference in London and got a chance to exhibit State of Place. Not only were we struck by the lack of pedestrian “mobility” of the conference location, we were also disheartened to see that we were only one of a handful (seriously like sixe) of the 207 companies represented focused on the citymaking part of the mobility equation. So I did a quick and dirty breakdown of (lack of ) urban design around the conference space and analyzed the exhibitors to understand the makeup of today’s Smart Mobility space. Bottom line, we need better and more urban design in and around Smart Mobility!

It’s been one week since Amazon very publicly broke up - jilted even - with New York City. Now that initial sting is (maybe) worn off (a little), we’re here to give cities some gentle, empowering advice. Chin up cities! Resist the temptation to play the toxic dating game that is economic development meets corporate siting. Refuse these narcissistic would-be lovers. There’s a BETTER, simpler way that serves EVERYONE. Making places better…

Happy Valentine’s Day! While most people are celebrating today by dishing out copious amounts of money on indulgent dinners and fanciful flowers, us city nerds and datageeks have a different kind of love on our minds today - PLACE love! This week, in honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re revisiting the phenomenon of the “anthropomorphic” love (or hate) we all experience with “place.” We explore my “feelings” toward three cities I’ve loved (and hated) before - Shanghai, New York, and Miami to help us understand what about place creates such strong emotions in us - and what we can do as citymakers to encourage more love for place!

Last week, we took our best stab at distilling the vastly important Smart Growth America, Dangerous by Design report into what we believe are the main takeaways, both in terms of the key evidence-based findings and the critical design and policy guidance that came out of the report. We also aimed to translate these directives into specific, actionable urban design recommendations that citymakers must - and can - start implementing STAT. But there was so much to dig into with respect to SGA’s findings that - lest we threatened your weekly productivity - we decided to save the “how to” section for this week (tell your boss, you’re welcome!). Together, we can go from Dangerous by Design to Safe by Design! Let’s do this thing. And, if you happen to be attending MOVE in London next week, please hit me and Andy (our CTO) up! We’ll be exhibiting in the Startup Village in booth P62 on Feb 12th and 13th! Hope to discuss how data, predictive analytics, and design can save lives - and make people happier and more prosperous!

Last week, Smart Growth America published their semi-annual Dangerous by Design report, highlighting the most perilous places to be a pedestrian in the US and calling for a variety of policy measures to help put an end to the 13 people whose lives are stolen every day because of fatal street design. Clearly, given our ongoing blog series, Design for our Lives, and our data-driven efforts to put teeth behind Vision Zero (and the like) programs over the course of the past 9 months, the report caught our attention. Accordingly, we culled through the report and pulled out not only the key stats all citymakers must have at their fingerprints about road safety - whether they are involved in a Vision Zero program or not - but also the critical design and policy measures that must be implemented immediately - literally as a matter of life and death - to go from dangerous by design to safe by design. And next week, we’ll distill these design and policy guidelines into specific, actionable urban design changes that all citymakers need to start implementing STAT (we were gonna do it this week, but we didn’t want to cut too much more into your important citymaking schedules! ;)). So without further ado, we present the top three findings of the Dangerous by Design report and the seven top design and policy recommendations that must be heeded to get Safer by Design.

A couple of weeks ago, we ran across an article published in CNU’s Public Square entitled “Walkability indexes are flawed. Let's find a better method.” Naturally, as an urban data and predictive analytics software company - who produces a quality of place index that measures walkability among other “abilities”, ahem, the State of Place Index - this got our attention. While Mr. Steuteville, the author of the piece, makes some astute - and accurate - claims about indeces like Walk Score and the EPA’s National Walkability Index (NWI), we took a deeper dive into his arguments, lest we not throw out the baby with the bathwater. So, we humbly present to you a few ways in which the State of Place Index does indeed address many of the stated “flaws” outlined in the article and then underscore why Mr. Steuteville’s proposed solution alone - to focus on measuring walking - has key downsides that citymakers must consider. So let’s dig in before my datageeky heart bursts with joy (we love getting the opportunity to get geeky with it with pieces like these - so thanks Mr. Steuteville!).

A few weeks ago, we presented the hard numbers that show that a one point increase (out of 100) in the State of Place Index (i.e. better urban design) reduces the likelihood of a collision by 12.3% on average. This week, please meet Guess Street in Durham, NC --a dangerous hotspot not unlike many in your community -- we'll walk you through the specific changes citymakers need to make to save lives! 

Ah the new year! A time when we reflect on all that we've accomplished (hopefully!) in the past year, as well as make (sometimes lofty) plans and resolutions for "the new me." But making successful resolutions that stick is hard work...because it involves making changes, which is no easy feat (especially for cities, since that usually means getting others on board too)! Dropping 15 pounds, quitting smoking, organizing your closet, or creating better places (our wheelhouse!) can be difficult without the right tools and support. Although we can't help organize your closet, we can provide cities with an invaluable tool to achieve their place quality resolutions - to help make your neighborhoods and communities more walkable, livable, irresistible. Here's how...

Happiest of holidays from the State of Place Team! We hope you've been enjoying time with family and friends and got everything your heart desired this holiday season. But, just in case(s), here’s our special (re)gift to you - our most popular posts of 2018. And yes, regifting is now totally ok, so we good! ;)

Two years ago, I wrote about comedy of errors type trip to the Houston Galleria - at the start of the holiday season. We thought it was appropriate to reprise this (slightly updated) story and once again take you along this not quite seamless journey - not merely because we are now T-5 days till Christmas but also because there are still countless malls across the U.S., struggling to reinvent themselves in light of the increased demand for more walkable, authentic places AND of course the dominance of online shopping, especially giants like Amazon. TLDR - State of Place can help mall owners, developers, and retailers identify the best properties primed for redevelopment, prioritize changes that are most likely to make the existing mall more walkable - and desirable, AND forecast how these changes will actually boost commercial (and residential) rents and revenues - and of course up ROI - so you can get the biggest bang for the buck AND truly make holiday shopping (and all other trips) jolly! Schedule a demo or sign up for your free trial to learn more!

With only 12 (shopping) days left till Christmas, we’ve released our third annual holiday gift guide, chock full of unique, awesome gifts, perfect for all the urban planners, data geeks and city-lovers - budding, amateur, or pro-level - in your life! Check out our team members’ top picks for the holiday season - beware though, you may end up picking up something for yourself too! :) Treat ‘yo self!

Yesterday, on Innovate Durham Demo Day, Devin Nieusma, our Customer Development Intern, presented the results of our pilot project to help the City of Durham use data to quickly, affordably, and effectively “Get to Zero” (pedestrian, bicyclists, and motorist deaths. Dig deep into our results, which shows how urban design, as measured by State of Place, impacts the odds and probabilities of collisions. TLDR; Design matters - quite simply, intersections in which people have lost their lives are just not designed to keep pedestrians, cyclists, and even motorists, safe - period.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This is our third annual installment of our gratitude post - one of our favorite posts of the year where all of our team members say thanks for place, places, and other things they cherish in their lives. We just want to take this time to thank YOU all for your support, enthusiasm, and openness to a slightly different way of creating awesome places people love! We hope to help many more of you in 2019 and spotlight you here!

What are the top five things I can do to boost walkability? I get asked a version of this question a LOT. Like, ALL. THE. TIME. I get it. It's the Twitter era (nope, not going there...). 140 characters or bust. People want easy answers, simple solutions, soundbite fixes - even when the problems are complex...especially when they're complex. Nuance? Details? Qualifiers? That's for academics (yeah, no kidding!). This is why articles like "4 ways to make a city more walkable" and "7 simple ways to make every city friendlier for pedestrians" are such effective click-bait and why there are so many "walkability checklists." But can you really create a formula for walkability, livability, great places?

Happy Election Day, America!! Now that you've done your civic duty (yup, that's a blatant attempt at shaming you if you haven't!), it's your chance to weigh in on how cities can use urban design to eliminate traffic collisions and create safer streets for all! Yeah, if you didn't hear yet, we made the Semi-Finals in Ford's City of Tomorrow Challenge and next step is to hear what YOU think about it! Click here to learn more and provide your feedback to help us win the challenge - but more importantly save lives!

In light of our partnership with Innovate Durham and making the semifinals of the Pittsburgh City of Tomorrow challenge, we’re bringing back our guide to all things Vision Zero in the US. We analyzed each of the 35 cities (so far!) that have committed to eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries to see what’s being done - and not done - to get to zero. Check out our handy dandy Cliff-notes version (um, are we dating ourselves?) to see how these cities are stacking up as they valiantly work to make streets safer. 

Get your Rail~volution on with State of Place data-geeks Andy and Kelliann and ride the data-driven livability train to Pittsburgh!

Update: Exciting news! As of October 19th, 4 days after this blog was initially posted — our application is a semifinalist in this challenge!

Thank you for your support our City of Tomorrow Pittsburgh Challenge application to create a Safety Module that predicts best urban design street improvements that will eliminate road deaths! Please check out the app if you haven’t already! Please also check out our video overview!