Recently, my partner Aly reflected on our walks in Columbus (OH) feeling safer than elsewhere in the states. We discussed the why behind this perceived feeling, and articulated the claim into five attributable rationales. We decided to rehash those, here.

As planners, designers, and urbanists get deeper into the technical, it's important to keep the way that a place or piece of infrastructure simply feels top of mind.

Rob Parker — president of the Town at Trilith — is in good traffic this week to share on constructing a walkable town around creatives and the film industry. 40 minutes outside of Atlanta, a 235-acre neighborhood is taking shape. It’s budding around one of the largest film studios in the U.S., and is looking to become a cradle for creatives, on the way to establishing a revamped, stronger model of an industry town.

Even amongst all of the glitz and glamour of movie studios — simple, practical walkability is top of mind.

We discuss:

00:00 Centering a town around a leading Atlanta movie studio (the home of multiple Marvel productions).

01:44 Building and curating a walkable community, specifically designed for creatives.

07:20 Intentionality in crafting diverse, ‘missing middle’ housing options.

11:53 New, greenfield development that doesn’t feel fake, cheap, or cookie-cutter.

15:14 Challenges and solutions of a ‘new urbanist’ development project.

29:28 Connectivity and transportation between suburban and rural towns.

37:37 Balancing cars and walkability.

42:28 Wrapping up.

Further context:

The Town at Trilith.

The studio.

Connect with Rob:

On LinkedIn.

Connect with me, Brad:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On Instagram.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On TikTok⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠On LinkedIn⁠⁠.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Musing from recent neighborhood walks. Notably: counting single occupancy vehicles (SOVs) entering and exiting the city during rush hour. Surely, some of these are coming from — and going to — similar areas of the metro. There has to be a better way. And, they're all driving increasingly-large SUVs, too.

Bigger, heavier cars. More inefficient, wasted space.

There is much we can glean from a basic neighborhood wander. This is one such observation; what is one of yours?

We discuss:

00:00 Observations from neighborhood walks, amongst rush hour commuters.

04:27 The inefficiency of single occupancy vehicles.

11:28 The exploding popularity of larger vehicles in the U.S. (SUVs, trucks, etc.).

16:44 More on inefficiencies in American cities.

21:30 What have you noticed in your neighborhood?

For context:

U.S. commuter data (via CSIS).

Market share by vehicle type, 1975-2021 (via Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan).

Cost of empty airline seats (via Forbes).

Most popular vehicle type in each state (via iSeeCars).