Category Archive

A few weeks ago, at the Virginia Festival of the Book, I did a placemaking activity where I had passersby fill out cards that said, “I live in ______________ and this is why I love it.” People dashed off answers like: “Diversity & inclusiveness! We welcome everyone!”—Decatur, Georgia “Because the people are welcoming and the food is delicious.”—Houston, Texas “It … Read More

A woman I met told me about moving her family and her mother from California to South Carolina a few months ago, buying and selling “four properties in three cities in two states” in a whirlwind process that left her drained and exhausted. You wouldn’t blame her for holing up in her (river-view) study and practicing yoga breathing for 11 … Read More

There’s a study I talk up all the time that found that you’re most likely to be place attached if your city does three things well: social offerings, aesthetics, and openness. People tend to understand the first two. It’s the third one, openness, that causes problems. Even after I explain that openness means your city welcomes all kinds of residents, … Read More

People tend to feel passionately about New Year’s resolutions one way or the other. I’m quite in favor of them myself, spending the days around January 1 plotting how this year I’m actually going to do my resolutions, not just think about them. I bought this habit calendar from Kickstarter because I’d read that Jerry Seinfeld created an ironclad daily … Read More

Thomas Knox is a guy from New York City who wanted to get people to slow down and talk to each other. So as a social experiment, he dragged a table and some chairs down into the subway, set out a board game, and waited. People rushing for the trains eyed him warily, but after a few minutes, a stranger … Read More