Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist

This account is verified. Learn more

@UrbanCourtyard

Courtyard Urbanist is a research and development platform dedicated to improving US cities through family-friendly courtyard block design.

Chicago courtyardurbanist.com Joined May 2024

3.2K Following 30K Followers 33K Posts

Latest posts 5

Pinned post

Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard Oct 28

NEW RFK Courtyard Urbanism Proposal for Washington DC:

-10,000+ homes in a dense, walkable, fine-grained neighborhood
-Family-friendly flats with access to protected courtyards
-1M sf of commercial and office
-a beautiful parking solution

Read all about it in my newest substack, or explore the interactive website (linked below)

And share widely

@realDonaldTrump @POTUS
@MayorBowser
@MayorofDC

@LeaderJohnThune
@SenJohnBarrasso
@SenSchumer
@SenatorDurbin
@ChuckGrassley

@SpeakerJohnson
@SteveScalise
@GOPMajorityWhip
@RepJeffries
@WhipKClark
@RepPeteAguilar
@RepLisaMcClain
@RepMikeQuigley

@EleanorNorton

Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist Verified account @UrbanCourtyard Oct 27

a little preview of the RFK courtyard urbanism proposal I will likely post tomorrow

10,000+ homes (in additional to 1M sf in commercial)

View quoted post on X

Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard 8h

The People Over Parking Act (removing parking minimums half mile from transit) will be the most significant pro-housing legislation in modern Chicago history imo

Parking is ridiculously expensive and takes up a ton of space. It should be minimized in cities

Chicago 2100 Urbanism Verified account @Chicago2100 Sep 2

The People Over Parking Act went into effect on June 1, removing minimum parking requirements within 1/2 mile of rail stations and transit centers and within 1/8 mile of most fixed transit routes. In Chicago, that covers virtually all the areas where people live and do business

View quoted post on X

Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard 9h

The walkability discourse is not just for singles. It's for families, although there are so few walkable, family-friendly neighborhoods that many don't realize this.

Today my family of five benefitted from living in a walkable neighborhood (pre-war Chicago zoning, about .6 parking spots per household):

-walked to mass
-11 year old walked to park with friends after mass and walked herself home afterward
-walked to neighborhood grocery store to do weekly haul with old jogging stroller
-I walked to gym to play volleyball with mom friends

And this is a lazy Sunday. The weekdays are even better because the three kids can walk to school and most of their activities without needing me to chauffeur them

Zany🥕 @zanyfen 13h

been thinking about this and it really seems like a lot of the core walkable city stuff is a young adults' discourse. a lot of their benefits don't actually mean much to you if you're a family of five and not a student or a young professional
View quoted post on X

Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard 1d

I am trying to explain to my husband why downtown neighborhood feels so dead despite being densely populated. “It’s just super blocks and blank walls and parking podiums! There’s no fine-grained building development. Etc etc”

And he’s telling me that it’s because the zoomers don’t drink

Michael Diamant Verified account @michael_diamant 2d

🇵🇱FINE GRAINED URBANISM: The most interesting and dynamic cities are undoubtedly those that offer a more fine grained urbanism. Economy of scale is of course important to keep prices down, but we must not forget to build "commercially uninteresting plots" in central locations. What I mean with the latter is of course building with smaller or odd premises that are not interesting for chain stores.🧵

View quoted post on X

Alicia, Courtyard Urbanist @UrbanCourtyard 1d

Urban amenities like seeing your favorite Shakespeare play at the local Shakespeare theater