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The Savannah Plan and the history of urban form

Lecture 24 from Doug Allen's History of Urban Form course describes Savannah's unique plan of wards, squares, blocks, and lots, originally developed for a small British outpost not far from Spanish territory, but replicated to enlarge the historic city. Allen shows how the dimensions and arrangement of streets and lots...

Posted by Michael Bates on May 13, 2018 11:54 PM

Do new OKC skyscrapers have to go downtown? A Parisian possibility

Steve Lackmeyer has a story in today's Oklahoman about the dilemma facing Oklahoma City as surface parking downtown is being replaced with new development. Now, [Stage Center] is set to be torn down to make way for a tower rising at least 20 stories into the skyline. And if one...

Posted by Michael Bates on July 28, 2013 10:25 PM

Travel, tourism, and urban news roundup: Spring break in Oklahoma, Norman Rockwell in Bentonville, marketing your small town

Time to tame the tabs. Here are a few articles worth your notice: Natasha Ball has compiled This Land's list of 50 Best Spring Break Things to Do in Oklahoma. For all my years and all my travels, I see plenty of items that I have yet to accomplish and...

Posted by Michael Bates on March 19, 2013 7:02 PM

William Bryk's "Old Smoke" columns online

One of the pleasures of reading the New York Press online, back when it was one of the earliest alt-weeklies on the web, was William Bryk's weekly historical column, "Old Smoke." Bryk later wrote a column for the too-short-lived New York Sun. Each week Bryk took the reader on a...

Posted by Michael Bates on December 13, 2011 6:43 AM

Jane Jacobs remembered

An edited version of this piece was published in the June 7, 2006, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The edited, published version of the piece is online in the Internet Archive. Posted on the web September 17, 2013. Remembering Jane Jacobs By Michael D. Bates "This book is an attack...

Posted by Michael Bates on June 7, 2006 8:45 PM