Image by Sam Saunders licensed under Creative Commons.

What if the built environment created space for different types of bodies, and people with disabilities? How empty central business districts are impacting the service industry. Is pedestrian infrastructure just performative?

Disability as a social and design phenomenon: Sara Hendren’s new book “What Can a Body Do? How We Meet the Built World,” envisions what it would be like to change the built environment to work with the different body types of people with disabilities, instead of changing bodies through prosthetics or other tools. The predominant view of disability is that it is a medical phenomenon, but what if it were seen more as a social one where our rigidly designed world moves away from what it believes to be human norms? (Katy Waldman | The New Yorker)

Empty employment centers decimating an office economy: A trillion dollar service industry is in peril as office workers aren’t making smaller purchases at their places of work. Airlines, coffee shops, and lunch counters all rely on central business districts and office workers to support their businesses. So while remote work might save on the cost of the commute and office space, it could damage a part of the economy and a “galaxy of businesses” that was built up around them. (Steve LeVine | Marker)

Performative pedestrian infrastructure: In a world full of cars, most infrastructure labeled “pedestrian” is often just performative in that it was built to allow cars to go faster but doesn’t actually make walking more desirable. Pedestrian overpasses for examples are often described in glowing terms but remove pedestrians from the streets for cars. (Joe Cortright | Pedestrian Observations)

The Gentrification font: In changing neighborhoods around the country, newer buildings with modern design are often adorned with building numbers that are in what some are calling the “gentrification font”. The “gentrification font” has been most associated with the Neutraface font, but it also includes many other san serif fonts. (Bettina Makalintal | Vice)

What equity means to a frequent transit rider: In Houston, Janis Scott is affectionately known as The Bus Lady, known for her advocacy of the transit system. She describes equity in transit as providing basic mobility for all including curb cuts, sidewalks, bus benches, and appropriate lighting. (Janis Scott | Kinder Institute for Urban Research)

Quote of the Week

“[Baldwin Street] might be the most COVID-friendly street in the city: big sidewalks, places to spill out onto and a nice backdrop [of residential homes]. That’s what retail in a post-COVID world should look like.”

University of Waterloo Architecture professor Val Rynnimeri in the Globe and Mail discussing how wide sidewalks can be an asset in Toronto’s during the pandemic.

This week on the podcast, Billy Fleming joins the show to talk about the life and legacy of landscape architect Ian McHarg.