Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · 24d

This should be easy in Mac Pages, but is there a way to have sections within a document come up as tabs at the top of the window, like tabs on a website?

1

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · 26d

I'll be speaking at International Making Cities Livable 62 in Potsdam next month; any recommendations for great German towns to photograph in the Berlin region?

1 1

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · 29d

Almost exactly 7 years after moving to Tuscaloosa I have done something. I’ve never done before: walk to Northport. It’s terrifying along a bridge with knee-high handrails and fast industrial traffic. I’m not sure I ever want to do this again!

3

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Yes, unfortunately. Of all the crazy things we saw in our South Beach years, a great one was replacing the convention center parking lot with a park. The first-ever inversion of “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" I’ve ever seen.

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Anne, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. And everything I hear from the Bay Area northward sounds like a different world to me. I doubt I’d ever have much to say that’s useful there. Just two very different cultures.

1

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

The NIMBY/YIMBY wars vary substantially across the US and beyond. Here in the southeast, better-quality design has a stronger chance than in other places from which I've heard the war stories. I've long ago given up on persuasion where it has little-to-no chances of working.

1 1

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Much appreciated, Sarah! And I always greatly enjoy stories like this about people who have built such places or have inhabited them. A strong dollop of reality to season the images and words!

1

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

What a textbook case of classical composition, from head to foot and with refinements at every point! Someone well-versed in classical architecture could easily do an hour-long lecture on this image, if not longer.

4

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Two very different ways of joining columns to beams from more vernacular on the left to highly classical on the right. The wrought iron column and beam panels are nearly identical while the classical elements do specific jobs in more varied ways.

5

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

This most refined French Quarter building is clad with a material that really needs to make a comeback: glazed terra cotta. It’s super-durable, able to be crisply shaped, and able to take on pretty much any shape required.

1 6

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

New Orleans’ French Quarter is filled with Missing Middle Housing, both Core and Upper, such as this Commercial Apartment Block with businesses at street level and apartments above. Look around; the wealth of types may astound you.

1 5

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Most of the NOLA French Quarter is 2-3 stories and quite vernacular, but this one exceeds 10 stories and is beautifully refined in exchange for the added mass. YIMBYs making the same exchange might get more units built.

1 2

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Solid shutters are more secure at street level, but louvered shutters above allow ventilation and filtered light when the shutters are shut but the openings (doors in this case, or windows) are open behind them.

1 4

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Porch and gallery stairs are frequent on the Gulf Coast, especially when multiple levels are part of the same property. Whether intentional or not, enticing people outdoors helps them Live in Season, reducing AC usage: originalgreen.org/blog/living-...

5

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Here’s a building composition thing I’ve noticed but can’t explain: in places with a strong Anglo tradition, there must always be a center bay open but French traditions have no problem with an even number of bays, like everything here except the centered street door. Ideas?

3

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Multi-level galleries where planting is both allowed by regulation and encouraged by local culture creates a Green Envelope both for the outdoor rooms on the galleries and on the street itself, making everything in sight cooler, both in temperature and in vibe.

1 8

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

The nighttime economy can be highly profitable but messy, including remnants of "human impromptu detox" in the streets. New Orleans does a much better job cleaning the streets in early mornings than they did a few decades ago. Washed streets are now a common early-morning sight.

4

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

It’s early on Bourbon Street, and so deserted at this hour, but this pair of street-corner galleries will be hopping by afternoon, fueled in part by people engaging across the street not only at sidewalk level but also at gallery level.

6

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Amid the LED signage takeover, don’t forget neon. It has lots of heart and will feel like something made by the Vernacular Mind compared to the LED attempted perfection.

3

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

No doubt much of the Quarter predates the car, but that doesn’t answer the question of “if people love this so much, are the rules of transportation engineering wrong that make this illegal?” We should never be allergic to ideas long-proven to work.

1

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Listening to Crabgrass Frontier, it’s clear that this has always been so, at least in recent centuries if not for all time.

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Andres Duany once said “visitors to New Orleans see it as the poorest, most corrupt, and most poorly-run American city, but once you understand that it’s actually a Caribbean city, it is top-of-list for all these things.”

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

What Sarah said. Also, a speeder who jumps the curb would instantly hit gallery columns, bringing the gallery down on their heads. People intuitively understand this and drive much more carefully with near-street hazards.

1 2

Steve Mouzon @stevemouzon.bsky.social · Sep 6

Every profession is at risk of letting their professionality overcome their humanity. Engineers are no exception. Nor are architects, of which I am one.

Reposted by Steve Mouzon

Active Towns @activetowns.bsky.social · Sep 6

ICYMI Yesterday, I released this gem of a conversation about the history of protected bike lanes and intersections in the USA and the leveraging of Dutch designs in North America with @mobycon.bsky.social’s Nick Falbo. Available now in audio-only and video formats
www.activetowns.org/2025/09/04/a...

Adapting Dutch Cycle Network Designs

EPISODE 306, SEASON 10: In this episode, I finally connect with Nick Falbo, Senior Integrated Mobility Consultant with Mobycon in Portland, OR We nerd out on the history of protected bike lanes and ...

www.activetowns.org

5 14