There's a great interview over at Grid Chicago, wherein former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist waxes philosophical over the importance of diverse transit and street design in combating the decentralizing tendencies of the day (ever since the automobile, actually) and maintaining healthy urban retail sector. Known for making common sense infrastructure improvements during his 16 years in office, like taking down an elevated highway, restoring two-way traffic on small streets, and running sidewalks over bridges, Norquist is now the president and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism, active in promoting neglected urban design principles like pedestrian scaling, bicycling amenities and mixed-use development. John Greenfield of Grid Chicago gets into Norquist's head and plumbs his thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of Chicago's built form. [Grid Chicago]
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