by admin | May 30, 2016 | Climate, Disaster, Disaster policy, Environment, Government, Infrastructure, Public policy, Public safety, Urban forest, Urban Planning, Water, Wildfire
The subtitle to this headline for many people might be: Who Cares? As a term of art, green infrastructure may be popular with landscape architects, civil engineers, and urban planners, among a few other allied professions, but it does not often mean much to the...
by admin | May 22, 2016 | Chicago, Crime, Personal history, Public policy, Public safety
One of the more disquieting aspects of urban life is an occasional confrontation with the irrational. I have debated telling this story, but I decided that enough other people either have had or will share such experiences that sharing it may have great value. One...
by admin | Apr 22, 2016 | Disaster, Disaster policy, Government, Public safety, Resilience
In the U.S. federal system, states play a major role in what U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once called “the laboratories of democracy.” One role for state government that has unfortunately received far less attention than most others is...
by admin | Apr 18, 2016 | Activism, Careers, Disaster, Disaster policy, Environment, Public safety, Resilience, Urban Planning, Wildfire
Sometimes we find ourselves on a journey whose significance is bigger than the meaning for our own lives alone. In fact, if we are lucky, we come to realize that we can make at least some part of our lives much bigger than ourselves. Two weeks ago, while in Phoenix,...
by admin | Mar 13, 2016 | Activism, Chicago, Civil rights, Political philosophy, Public safety, Racism
Sadly, a national farce is underway. I first commented on the evolving phenomenon last June on this blog, but it has metastasized and metamorphosed in the intervening months, trumping all other considerations as we choose a new leader of the world’s most powerful...
by admin | Mar 5, 2016 | Blogging, Personal health, Public policy, Public safety
Many of us, in making major life decisions, experience both a pull from one direction and a push from another. We may feel conflicted, or we may feel that circumstances have combined to make the decision easy. I don’t know how much Frederick Steiner, the dean of the...
