What Do You Do with an Abandoned Wal-Mart? Fill It with Ideas

A vacant, 124,500-square-foot former Wal-Mart is now a public library in McAllen, Texas. It’s the largest single-story library in the US.

This proves that with smart ideas and investment we can retrofit places of yesterday into something valuable. The architecture for this project was provided by the Minneapolis firm, MS&R.

Check out pictures of it here.

Growth in Minneapolis and St. Paul Outpaces the Suburbs from 2010 to 2011

Our very own Jim Erkel is quoted in the Star Tribune article "Minneapolis, St. Paul gain as growth shifts from burbs” by David Peterson.

Peterson wrote, “The shift is national in scope: Based on the latest Census Bureau estimates, released last month, a Brookings Institution analyst calculated that cities across the country are outgrowing suburbs for the first time in 100 years, pointing to Minneapolis as a case in point.”

Erkel commented that this is a tipping point. Read more.

The Weight of the Nation and How Our Communities Are Designed

HBO’s documentary series, The Weight of the Nation, chronicles our nation’s obesity epidemic. It also highlights one of the epidemic’s major contributing factors: the way our communities are designed.

“The way our communities are designed has helped foster inactivity, which contributes to obesity and multiple other health problems. The way to solve this is to change our communities to promote increased activity,” said William Dietz, MD, PhD in the documentary.

Watch a clip that illustrates Nashville’s incredible motivation to change their city to be more bikeable and walkable.

Community Builder: Preservation Alliance of Minnesota

The Preservation Alliance of Minnesota is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving historic resources in the state. Preservation is an important element of planning; holding onto what makes places special is crucial. It helps define cities and towns.


Learn how they preserve, protect and promote. »

Be sure to check out their Minnesota Main Street program. » 

Recommended: Urbanized (Add It to Your Netflix Queue!)

Urbanized is a film by Gary Hustwit. Hustwit also directed critically acclaimed documentaries Helvetica and Objectified. His films have a focus on design and provide engaging commentary. It is now available on DVD! 

Buy your copy of the DVD (be sure to also check out the limited edition posters!) »