ARTICLES

The New Urbs feature at The American Conservative has published numerous essays and long-form articles that Theo has written about urban planning (on the web, and in print). TAC is a non-profit, non-partisan national magazine that has demonstrated a unique commitment to covering the cultural aspects and implications of choices about our built environment. With a focus on traditional urban planning and classical architecture, its New Urbs feature has received support from the Driehaus Foundation for its ongoing work on these topics.

Weird NJ magazine has an upcoming article by Theo about found art in West Orange, N.J.

The Metro New York TOD Newsletter published Newark TOD: Capitalizing on Historic Assets in 2010, describing the layout, transportation infrastructure, and T.O.D. potential of Newark, N.J. This is a slightly expanded version of the same essay.

The Steven L. Newman Real Estate Institute has published Theo’s work on technologies and comprehensive planning in Manhattan.

PROPOSALS

Victorian Woodycrest Historic District, Bronx, N.Y. In 2016, Legal Towns Consulting proposed an entirely new historic district, comprising 25 tax lots in the Highbridge section of the Bronx. The proposal, made to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, was based on the unique historical character of an extant cluster of Queen Anne-style, detached Victorian houses, situated within the Commissioner’s Plan of New York City (i.e., the numbered street grid covering Manhattan and the West Bronx). This proposal was submitted to the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2016.

Halsey Street Commons Redevelopment Plan, Newark, N.J.. In 2011, Legal Towns Consulting proposed a comprehensive redevelopment plan for more than two dozen vacant and blighted tax lots at the western edge of downtown Newark, New Jersey. The proposal was written pursuant to the rules of New Jersey’s Local Redevelopment and Housing Law, and took into account the deeply historic character of the neighborhood, whose streets date from the original Puritan settlement of Newark in 1666. Conceptually, the proposal sought to recover qualities of the neighborhood’s historical urban fabric, and to incorporate these into a new stock of housing and commercial space.

UNPUBLISHED ESSAYS

Public Use Takings: a Comparison of U.S. and N.J. Approaches. This paper, written for a Rutgers Law School course about the jurisprudence of the New Jersey Supreme Court, looks at the doctrine of eminent domain, and examines how activities constitute legitimate public uses under both federal and New Jersey law.

To-morrow in America. In 1898, the English town planner, Ebenezer Howard, published an illustrated book with a planning vision that would shape suburban land use patterns for much of the 20th century; meanwhile, his legal and financial structures would influence the development of cooperative affordable housing in New York City. This paper briefly examines the impact of To-morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real Reform, and its influence on American land use and cooperative housing.