Articles by Lisa Selin Davis
Lisa Selin Davis's articles on architecture, real estate, and the environment, among other topics, have appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com, OnEarth, and many other publications. She's the author of the novel Belly and lives in Brooklyn, NY
All Articles
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Asphalt becomes a developer’s best friend
Photo: jgrimm FlickrNobody loves a parking lot, its endless heat-trapping concrete where visitors wander for what feels like eons, searching for their car. At least, nobody loved them until recently. Suddenly, greyfields–underutilized squares of asphalt–seem like goldmines. (Okay, this happens to be the title of a book on the subject, though it covers dead malls […]
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Can we really make the drive-thru a source of power?
My father believes that the one modern invention above all others to contribute to the downfall of the planet, not to mention our civilization, is the drive-through — or, in the spirit of efficiency on which it’s based, the drive-thru. Your idling could light this sign!Not only does it encourage laziness and obesity by tempting […]
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Are developers making mis-LEED-ing claims?
It seems more and more buildings boast LEED credentials these days -- but are they legit? Find out where and why the best known green-building certification term in the land is being excessively bandied about.
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One man’s plan to re-create suburbia, sans cars
California’s East Bay — the collection of towns, cities, and suburbs across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco — has a lot to boast about. There’s the perpetually great weather, enlightened inhabitants, and a halfway decent, if in my opinion overpriced, public transit system in the form of BART. Yet despite BART’s 43 stations spanning […]
