Q&A with Sacramento State President Luke Wood
Dr. Luke Wood made history not only as the first alumnus to take over Sacramento State's top spot, but also as its youngest president ever. He embarked on a busy first year that included spearheading the nation’s first Black Honors College. As he settles into year two, Wood talks about navigating tough challenges and stadium-sized opportunities on campus, envisioning a downtown footprint, and a good-natured fight night between Sacramento State and UC Davis.
Best Maker of Sustainable Joy
Ecojoyous founder Hope Suson is on a mission to help Sacramento live better and cleaner—complete with a new store in Old Sacramento.
Q&A with Sean de Courcy, City of Sacramento's Preservation Director
In a city haunted by the ghosts of the Alhambra Theatre, the West End neighborhood, and other long-lost local landmarks demolished in the name of urban renewal, the act of historic preservation in Sacramento confers a solemn responsibility. As the city’s preservation director, Sean de Courcy knows a thing or two about the stakes. He talks about the possibility of a Lavender Heights Historic District, his office’s new LGBTQ+ Historic Experience Project and the efforts to safeguard a space-age community hiding in plain sight in South Land Park.
A Window to the World
In 2021, a Lithuanian artist created a set of large-scale urban portals to allow people from one country to interact in real time with strangers in another. Now he’s expanding. Let’s greet our global neighbors too.
Putting His Stamp on Maps
Postal worker Michael Calcagno reimagines transportation designs with creative mapmaking mash-ups of Sacramento, San Francisco, New York City and beyond.
Where the Sidewalk Starts
Since 2005, Davis-based “urban sketcher” Pete Scully has been roaming city streets with a pen and notebook at the ready, capturing sidewalk scenes in painstakingly exquisite detail. We spotlight a selection of his singular depictions of our region that illustrate the art of the city.
Eggheads That Go Over Easy
After 30 years, you can finally put all your UC Davis Eggheads in one basket
Q&A with Jessica Sanders, Executive Director of the Sacramento Tree Foundation
Sacramento has long carried the charming nickname City of Trees, a tribute to our vast urban forest. Dr. Jessica Sanders leads the efforts to help our shady, leafy friends thrive in communities around the region. She speaks about the wide diversity of the local tree population, her group’s big Arbor Day plans, and the game-changing promise of cherry blossoms about to take their star turn at Sacramento’s new Hanami Line.
Q&A with Susan Handy, Director of the National Center for Sustainable Transportation at UC Davis
Ever since her days peering out the window of her family’s station wagon as a little girl, Susan Handy has carried a fascination with the roads that move people from point A to point B in California. Today, as a professor of environmental science and policy at UC Davis—as well as director of the National Center for Sustainable Transportation—Handy studies the big picture as she tackles the challenges affecting how we get around in the United States. She speaks to us about the widening freeways, burgeoning bike lanes, and curiously counterintuitive thinking that drive her new book, Shifting Gears: Toward a New Way of Thinking about Transportation.
Q&A with Consulting City Planner Brent Toderian
After six years as Vancouver’s chief city planner, Brent Toderian [pronounced todder-an] launched his own international consulting firm, Toderian UrbanWorks, in 2012 to advise cities around the world on issues ranging from transportation to urban design. Earlier this year, he added the River City to his list of civic clients when he was tapped to consult the Downtown Sacramento Partnership after serving as keynote speaker at the organization’s annual State of Downtown event in February. We catch up with Toderian to discuss his thoughts on bringing more housing to downtown Sacramento, creating a more pedestrian-friendly and bike-forward environment, and making the central city a more desirable place to live, work and play.
Where the Sidewalk Blooms
In an innovative effort to green up and cool down our concrete jungle, the Seed Pile Project empowers citizen botanists to color outside the lines (and inside sidewalk cracks) throughout our region. With a goal of expanding statewide and beyond, the nascent urban environmental movement hopes to spread like wildflowers.
The Passive House: Minimum Energy, Maximum Comfort
As our climate changes, leading to colder winters and hotter summers—along with more intense wildfire smoke infiltrating the valley—one Sacramento builder is bringing a new type of structure to town. It’s called a “passive house,” an airtight abode that even our region’s dreaded pollen can’t work its way into. And despite its seemingly laissez-faire moniker, the concept is a proactive step toward the future of sustainable home design.
On Sale Now!
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