Let's build better cities
Greetings fellow urbanists, architects and humans that care about the built environment!
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I am Michael Huston, a licensed architect and urban designer currently practicing in St. Petersburg, Florida. While educated and trained as an architect, I am an urbanist at heart.
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I started this blog as an outlet for my observations and ideas which crowded my mind and distracted me from more important things, like improving my backhand on the tennis court.
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Because I am a natural born skeptic, I rely on my own observations as my primary source of inspiration and verification, hence the name of this blog, The Empirical City.
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In my opinion, the last 80 years has mostly been a disaster for architecture and city planning. Hopefully, by putting some ideas and observations out there, I can contribute to the dialogue and help shape better towns and cities for future generations.
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Michael Huston
How I make a living (hint, it's not from this blog!)
I am currently associated with two design companies. I started Urban Arts Inc. in 2018 after moving to St. Petersburg, Florida. Urban Arts Inc. provides services in urban design and architecture. In 2020, I joined forces with long time collaborator, Jayashree Narayana, to form a new company called Civic Plan Studio. The new company offers services in land use planning, form-based codes, master planning, and placemaking.
Exploring Mexico City in early 2020
A visioning session for a form-based code in Sunrise, Florida
My story would not be complete without mentioning my six years as a senior designer at DPZ CoDesign. What a great experience to work for a company that you followed and admired for so many years! Here I am (lower right) with my colleagues and my beloved Cosmo who accompanied me to work every day.