Subscribe
Sign in
Home
Notes
Archive
About
Students Hate AI at Graduation, Research Hits Home, & More
Around the College Towns: Links and commentary related to urbanism and higher ed for the week of May 5 - May 18.
May 18
8
6
Bicentennial on Semiquincentennial: Did the Smartest Guys in 1976 Predict 2026?
A National Geographic from 1976 offers a glimpse into the hopes and fears of America's future.
May 12
•
Ryan M Allen
7
2
4
Traffic Cameras and Campus Free Speech, Ruining Old Books, & More
Around the College Towns: Links and commentary related to urbanism and higher ed for the week of April 27 - May 3.
May 4
2
3
Most Popular
View all
The School Car Pickup Line Is a National Embarrassment
Feb 17, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
414
118
46
Celebrating the Timeless Allure of Tintin's Aesthetics
Jan 6, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
63
8
18
The Urbanism of the 'King of the Hill' Reboot
Aug 25, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
36
10
Making an Intersection Unsafe for Pedestrians to Save Seconds for Drivers
Jan 13, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
12
17
3
No, You and a Couple of Friends Shouldn't Buy a Dead College
Feb 24, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
58
49
17
Where Have All the Trick-or-Treaters Gone on Halloween? Destination Neighborhoods
Oct 27, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
23
11
10
Subscribe
Original Analysis
View all
Bicentennial on Semiquincentennial: Did the Smartest Guys in 1976 Predict 2026?
A National Geographic from 1976 offers a glimpse into the hopes and fears of America's future.
May 12
•
Ryan M Allen
7
2
4
Fantastical Adaptive Reuse: The Story of Fu Ren University, Beijing, China.
From a prince's palace, then a Catholic school ordained by the Pope, to a modern national university.
Apr 20
•
Ryan M Allen
7
4
3
The US Needs a New Space Race
Artemis II is the first leg of the Space Race with China with the end goal of a university on the Moon.
Apr 9
•
Ryan M Allen
8
2
8
What China Has Planned For Higher Ed By 2030
Commentary on the higher education plans within the Chinese 15th Five-Year Plan.
Mar 16
•
Ryan M Allen
6
5
The Dashboard That Cried Wolf
Trump's new higher ed foreign gift dashboard is an overpromised, contextless mess.
Feb 24
•
Ryan M Allen
7
5
Waymo Hits a Kid Walking to School: Crash Analysis
I visit the site where a self-driving car made international headlines for not being a tragedy.
Feb 11
•
Ryan M Allen
8
4
9
The Education and Urbanism of Breaking Away
From limestone quarries to the National Championship: How this 1979 film captures the evolution of Indiana University, Bloomington, and the classic…
Jan 19
•
Ryan M Allen
16
9
11
Why Parents Tolerate Terrible School Car Pickup Lines
A tragedy strikes the my own community. We failed this boy and his family by placating drivers over everything else.
Dec 5, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
18
12
8
Happy 1st Birthday to College Towns
I reflect on a year of weekly writing, running an academic Substack, and the future of the site.
Oct 14, 2025
•
Ryan M Allen
15
10
5
College Towns
College Towns, where urbanism meets higher education.
Subscribe
Recommendations
View all 12
Hate The Game The Newsletter
Daryl Fairweather, PhD
onHousing
Aaron Lubeck
Chuck with Strong Towns
Charles Marohn
CITYBUILDER
CityBuilder
The Admissions Abstract
The Admissions Abstract
This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please
turn on JavaScript
or unblock scripts
