This week’s selection of news and views for urbanists.

• Retrofitting Gas Stations for Good: In disparate parts of the world, vacant gas stations are being repurposed to become places of entertainment, local entrepreneurship, and cultural productivity. (Pattern Cities)

• Spreading ideas through the urban process:  To see through the uncertainties of the future to realize profitable ideas and to overcome the challenges of product development, entrepreneurs need to live in urban areas. (Neighborhood Effects)

• Density Limits Are Urban Protectionism: Timothy B. Lee explains why limits on density destroy wealth in exactly the same way that limits on free trade do. (Forbes)

• Sustainable communities must embrace the familiar: If sustainable communities are to become mainstream, they must provide potential residents, workers, and visitors with as much familiarity – in buildings, in design, in components, in comfort – as possible. (Kaid Benfield’s Blog)

• A Call for Urban Doctors: Much like the human body, cities are complex, dynamic systems. Continually treating the symptoms without addressing the systems and thinking that the same prescription will work for everyone, will never result in a healthy solution. (Huffington Post)