Five good reads for urbanists:

• Don’t Blame the Cars, Blame the Urban Planners: It isn’t the cars or the parking lots that are the real problem; it’s that city planners have forgotten how to build community. (Derek Neighbors)

• Reflections on Urban Parenthood: For those who think “bugaboo” is a TLC song and meconium is the metal used in cell phone batteries, here’s a simple checklist of what works and what doesn’t work for parents in the city. (Planetizen)

• How slums can save the world: The trick is to look not at the wealth of the residents but at their trajectories. (The Globe and Mail)

• Driven Apart: How Sprawl Is Lengthening Our Commutes and Why Misleading Mobility Measures Are Making Things Worse: A new report from CEOs for Cities unveils the real reason Americans spend so much time in traffic and offers a dramatic critique of the 25 year old industry standard created by the Texas Transportation Institute’s Urban Mobility Report. (CEOs for Cities)

• The Mysteries of Lovable Buildings: If a building cannot be loved, it will not last, and its carbon footprint becomes meaningless once its parts are carted off to the landfill. (The Original Green)