Alissa Walker
Urbanism Editor
Alissa Walker connects people with where they live through writing, speaking, and walking. As the urbanism editor at Curbed, she authors the column Word on the Street, highlighting the pioneering transit, clever civic design, and game-changing policy affecting our cities.
For her writing on design and urbanism, Alissa has been named a USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellow and Journalist of the Year by Streetsblog Los Angeles. In 2012 her project Good Ideas for Cities was selected for inclusion in the U.S. Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2015 she received the Design Advocate award from the LA chapter of the American Institute of Architects. She is also the co-founder of design east of La Brea, a nonprofit that has received two National Endowment for the Arts grants supporting its LA design events.
Alissa lives in Los Angeles, where she is a co-host of LA Podcast, a contributor to the KCRW show Greater LA, and a mom to the city's two most enthusiastic public transit riders.
Architectural criticism has a problem but it’s not press trips
The issue isn’t flights and hotels—it’s about who grants and gets access.
Mayors are fighting the EPA’s emissions rollback. What cities need are fewer cars.
City leaders will make a bigger climate impact by helping people avoid driving in the first place.
Candidates, it’s time to talk about housing
Affordable housing advocates are hoping the topic takes center stage at tonight’s debate.
Delivery trucks are hurting cities. Can making them smaller help?
A chilling Amazon investigation shows the importance of "rightsizing" vehicles on city streets.
Hey Elizabeth Warren, lightbulbs do matter
The candidate downplayed energy-efficient lightbulbs during this week’s climate town hall, but switching to LEDs has indeed helped reduce U.S. household energy demand.
Only one candidate is talking seriously about transportation. Everyone should be
It’s not just our fossil fuel dependence that needs to be addressed, it’s our car dependence.
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‘BoJack Horseman’ is the only show that really gets my city
Unlike other shows set in LA, the Netflix series feels like it was made for people who actually live here.
Bernie Sanders has a $16 trillion plan to avert climate disasters
Sanders has revealed the most ambitious climate proposal of any presidential candidate—a $16.3 trillion plan that will create 20 million jobs while decarbonizing the country’s energy and transportation sectors by 2030.
Watch Alexander Girard’s designs come to life
This film made for the AIGA medalist dips deep into the Herman Miller archives.
Vote for Curbed’s SXSW 2020 panel
How to design streets that don’t kill people—and how to get them built, fast.