Scenes from a walk through Georgetown along M Street this afternoon. A beautiful, sun-drenched autumn day, but chilly enough to require a sweater and light jacket.

Georgetown’s weekend sidewalk widening program strikes me as precisely the sort of smart, incremental improvement effort that Strong Towns and similar civic groups advocate. That is, making life better in most of America’s neighborhoods doesn’t have to involve millions in debt financing, environmental impact studies, governmental approvals, etc. Start by observing how people experience and treat the places they inhabit, and try things that make that experience better.