Planetizen Interchange

Exploring Web 2.0 in Urban Planning

Chris Steins — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:33:51 -0800

Last year I had the opportunity to teach a graduate course on "Web 2.0 for Policy and Planning" at the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning & Development.

Although I am co-teaching a different class this year, I have updated my course website with a revised course syllabus and extensive reading list on Web 2.0 and planning, based on what I learned from teaching the course in Spring, 2009.

Sprawl In Canada and the U.S.: A Comparison

Michael Lewyn — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:43:00 -0800

I am spending this spring at the University of Toronto working on an advanced law degree (called an L.L.M.), and am writing a thesis comparing sprawl in Canada and the United States. Here are a few preliminary findings:

Looking for Employment: Tips from A Recent Graduate

Ann Forsyth — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:37:54 -0800

Students nearing graduation are wondering about employment. Some already have jobs lined but many do not. While it is good to start looking, best advice is to graduate first as finishing up after you have a job almost always creates a lot of stress and bother. Previous blogs have covered Finding a First Job in Planning, Tips on Gainful Unemployment for New Planners, and Defining the Planning Skill Set based on surveys of employers and graduates. Anna Read, a recent graduate from Cornell’s MRP program who found employment right away last year, has passed along these tips from her own experience:

Rise of the Cruisers

Tim Halbur — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:37:02 -0800

A few weeks back, I had a meeting at the University of Southern California's campus. It was a moderately nice day by Los Angeles standards, which in other parts of the country would equate to the best day of the year weather-wise. As I walked among the brick buildings, I was impressed by the number of bicycles parked willy-nilly around the grounds.

The End of Sprawl As We Know It...NOT

Samuel Staley — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:09:51 -0800

As the housing market collapsed and gasoline prices spiked in 2007, many planners may have read Cornell University law professor Eduardo Penalver’s essay in the Washington Post with more than a little satisfaction.

Vancouver Olympics a Living Laboratory for Urbanism!

Brent Toderian — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 16:58:06 -0800

Among the countless stories being written on the successes and challenges of these 2010 Olympic Winter Games, not surprisingly the most interesting stories to me are those that speak to the challenges of great urbanism. As a host city, Vancouver has become a massive urban laboratory, with so many opportunities to learn, and we’re soaking it all up.

As we are coming to the end of the final week, a few examples of big experiments and learnings come to mind.

Raise My Taxes, Please! Financing High Quality Public Transit Service Saves Me Money Overall

Todd Litman — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:33:23 -0800

Most North American cities offer only basic public transit service, with limited coverage and frequency, modest speeds, unattractive waiting areas, poor land use integration, and few amenities. Such service is used primarily by people who lack alternatives. In such communities, riders tend to abandon public transit as soon as feasible.

Smart Growth and Australia

Tim Halbur — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:47:14 -0800

As managing editor of Planetizen, I'd like to make a quick note on today's op-ed, Resisting Dickensian Gloom by Tony Recsei. Mr Recsei asked for a chance to respond to a recent criticism of his work by Planetizen regular Michael Dudley. It is our policy at Planetizen to allow points of view that are critical of the status quo in urban planning, so I agreed to run the piece. I did ask Mr. Recsei to tone down some of the more personal attacks on smart growthers so that his points could be presented more clearly to our audience, and I believe he has done that.

Infuriating Inferiority

Charles Buki — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:33:23 -0800

I recently posted an open-ended question on facebook to my friends about Governor Palin, asking for their views. It was remarkable how condescending many of those views turned out to be, just as Gerard Alexander noted in his excellent February 4 Washington Post editorial.

Herewith are my thoughts on the tea party thing - whatever it is - and how it relates to the challenges faced by the New Urbanists and advocates for Smart Growth....

Living in Mrs. Jacobs' Neighborhood

Michael Lewyn — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 11:54:12 -0800

A decade or so ago, after reading some of Jane Jacobs’ work, I became aware of the distinction between mixed-use and single-use neighborhoods. In those days, I imagined that in a well-functioning urban neighborhood, every non-polluting use would be mixed together, and the lion of housing would lay down with the lamb of commerce.

Planning for the Vancouver Olympics

Nate Berg — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

The Winter Olympics will begin later this week in Vancouver, British Columbia. Like other hosts of such large-scale sporting events, the city has been getting ready for the international spotlight for many years. To hear more about what's been going on in the city in terms of urban planning, I interviewed Vancouver Planning Director Brent Toderian, and you can read a transcript of that Q&A on Places.

Carfree Design Manual

Todd Litman — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:46:37 -0800

As planners, one of our roles is to help stretch the scope of what is considered possible. For example, between 1950 and 2000 most development was highly automobile-dependent, based on the assumption that almost all travel would be by personal automobile and other modes were relatively unimportant. This pattern is so well established that many people have difficulty imagining anything different. It is useful to help people understand the full range of options available, from automobile dependency to carfree communities.

New Books Depict Car Culture at a Turning Point

Michael Dudley — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 07:26:38 -0800

Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster
By Paul Ingrassia
Random House, 306 pages, $32

Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and its Effect on Our Lives
By Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez
Palgrave, 272 pages, $34

Automobiles dominate our economies, our cities and our popular culture. As these new titles make abundantly apparent, they also tend to imbue their makers and owners with either delusions or arrogance that can lead to dangerously misguided decision-making, both behind the wheel and in corporate boardrooms.

Why not rail?

Diana DeRubertis — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:03:45 -0800

When faced with the costs and logistics of rail, planners and city officials increasingly seem to favor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a trend likely to continue through the current recession. But even with the many persuasive arguments for BRT, the nagging question remains: why not rail?

In Olympic year, Vancouver chooses LEED™ Gold for private buildings!

Brent Toderian — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:46:51 -0800

Followers of Vancouver city planning will remember that in 2008, as part of the approval of the EcoDensity Initiative, our Council approved what remains (we think) the highest green standard for private sector building design in North America. The 2008 policy requires that buildings that go through rezonings (representing most buildings built in Vancouver) must establish that their design, at approval, is capable of achieving LEED™ Silver. We actually nick-named it "Silver Plus", because we mandated that there be a minimum of 3 energy points, 1 water point, and 1 storm water point, emphasizing the things that matter most to us.

Taming the Office Park

Michael Lewyn — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 08:01:29 -0800

Most attempts to regulate suburban development have focused on containing the growth of suburban housing. But such regulation, by restricting the supply of buildable land, risks incresing housing prices. And from a more libertarian perspective, an individual's interest in choosing to "drive to qualify" may seem quite appealing. Attempts to regulate commercial suburban development do not involve the same sentimental considerations as limits on residential development, but do risk increasing prices for commercial land, thus increasing prices for everything else.

Images for Planners: More Resources

Ann Forsyth — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:25:04 -0800

Some time ago I noted a number of terrific image resources for urban planners. This blog highlights some additional sources.

Accessibility, Mobility and Automobile Dependency

Todd Litman — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:03:59 -0800

Let me wade into an ongoing debate among fellow Planetizen bloggers Samuel Staley and Michael Lewyn concerning the meanings of accessibility and mobility, and their implications for transportation and land use policy.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Box?

Ian Sacs — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:45:21 -0800

As a young kid, skirting aimlessly throughout my suburban municipality from one car-optimized shopping center to the next on my bicycle in search of stimulation (and perhaps trouble), I vividly recall - though I likely didn't describe it as - the internal conflict between interesting commercial destinations on the inside, and the banal, cruel approach to these places on the outside. Although the primitive human desires of my psyche subconsciously longed for a central place to congregate with other lost children of the suburbs, I never had a downtown; I never had a community center. In this vacuum, I compensated with all that was available.

Planning for "Dickensian Gloom"? Refuting Critics of Smart Growth (Again)

Michael Dudley — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:02:26 -0800

It is well-known in planning circles that Smart Growth has come under attack by (mostly libertarian) think tanks and pundits hostile to any form of urban planning that doesn’t leave land use decisions up to the “magic” of the free market. While their reports may get a lot of press, a close reading of most of their rhetoric reveals that it is largely based on a selective use of data, fallacious argumentation and hyperbole.