Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network

Toward a Universal Subway Typology

Jonathan Nettler — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:00 -0700

Brandon Keim explores the fascinating findings detailed in a new paper, which shows that the world’s major subway systems appear to be organically converging on an ideal form.

Should the Bay Area Have Four Million More Residents?

Jonathan Nettler — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:00:00 -0700

Noting the Bay Area's relatively slow growth rate over the past two decades, Timothy B. Lee argues that the area's "bad housing policies" are harming business growth and investment opportunities in Silicon Valley.

What Does "Creative Placemaking" Look Like?

Tim Halbur — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:00 -0700

Launched one year ago, ArtPlace works to accelerate creative placemaking by making grants and loans. So what does that actually look like on the ground? A new video from ArtPlace gives a glimpse of what they've accomplished so far.

Cities Fight Over Shrinking Convention Pie

Jonathan Nettler — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:00:00 -0700

Despite a dramatic decline in the number of, and attendance at, conventions nationwide, cities across America are investing their limited resources in building and upgrading convention centers. Fred A. Bernstein explores the irony.

What Are (Realistic) Options For Federal Transportation Funding?

Irvin Dawid — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:00:00 -0700

With the unlikely possibility of the Congressional conference committee agreeing to a new transportation bill, much less an agreement to address the decreasing gas tax revenues to the Highway Trust Fund, Kathryn Wolfe looks at the remaining options.

The Dangers of Walking While Poor

jerinbrent — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:00:00 -0700

Low income people are more likely to get hit by cars. Kate Hinds reports on the social and infrastructural factors responsible for the disparity.

Sprucing Things Up on the Wrong Side of the Tracks

Ryan Lue — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:00:00 -0700

Will French takes a look at the success of Birmingham's downtown revitalization, which – in the absence of a waterfront – embraced its historic railroads, instead.

New York's Killer Trees

Jonathan Nettler — Wed, 16 May 2012 07:00:00 -0700

It sounds like the plot out of a bad B movie, but to the families of those killed and injured by falling limbs and branches from trees in New York's parks and public spaces, it's a real-life horror story that raises questions of municipal liability.

Television Series Tackles Weighty Issue

Jonathan Nettler — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:00 -0700

Sarah Henry spotlights "The Weight of the Nation," a new series airing this week on HBO that explores obesity and its enormous economic, emotional, social, and health costs.

What's Left for Venice in Its Golden Years?

Ryan Lue — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:00:00 -0700

Josh Stephens muses on the modern state of an erstwhile global capital that has kept its aesthetic charms, but lost its anima.

In Praise of Cincinnati's Progressive Urbanism

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:00:00 -0700

Alan G. Brake celebrates the Queen City's utilization of public space, place making, and mixed-use development to build its competitive advantage, despite America's "deep-seated anti-urban streak."

Haggling Over High-Speed Rail Funds

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:00:00 -0700

Burgess Everett and Adam Snider look at the growing debate over where to allocate limited high-speed rail funds: on the East Coast, where rail already has a foothold, or out West, where California has the land and starter funds to make it happen.

Urban Equity to be Focus of New Academic Center

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:00:00 -0700

Launched May 1 within the Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, the new J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City will pursue the ways in which design can make "American cities more just and inclusive places to live."

What Are the Most Bikeable Cities?

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:00 -0700

The folks behind Walk Score, the incredibly popular walkability measure, are beta testing a new metric that judges the bikeability of cities, writes Jess Zimmerman.

Will "Rebel Cities" Revolt Against Global Inequality?

Michael Dudley — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:00:00 -0700

In this interview with Marxist scholar David Harvey, Aaron Leonard discusses the author's new book, "Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution."

List of Top Buildings That Changed America Unveiled

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:00 -0700

The subject of a television series to be aired in 2013, PBS has unveiled its list of the top ten buildings that have "changed the way Americans live, work and play," reports Karissa Rosenfield.

Amman's Subjective Cartography

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 -0700

How do you navigate a city with no street names? This is the question Amanda Erickson sets out to answer in an article on photographer Regina Mamou, who spent a year studying how the people of Amman get around.

In Race to Be the Tallest, Who Has Final Say?

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:00:00 -0700

As developers around the world seek to steal the coveted title of "World's Tallest Building", Carl Bialik looks at what defines a building, and who gets to decide.

High-Speed Train Will Require High-Speed Spending

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:00:00 -0700

Guidelines attached to the federal funds intended to help pay for the first phase of California's bullet train will require the fastest rate of transportation construction known in U.S. history, reports Ralph Vartabedian.

Towards a More Nuanced Understanding of Density

Jonathan Nettler — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:00:00 -0700

Arguing for the value of historic low and mid-rise, but also dense, areas of Brooklyn, Washington D.C., and New Orleans, Edward T. McMahon asks us to reconsider the pursuit of density as an end in itself, and the high-rise as its fullest expression.