Land Use

To preserve the spread of urban gardening, activists are beginning to map and document the many haphazard community gardens to gain recognition from landlords and city officials in hopes of warding off bulldozers.

September 3, 2012 - Grist

While it might seem like the Agenda 21 conspiracy theorists have arisen quite quickly out of the murky backwaters of the Republican party, Llewellyn Hinkes-Jones traces the lengthy enti-environmentalist roots of the movement.

September 2, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

An expanding number of cities across the U.S. are looking to attract urban casinos, with the hope that further development and money (tax revenues to fill drained city coffers) will follow.

September 2, 2012 - Next American City

Lew Sichelman reports on the lofty goals being pursued by a new $6.2 billion live/play/work development known as Barangaroo - planned for a 54-acre site in East Darling Harbor - which aims to redefine Sydney.

August 31, 2012 - Urban Land

Howard Blackson explains the five elements ("five Cs") necessary for planning resilient and lively neighborhoods - complete, compact, connected, complex, and convivial.

August 31, 2012 - Better! Cities & Towns

A 52-acre development planned for Washington, D.C.'s isolated Southwest Quadrant hopes to create a 21st century waterfront by embracing the elements that have contributed to creating lively urban waterfronts for centuries, reports Kriston Capps.

August 31, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Three years in the making, approval nears for Plan Cincinnati - the city's first comprehensive plan to be completed in the last 32 years. Randy A. Simes shares the details of the plan, which focuses growth around 40 walkable neighborhood centers.

August 30, 2012 - UrbanCincy

By better integrating the natural and built environments, while enforcing standards of livability, Copenhagen seeks to transform its Saint Kjeld’s neighborhood into "a showcase area for climate adaptation technology," reports Damian Holmes.

August 30, 2012 - World Landscape Architecture

Bob Ransford argues that the policies that have shaped Vancouver's streets and skyline over the last decades into a global icon of planning and design are an accomplishment of style over substance that fail to look at how people inhabit buildings.

August 30, 2012 - The Vancouver Sun

The rapid development of Miami's Brickell neighborhood has left many residents without proper access to open space, a circumstance some are trying to remedy, despite astronomical land costs.

August 30, 2012 - NPR

Pet ownership in the U.S. continues to hit record levels, and with the increasing interest in city living the number (and variety of designs) of dog runs in city parks has increased. Designers are utilizing a dog's-eye-view to serve their clients.

August 30, 2012 - Metropolis Mag

The official G.O.P. platform approved at the party's convention on Tuesday included tough language on U.N. Agenda 21, decrying it as "erosive of American sovereignty," reports Leslie Kaufman.

August 30, 2012 - The New York Times

Where are the projected 400 million air travelers coming to London supposed to land? Prime Minister David Cameron is caught between two politically difficult choices for how to manage the projected growth in passengers.

August 30, 2012 - The New York Times

As the city of Bordeaux, France, makes plans to move up the list of major European cities, it's calling on a multidisciplinary design competition for ways to revitalize its city from the top down by integrating "natural areas."

August 30, 2012 - The Design Observer Group

Bill Lindeke discusses the history of Minneapolis' Skyways and argues why we shouldn't celebrate a system that he believes is failing its downtown.

August 29, 2012 - twin city sidewalks

Charlie Gardner parses the data on mean commuting times recently released as part of the 2010 ACS estimates for metropolitan statistical areas, and wonders what the maximum mean travel time suggests for the urban form of America's cities.

August 29, 2012 - Old Urbanist

In an opinion piece for Bloomberg View, Edward Glaeser argues that the Army Corps of Engineers' influence on development in local communities is too far-reaching.

August 28, 2012 - Bloomberg

With the global success of the city's homegrown "parklets" program firmly established, the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts is hosting a series of "urban prototyping" festivals in S.F. in the hopes of finding the next DIY superstar.

August 28, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

Jordan Kushins spotlights an innovative kit of parts that can be attached to sidewalk scaffolding to create pop-up public spaces.

August 27, 2012 - Fast Company Co.Design

Nate Berg looks at how Hong Kong's unique pedestrian infrastructure of elevated walkways and underground tunnels has affected the city's use of public and private spaces, and shifted urban behaviors.

August 27, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities