Small efforts, rather than grand gestures, can help a community improve the city in tiny increments.
"...The wedges of pavement squeezed along a highway on-ramp, the slips of unkempt grass, uncovered and then forgotten when one building replaced another, have become a rallying point...
[Everyday urbanism] is a non-utopian, non-idealistic, bottom-up approach to city-building that emphasizes small efforts over grand gestures. It lets people in a community give shape to its design. And it seeks to make cities, and the lives lived within them, better in tiny increments, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, rather than through attempts at cure-alls.
...It's a space left, literally, in between, uncared for and unclaimed. It is also the kind of site that, with a little creative ingenuity and political will, could quickly relinquish its position among the endless examples of small-scale blight, and instead offer hope.
Tiny gestures, everyday urbanism says, make a difference."
FULL STORY: The plight of the orphan space
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
U.S. Supreme Court: California's Impact Fees May Violate Takings Clause
A California property owner took El Dorado County to state court after paying a traffic impact fee he felt was exorbitant. He lost in trial court, appellate court, and the California Supreme Court denied review. Then the U.S. Supreme Court acted.
California Grid Runs on 100% Renewable Energy for Over 9 Hours
The state’s energy grid was entirely powered by clean energy for some portion of the day on 37 out of the last 45 days.
New Forecasting Tool Aims to Reduce Heat-Related Deaths
Two federal agencies launched a new, easy-to-use, color-coded heat warning system that combines meteorological and medical risk factors.
AI Traffic Management Comes to Dallas-Fort Worth
Several Texas cities are using an AI-powered platform called NoTraffic to help manage traffic signals to increase safety and improve traffic flow.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.