Urban Omnibus

Urban Omnibus declares the visionary work of the Speculation Studio at Columbia University an overdue evolution in architectural education.

In New York, according to Urban Omnibus, "Each week, approximately 64,000 tons of household and institutional waste are collected. ... But public awareness of what happens to that trash once it leaves the curb is limited."

In New York, Arts for Transit is a program that was started to bring "original and integrated artworks into MTA stations and spaces and to promote design excellence." Director, Sandra Bloodworth sits with Urban Omnibus to discuss the program.

Poet Jon Cotner uses fleeting snippets of conversation in public spaces as the basis for his poetry. Caitlin Blanchfield took a walk with Cotner to talk about his process.

With a growing demand for wireless internet, mobile communication networks may encroach on public space, writes Michael Chen, adjunct assistant professor at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture.

Anthony Townsend comments on a recent study that is wary of wireless access in public spaces. He says the study has an outdated understanding of how people use spaces today.

A new report focusing on design professionals and architects in New York finds that these industries are on a strong growth path and create a significant impact on the local economy.

Urban Omnibus ventures into the New York City Department of Transportation's Traffic Management Center to find out how technology is changing the way the city manages its traffic signals and traffic flows.

A new series of posters connected to a conference on "the New City" presents ideas for improving our urban areas. Urban Omnibus presents some of the posters.

Architect Vishaan Chakrabarti writes that Japan's urbanism should serve as a model to the rest of the world for its density and the "urbane society" it creates.

The New School is now offering an undergraduate degree in urban design. Urban Omnibus talks with the program's director about why the program was created and what it intends to accomplish.

Urban Omnibus takes of tour of Queens' Jackson Heights neighborhood with author Suketu Mehta, exploring the vibrant urban culture that has permeated the neighborhood even before Mehta's family moved in in 1977.

With the recent developments happening in North Africa and the Middle East, public squares are taking center-stage as the epicenters of change.

Beatville is a new "open source, multi-player environment for real cities", which purports to be a useful tool for democratizing urban planning. Does it live up to the hype? Urban Omnibus checks it out.

A new project is seeking to create the first citywide, comprehensive urban agriculture plan for New York City.

"Give a Minute" is a program that seeks ideas for fixing cities directly from the people who use them, using ads in newspapers and displays in public spaces to ask a big question, such as "What would get you to walk, bike or take transit more often?"

Thomas Sevcik says that hoping for an economic benefit by attracting the creative class and artists is a wrongheaded strategy.

In a part of Staten Island largely developed before formal sewer systems were in place, the effort to address both logistics and environmental issues offers lessons for other urban areas.

Urban Omnibus offers a summary of the recent debate that went down over the future of Harvard's Graduate School of Design concerning urban design, landscape urbanism and new urbanism.

With more than 11,000 acres of brownfield sites in New York City sitting underused due to contamination, officials there want to get things cleaned up and reused. Urban designer Kaja Kühl offers this field guide to small-scale bioremediation to help.