Planning

End Powerpoint Abuse

12 May 2008 - 8:04am

We’ve all been subject to them – the endless powerpoint presentations that extol the worst aspects of animated text and mind-numbing bullet points. While Edward Tufte has written about the horrors of powerpoint, I see it as just a tool and like any tool it can be used wisely or poorly. After all, David Byrne, the former Talking Heads front man, makes art with powerpoint so it can’t be all bad. But one thing struck me at the American Planning Association’s (APA) conference two weeks ago: some sessions would have been much better if the powerpoint presentation (or abuse thereof) didn’t get in the way. In actuality, some of the best presentations I attended didn’t use powerpoint at all.

An Interview With The New Dean Of Harvard's Design School

10 May 2008 - 7:00am
Boston Globe

Planning students today care as much about the social aspects of cities as they do of their physical design, says Mohsen Mostafavi, the new dean at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.

New York Regional Plan Association Advocates 'America 2050' Plan

5 May 2008 - 9:00am
The Planning Report

According to RPA Executive Director Robert Yaro, global competition requires that the United States focus on regions for future infrastructure investment.

Green Buildings Need Green Cities

30 April 2008 - 12:00pm
BBC News

While cities are focused on promoting green 'buildings', planners and landscape architects need to advocate more green city planning.

When Professionals Plan Their Own Neighborhood

22 April 2008 - 8:00am
Boston Globe

In Somerville, Massachusetts, a group of community residents -- many of them professional architects and planners -- have organized themselves to help the city address problems in their neighborhood.

Salt Lake City Takes Steps To Fix Dysfunctional Planning Department

22 April 2008 - 7:00am
Deseret News

After a recent audit revealed that long-time problems that have plagued the city's planning division, local leaders are taking action to remedy the situation.

City Hires Developer To Lead Planning Department

21 April 2008 - 2:00pm
Winnepeg Free Press

Winnipeg, Manitoba has selected a local developer to fill the city's top planning job, with some left wondering what direction the city's growth will take under the new director.

Questioning New York City's Sustinability Plan

21 April 2008 - 1:00pm
Gotham Gazette

With Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan defeated, can the city's vision for long-term sustainability be achieved?

Creating A New Vision For The Nation's Transportation System

15 April 2008 - 5:00am
Detriot Free Press

With Americans driving less for the first time ever, its time to create a new comprehensive plan for transportation in the United States.

A Holistic Approach To Planning For Traffic Impacts

14 April 2008 - 8:00am
San Mateo County Times

Instead of requiring developers to complete traffic studies for individual projects, one Northern California city has commissioned a comprehensive traffic study, and asked developers to help foot the bill.

Transplanting The Vancouver Model To The Middle East

14 April 2008 - 7:00am
The Province

The man largely responsible for planning modern day Vancouver has found his next challenge in the Middle Eastern capital of Abu Dhabi.

Can Los Angeles Plan Its Way To Mobility?

9 April 2008 - 11:00am
Wired Magazine

With a growing population, a sprawling urban landscape, and uncertain public funding, Los Angeles seems to be hoping for a miracle with its latest transportation planning effort.

DIY Urbanism

31 March 2008 - 9:03pm

I think many planners, in principle, agree that public involvement and grass-roots approaches to planning are necessary. The emphasis on the sheer numbers of people a plan "includes" is only one recent example of our profession’s emphasis on public involvement. But I think deep down, many colleagues see a distinctive split between involving the public and empowering them to implement. Involving is necessary and important to get any plan endorsed. But once that plan is complete, the public (residents, business owners, local stakeholders) is many times not regarded as an implementation partner except perhaps in roles of advocacy.

Celebrate (Transportation) Diversity!

28 March 2008 - 3:19pm

Every person is unique. Every day is unique. Every trip is unique. As a result, an efficient and equitable transportation system must be diverse, so people can choose the best option for each trip. For example, today you might prefer to walk or bicycle, but tomorrow find it best to use public transit or drive.

Why the Breakdown of Atlantic Yards is a Loss For New York Planning

24 March 2008 - 8:00am
The New York Times

New York Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff discusses why the impending breakdown of the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn is a harsh blow to urban planning in New York.

Is Planning to Blame for Violence?

19 March 2008 - 10:00am
The National Post

After a recent shooting death in Toronto, one writer lays the blame for urban violence on city planners.

Planning System Revamp May Speed Development in Santa Cruz

18 March 2008 - 10:00am
Santa Cruz Sentinel

Bureaucratic red tape has slowed the development process for years in Santa Cruz, California. Now proposed changes look to speed up the process, but critics say the changes could open the door to under-controlled development.

Planners Making 'Inadequate' Use of Climate Change Info

12 March 2008 - 1:00pm
The New York Times

New scientific reports laying out the potential impacts of global warming on cities are being directed to planners, whom some say are not reacting to the changing climate adequately.

When Planning Matters

12 March 2008 - 11:17am

Why plan? That’s an important question for a planning skeptic like myself. I’m not at all convinced that conventional public urban planning has much value, despite (or because of?) spending eight years on a city planning commission. Yet, I don’t consider myself an “antiplanner”. I’m happy to leave that role to my friend and virtual colleague Randal O’Toole at the Cato Institute. (He even runs a blog called “The Antiplanner”.)

Urban planning has a role even though, IMO, on balance, its application has had a negative impact on communities and cities. Notably, even the free market (and Nobel Prize winning) economist F.A. Hayek recognized a role for planning in his classic book on political economy The Constitution of Liberty.

The question is: what is planning’s role and, perhaps more importantly, how has this role changed or shifted in modern times?

A Practical Need for Utopianism

6 February 2008 - 3:19pm
Who doesn’t love the Apocalypse? Society collapses, people run around in chaos, and we try to imitate the survival strategies culled from too many Hollywood end-of-the world blockbusters. Apocalyptic predictions have always been part of American culture, and why not?