Cities
Mission Possible?
Despite naysayers, Masdar City is moving forward. The goal: to be the world's first modern-day carbon-free city.
Does LEED Have a Big City Bias?
The vast majority of LEED-certified green buildings in the U.S. are located in major cities, leading some to wonder whether there might be an inherent bias in LEED's standards.
Solving Civic Problems in a Post-Fact Society
How does a rapidly changing news media affect big city planning? Badly, according to this post from Next American City.
American Mayors and Bottom-Up Environmental Planning
The environmental leadership of mayors in the U.S. offers much hope for the future of the country, according to this article from Metropolis.
State Farm on the Humiliation of Biking to Work
A new 30-second television commercial from State Farm insurance suggests that commuting to work by bike is humiliating. But is the ad sending a more subversive message?
Cities Are Forgotten In Presidential Race
Urban issues and metropolitan policy are noticeably absent from the platforms of the three main presidential candidates.
The Densest Cities in America
The blog post features a list of the top five densest cities in America, and looks at the conditions that have made them that way.
How Will Changing Cities React?
Cities are undergoing major changes in terms of demographics and development patterns. How cities will react to these changes remains up in the air.
Universities Reconnect with Cities
Universities across the country are reviving their connections to their host cities, participating in urban renewal projects and investing in their cities' futures.
Cities Don't Need Special Treatment
This opinion piece from The Boston Globe calls for an end to the special treatment and unfair taxes levied on city residents.
Undressing the naked city
Often times I’m struck by the advances we’ve made in mapping, modeling and depicting our cities. What was once the purview of mapmakers, surveyors or architects is now a democratized, engaging process that brings unexpected results. And the more advanced the technology, the more transparent our cities seem to become.
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A Planning Contrarian's Reading List
Transcontinental flights are a great time to catch up on reading, and a recent flight from San Jose to Chicago inspired this blog post. As I was reading book #1 (below), I realized that a number books have been published recently that have important things to say about cities although they might be dismissed too easily as reactionary, ideological, or simply not relevant to urban planning.
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It's Summer, Inspire Me...
Most people use the Summer months to re-connect with pastimes forgotten during winter months. It is this time of the year that sales soar both at the box office and in bookstores. Most normal people I know take trashy novels with them to the beach or submerge themselves in an entire season of 24 (which thanks to Netflix can be accomplished in a few intense evenings). I tend to lean toward the other extreme (although I have indulged in bad TV from time to time). My wife calls me a design geek because my bedside table is always full of design magazines, books and theory.
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