Last summer, most of the nation was justifiably outraged when Raquel Nelson was convicted of vehicular homicide because her four-year old son stepped off a median into oncoming traffic and was killed. Common sense alone should have kept this case from going to trial, but I believe this case should have raised a bigger and more encompassing issue for planners and a question of social ethics: What is the responsibility we take as individuals for the choices we make living in an urban environment?
Cities
Six Trending Urbanist Themes for the New Year
Chuck Wolfe analyzes his 2011 articles which appeared on Planetizen and in other sources, and derives his urbanist trends to watch for in 2012.
myurbanist
Urban Eye Candy: Best City Time Lapse Videos
Eric Jaffe at Atlantic Cities assembles his collection of the best time lapse videos of cities.
Atlantic Cities
The Biggest News in Urbanism for 2011
Greg Hanscom, cities editor at Grist, picks his top stories for 2011, including Occupy Wall Street, bright flight and the "urban renaissance that isn't (yet)."
Grist
Africa's Urban Harvest
Faced with climate change and poverty, Africans are focusing on a new farming frontier: the cities.
OnEarth
How - and Where - Should We Live?
A new report predicts how - and where - we'll be living in the near future, and where planners and developers should focus.
The Atlantic Cities
What Yesterday’s Elections Results Mean for Cities and City Government Across the U.S.
Wed, 11/09/2011 - 14:02
If you can make it past rhetoric around healthcare,
abortion, collective bargaining, and immigration, the November 8th election
results tell a more cohesive and calming story about American’s political
sentiment. Despite a widespread expressed attitude of “throw the bums out,” incumbent
mayors won in every big city race on the ballot yesterday: Baltimore,
Charlotte, Houston, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia.
Is Urban Life Overrated?
Drawing from lessons learned by a Seattle-based economic development organization working in Africa, Chuck Wolfe notes that "[s]ometimes, finding a way to keep a meaningful rural existence trumps city life."
myurbanist
Industrializing India
The government plans to build 24 industrial cities that stretch from New Delhi to Mumbai for a corridor bigger in land size than Japan, write Matthias Williams and Lyndee Prickitt for Reuters.
Reuters
The Top 15 Most Stressful Cities
Forbes Magazine picks 15 of the most stressful cities in the United States. To come up with the data, "we analyzed quality-of-life data from the 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas," says Beth Greenfield.
Forbes
Richard Florida on the Importance of Place
Richard Florida, interviewed by blogger Dave Copeland, says that quality of place is going to be of growing importance in the coming era to keep cities vibrant and attracting talent and the "creative class."
MyCityWay Blog
Bicycling in the City is Good for You, Despite Air Pollution
A recent study shows that bicyclists absorb more carbon soot in their lungs than pedestrians or drivers. But new reports argue that the benefits of the exercise far outweigh the downsides.
Twin Cities Daily Planet
Is a Vibrant City Best Measured at Night?
Chuck Wolfe asks if a city's vitality is best indicated at night, and how it should be measured.
myurbanist
Feature Doc on Urban Design Out Soon (Trailer)
Urbanized is a feature-length documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers.
urbanizedfilm.com
Slow Growth in Cities May Have Lessened Foreclosures
Researchers found in their analysis of 300 California municipalities that the cities that had slow growth or anti-growth policies were less impacted by the housing crisis, writes Mark Bergen for Forbes.
Forbes
Top 10 Cities for Book Worms
Livability.com complies a list of cities that have strong book store cultures. The list looks at the volume of bookstores in a city and hallmark independent bookstores.
Livability
Despite Ailing Economy, Manufacturing Spurs Cities' Growth
Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Titusvilla, Florida are metropolitan areas that grew faster than the national average in 2010, reports Ben Casselman for The Wall Street Journal.
The Wall Street Journal
Rapid City Growth Causes Concern Over Urban Sprawl
The rapid growth of cities is causing concern amongst experts over the effects of urban sprawl. There are 19 megacities in the world today, and 10 more will rise in the next 30 years, reports Marcus Moretti for Yale Daily News.
Yale Daily News
Top Cities With the Worst Drivers
Washington D.C. drivers are the most accident prone out of 200 largest U.S. cities, according to a study by Allstate Insurance Co. The greater a cities population increases the chance of drivers getting into accidents.
Forbes
William Gibson's Futuristic World Has Arrived
Author William Gibson talks to Scientific American about how "the future's arrived," and the many ways you can see the future around you.
Scientific American
