Fast Company
Student Entrepreneur Tackles Traffic Congestion
Frustrated by inadequate public transportation and environmental degradation caused by traffic congestion in the city, a Mumbai MBA student attempts to introduce bike-sharing to this mega-city.
"Roombots" Can Become Any Item of Furniture You Need
Scientists are developing modular robots that can move themselves around the room and pull themselves into chairs, beds, desks, or whatever piece of furniture you need at the time.
The 40 Tools You Need to Build Your Own Civilization
The Global Village Construction Set is a group of farmers and engineers who are developing an set of open-source designs for the forty tools one would need to create a self-sufficient life living off of the land.
The World's Smartest Cities
Fast Company runs down a list of the "smartest" cities in the world. First place goes to Songdo City, in South Korea.
Urban Amusement Parks
Harvard GSD graduate Ju-Hyun Kim thinks we should be building amusement parks as skyscrapers, cutting down on the costly commute to the outside of town.
Rio's New Citywide Control Room
IBM is partnering with the city of Rio de Janeiro to build a massive "citywide control room" to monitor and respond to emergencies.
Gov 2.0 Grows
Gov 2.0 is on the rise, and an increasing amount of cities and groups are getting behind efforts to improve the way cities function by better processing their data.
Dystopic Dioramas
Artist Lori Nix has created an installation she calls simply, "The City". It consists of detailed dioramas of crumbling public institutions like libraries, churches, and malls.
Five Technologies That Matter For Cities
Mobile broadband, government-sponsored cloud computing, smart devices - these are a few of the technologies that cities should be thinking about for the future, says the Institute for the Future in a new report.
Preserving Weeksville, The First Community of Free, Black Americans
Three buildings have survived from Weeksville, despite being located in bustling Brooklyn. A $32 million museum and community center will open next summer at the site.
Recyclable Subways
A new model of subway car designed by BMW and Siemens is being built for the Warsaw, Poland Metro. The aluminum chassis is reportedly 97.5% recyclable.
San Francisco Passes Country's First Open Data Requirement
A new law requiring city agencies and departments to make "reasonable efforts" to publish their data received unanimous support from the Board of Supervisors.
Shanghai Expo Closes With Focus On "Development through Development"
The Expo’s stated theme was “Better City, Better Life,” and organizers boasted it was the first World’s Fair devoted to the contemplation of cities.
Would You Share Your Car With A Stranger?
Spride Share is betting that Californians will, and a new bill signed into law by Gov. Schwarzenegger sorts out the insurance issues if they do so.
Small But Important Steps in Amtrak's High Speed Rail Plan
Amtrak has unveiled a $117 billion plan to build and increase high speed rail in the U.S.
The Predictability of Humans in Public Spaces
Jan Gehl sits down with Greg Linsday to talk about his new book, Cities for People, if Phoenix could take lessons from New York, and "the needs of the urban habitat of homo sapiens."
Walter Hood On Engaging the Public
Landscape architect Walter Hood feels a responsibility to educate and engage the public in his design commissions, from the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to a light rail station in Crenshaw, California.
Sleep Pods Coming to U.S. Airports
A design company from Barcelona is selling airports on the idea of installing luxury sleep "bubbles" in terminals. Two international airports have reportedly signed up.
Cambodia Joins Skyscraper Race to the Top
Cambodia has announced that it will build a new skyscraper that will be the tallest in Asia at 1,820 feet. Fast Company asks, why, in the face of grueling poverty, would they do such a thing?
Turning Cities into Software
Many have called for "urban operating systems" to streamline how cities work, but few ideas have really taken hold. One small start-up, however, is making strides in developing that concept.
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
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Town of Zionsville
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.
