Boing Boing

Internet Infrastructure

Private Telcos More Expensive Than Municipal Broadband 85% of the Time

A Harvard study found that, in 27 communities and cities with both private and city owned internet, the municipal broadband was almost always cheaper.

January 18, 2018 - Boing Boing

Road Maintenance

Portland Anarchists Illegally Repair Potholes

Saying that they believe in direct action and suspecting the motives of the State, a group of Portland anarchists are taking to the streets to fix potholes.

March 16, 2017 - Boing Boing

Friday Funny: Trading in Stop Signs for Sex Dolls

An elderly woman in China has implemented an innovative traffic calming measure in her neighborhood. Could sex dolls replace stop signs at an intersection near you?

August 3, 2012 - Boing Boing

Filmmaker Shows New Yorkers Tripping on Subway Step - Over and Over

Filmmaker Dean Petersen noticed a troublesome step at the 36th Street subway exit in Brooklyn, and decided to find out how many people tripped over it. Video evidence shows this hazard in action.

June 29, 2012 - Boing Boing

Dubai's Dirty Problem

In Dubai, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. But it shares one problem will all skyscrapers in Dubai - there is no central sewage infrastructure to accommodate the waste they produce.

November 8, 2011 - Boing Boing

Is "Nuisance Abatement Team" a Legitimate Use of Police Power?

In Antelope Valley, Calif., questionable code enforcement practices encroach the Fifth Amendment taking clause while the obfuscation of facts by public officials mars the transparent aspect of the planning process.

August 27, 2011 - Boing Boing

Sunday Funny: Fake "Proposed Land Use Action" in Seattle

In Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood, a local with a wicked sense of humor has taken planning into his/her own hands, posting a plan to turn an empty eyesore of a lot into a public park.

August 21, 2011 - Boing Boing

Artist Decorates Abandoned Bike, Gets Fined

Toronto artist Caroline Macfarlane found a rusted bicycle that had been locked to a bike rack for a very long time. She decided to make it into art, painting the whole bike neon pink and adding a basket of flowers. The city responded by fining her.

June 3, 2011 - Boing Boing

Monorails of Yore

Maggie Koerth-Baker digs into the history of monorails, and finds examples in the United States as early as 1876.

May 19, 2011 - Boing Boing

China's Ghost Cities

The Australian documentary series Dateline examines the enormous and unprecedented property bubble building in China [video].

April 20, 2011 - Boing Boing

Building Codes Should Not Be Privately Copyrighted

Public domain activist Carl Malamud explains in this brief talk why he believes building, fire and safety codes should be taken out of the hands of the private companies that distribute them and made publicly accessible.

October 25, 2010 - Boing Boing

'Inchvesting' in the Future of Detroit

A group in Detroit has begun an effort to sell of one-inch parcels of land in the city for $1.

October 13, 2010 - Boing Boing

Bruce Sterling on Cities

Boing Boing interviews author and futurist Bruce Sterling about global cities and how vastly expanding urban scale is not necessarily a problem.

June 15, 2010 - Boing Boing

Want to Prevent Crime? Apply Women and Children

Peter Vaernet, aka the "Mad Viking", transformed a pocket park known for drugs and violence into a safe, active place by bringing lots of women and children into the park.

June 11, 2010 - Boing Boing

Perpetual Energy From Magnets

Steorn, an Irish company that claimed six years ago to have invented an engine that puts out more energy than it uses, finally presents a model of the technology for the public to see.

December 17, 2009 - Boing Boing

Free Parking

At a digital security conference in Las Vegas, a presenter showed that newer "smart" parking meters can be hacked, giving the hacker free parking wherever they go.

August 5, 2009 - Boing Boing

Reset America

Author Kurt Andersen's new book describes the last three decades as a period of wanton growth, from homes to waistlines. He sees the economic bust as a way to return sanity and size appropriateness.

July 29, 2009 - Boing Boing

Tiny Submarines Run Real Cable

An Italian company is using an RC model submarine to run fiber optic cable through sewer systems.

July 2, 2009 - Boing Boing

Danish Police Hug Bicyclists

In this video, police in Denmark stop cyclists without helmets, hug them, and give them new helmets.

April 29, 2009 - Boing Boing

GM and Segway Team Up For Small Street Vehicle

The P.U.M.A. is an experimental prototype that takes Segway technology and fits it to a two-person commuter car frame.

April 8, 2009 - Boing Boing

News from HUD User

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Call for Speakers

Mpact Transit + Community

New Updates on PD&R Edge

HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Websites

The best of the Internet—since 2002.

Top Apps

Planning apps for a brave new world.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

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.