The internet has great potential as a means of professional marketing for many soon-to-be and recent graduates. Not everyone in planning, however, uses it well. The following tips aim to help you realize its potential and avoid its pitfalls.
Internet
Want Your City to Thrive? Get More Bandwidth
Jobs of the future will be located in areas with some of the fastest bandwidth in the world -- and American is in sorry shape, writes columnist Thomas Friedman in The New York Times.
The New York Times
Does Your Local Economic Development Strategy Include Search Engines?
Nearly half of consumers now report that they look for local business information using the Internet, more than any other source.
Pew Research Center
City Engagement Via Technology
Cities across the U.S. are increasingly looking to technology to improve the public participation process and increase the ways citizens can engage with the government. Chief technical officers are becoming more common.
Design Mind
Public Parks Online
As the desire for wireless internet increases, some public parks are finding that Wi-Fi networks are becoming a new and important amenity.
Time
Fast Web and Local Food Key to Chattanooga's Revival
Through a combination of local food initiatives and the installation of a new high-speed fiber optic network, the city of Chattanooga is hoping to continue its trend of recovering from years of industrial decline.
Citiwire
The Unseen Space: Signal Space
With a growing demand for wireless internet, mobile communication networks may encroach on public space, writes Michael Chen, adjunct assistant professor at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture.
Urban Omnibus
Data Shows Internet Not Ruining Bricks-and-Mortar Retail
Counter-intuitively, Natl. Real Estate Investor says that sales in physical stores is supported by increases in broadband, and therefore the internet seems to enhance retail sales in shops.
National Real Estate Investor
The Internet vs. the City
Will digital communications make cities obsolete, or can online connections actually complement the face-to-face interactions and the cities that support them?
New York Times
Fundraising for Detroit RoboCop Statue As Urban Regeneration
A grassroots online campaign has already raised more than $50,000 to build a statue of the science fiction character RoboCop in Detroit. The effort's organizers call it an art project with the goal of urban regeneration.
The Detroit Free Press
The Local Food Movement Goes Online
Online tools designed to connect local farmers with consumers are helping sustain the local food and urban agriculture movements.
Next American City
Mobile Devices Could Prompt Rise in City Living
This post from The Atlantic suggests that mobile devices and the ability to connect them with the Internet will help lure more people into cities.
The Atlantic
Hanging Out at the Virtual Mall
Mall operator Westfield Group says it is developing a completely virtual "mall" shopping space, and is seeking retailers to rent spaces.
Retail Traffic Magazine
Finding Information about Planning: What Do Faculty Do?
Mon, 05/31/2010 - 11:52
Planning students are often told to find good information. How to do that is becoming both simpler, due to various search engines and databases, and more complex, given the amount of information available.
Tech-Focused Planning for the Future of Cities
Broad thinking about the future may mean focusing on smaller, technology-based planning solutions, according to this essay from Regional Plan Association Executive Director Thomas K. Wright.
Regional Plan Association
The Rise of Soft Infrastructure
Infrastructure is undeniably important to our cities and places, but a new kind of infrastructure -- soft infrastructure -- is becoming increasingly important.
The Architect's Newspaper
How the Internet is Improving Your Walkshed
Worldchanging's Alex Steffen reflects on the increasing impact of Internet-enabled information sharing at the community level, and suggests that it's helping to make neighborhoods more walkable.
WorldChanging
Making Planning More Accessible
Planners at the Town of Cary, North Carolina were tasked by the mayor to make their complex planning process more accessible. In January, they launched a new website that allows developers to play out scenarios on their parcel to see what could work there. Planetizen interviews the people who made it a reality.
City Stunts Try to Lure Fiber Optic Internet
A handful of American cities are hoping to become testing grounds for a new fiber optic Internet connection being offered by Google. To catch the company's eye, many of these cities are making concerted -- and sometimes audacious -- efforts.
NPR
Cities in the Emerging Age of Communication
We may not be driving flying cars, but the futuristic city is here -- in the form of a more intimate connections, communication technologies and social interactions. Former Planetizen Managing Editor Christian Madera discusses.
Next American City
