Europe
"Rezoning Madness" in Ireland
Local authorities throughout Ireland have rezoned ag land into residential at a ridiculous rate, according to a recent study that shows a demand for fewer than 300,000 units where 800,000 units are now allowed.
Kids in Train-ing
Trains across the former Soviet Union have peculiar staff: kids. Wired's Autopia blog explains.
A Precarious Playground
A new Parisian park would cause American parents to go apoplectic, with a precarious slopes and a lack of rubber bumpers. It is the latest incarnation of the "adventure playground, says Alexander Trevi of Pruned.
Redesigning a Plaza in Paris
The City of Paris is looking to update the historic Place de la Republique, and is running a closed competition to find the right design. Barcelona-based Mateo Arquitectura gives us a glimpse at their ideas for the space.
Spinning for Dinner
A hotel in Copenhagen offers $40 meal vouchers for anyone who produces 10 watt hours of electricity using their wired-up stationery bicycles.
Small Towns Seek to Buy Back Energy Infrastructure
Small German towns that had sold off their energy utilities to large corporations in the 1990s are trying to buy them back. They want to be back in on the lucrative energy market, but have large and formidable opponents.
Dublin's Bike Sharing System Finding Early Success
A new bike sharing system in Dublin is turning out to be a surprise success in the Irish city.
How To Design Your Own Speed Bump - In German
A German homeowner is frustrated with the traffic in his neighborhood, so he designs and installs his own speed bump for his street. While there are no English subtitles, the pictures and sounds illustrate the directions and results all too well.
Barcelona Residents Make Major Planning Decision By Popular Vote
Barcelona, Spain is planning a redesign of La Diagonal, an important boulevard, and is asking citizens to make the final choice between two alternatives or no change at all.
People Rarely Leave 6-Mile Circle
In a study in Europe using cellphone GPS data, researchers discovered that people rarely leave a six-mile area around where they live. GPS cellphone data is being used for a host of urban planning studies like this.
New Argument for Public Transit: Better for Texting?
In a recent piece in Wired, Clive Thompson suggests that the solution to the problem of texting while driving is not to stop texting, but to stop driving. The popularity of texting is a good reason to support public transit.
Spain's High Speed Rail Uses Luxury to Lure
Spain's high speed rail system is consistently beating out airlines for inter-city travel. But it's not through low prices.
Ghetto-ization: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Density
At first glance, the historic Ghetto streetscene in Venice is an appealing new urbanist community. In another place at another time, the virtues of compact, walkable and dense were the very isolation we now abhor.
Friday Funny: Yield to Drunks
In the face of a recent surge in accidents, a small town in Romania has installed new traffic signs warning drivers about drunk pedestrians who may be laying in roadways.
China's Cross-Continental Rail Plan
China has announced plans to extend its high speed rail network Wetsward across the continent, connecting its eastern shores to Europe.
High Speed Rail Creates Social Cohesion
A European report shows that high-speed rail is creating social cohesion and accessibility for remote places. Could the same effect happen in the U.S.?
Multi-Family Housing to Cure Loneliness
The Swedish, apparently, long for community. Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture has proposed a redesign for an abandoned sanitarium, turning it into a green, multi-family community.
Public Trees: Landscaping, or Food Source?
An art group called Fallen Fruit promotes the idea of public fruit trees for general consumption by all. But on a trip to Madrid to plant trees, the government refused their intervention, saying that trees were architecture for the city, not food.
Sprawling Madrid
While Madrid's urban core is highly dense, the city has sprawled out over the last two decades much further than its growing population requires, says Madrid resident and planning consultant Marco Adelfio.
Dropping Bombs and Dropping Parking Lots
This post from The Overhead Wire looks at the impact of parking lot sprawl in American downtowns -- and finds a striking resemblance between those downtowns and bomb-ravaged cities from World War Two.
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
