Exclusives

BLOG POST

Are You For/Against Closing Street Segments?

<div>There's a lot of babbling on in this blog about how streets are public space, that they are for people, and that they should be designed equitably for everyone.

July 13 - Ian Sacs

BLOG POST

And The Winner Is…

Spanish football fans are celebrating in the streets, while in The Netherlands they are drowning their sorrows, but the real winners of the 2010 World Cup are the people of South Africa. Long after the last vuvuzela is sounded, residents and visitors will enjoy the legacy of new <a href="http://www.arrivealive.co.za/pages.aspx?i=2874">Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)</a> systems build in South Africa’s four major cities.

July 12 - Todd Litman

FEATURE

Sustainable Communities: Live Event with HUD, DOT and EPA Leadership

Whitehouse.gov held a live online event on July 15th at 2pm EDT/11am PDT on sustainable communities. All of the questions were submitted and chosen by Planetizen readers.

July 8 - Tim Halbur

FEATURE

Save the Soleri Amphitheater

Officials in Santa Fe have announced plans to demolish an amphitheater designed by architect Paolo Soleri, the visionary behind the as-yet-unfinished Arcosanti project. David Licata says it deserves to be saved.

July 5 - David Licata

BLOG POST

Roads, Oil Spills, and Externalities

Planners are quick to criticize roads and highway investments for the vast sums spent to build, operate and maintain them, often questioning the value of these subsidies. Recently, on a planning list-serve, these subsidies were labeled an “external cost” of automobiles, but they are not.

July 4 - Samuel Staley

BLOG POST

Planning History: A Few of the Late 19th and 20th Century Places you Should Know

Earlier blogs have explored books and journals for finding out about the basics of planning <a href="/node/43730" target="_blank">history</a>. In this blog I add to this by listing a just few of the places it is important to recognize as a planner. It is of course difficult to make such lists but students ask for them with some frequency. Of course, places are one thing and planning processes quite another--and in planning process is very important. Upcoming blogs will deal with plans and processes.

July 3 - Ann Forsyth

BLOG POST

Externalities, Meet Externalities

(NOTE TO READERS: An expanded, footnote-filled version of this article is online at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1632935 )   Externalities are costs (or benefits) imposed on third parties by another individual’s voluntary action. Government regulations exist at least partially to protect us from externalities created by others.

July 1 - Michael Lewyn

BLOG POST

Sacrificing Pelicans To Petroleum Gods: Deep Water Horizon Spill Forces Energy Policy Rethink

Many ancient religions required animal sacrifice to satisfy their gods’ desires. We now sacrifice pelicans, marine mammals and sea turtles to satisfy our desire for cheap oil. <img src="http://protectfloridasbeaches.org/blog/bird_in_oil_epa.jpg" width="414" height="298" />

June 30 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

Do You Read These Planning Magazines?

I'm frequently asked for recommendations for good planning magazines. As editors of Planetizen, we come across a staggeringly impressive and diverse array of web-based content. But sometimes there is nothing quite like browsing a good magazine in y

June 29 - Chris Steins

FEATURE

Placemaking for Pot Smoking

Potential legalization of marijuana presents California cities the chance to do a different type of 'greening.' Josh Stephens reports on the land use challenges of regulating California's most lucrative crop.

June 28 - Josh Stephens

BLOG POST

Enjoyable voice recognition, is it FINALLY here?

Given today it the release date of the new iPhone, I want to talk about something else at Apple the really caught my attention -- their automated customer care. Last week I had to call Apple to find out how to get the sales tax removed from a purchase given our 501(c)3 status. It was a complicated set of questions I needed to ask -- and yet the conversation was as smooth as talking to a live person. It struck me I was getting a sneak preview of something that is going to radically transform how we use technology on a daily basis -- FINALLY.

June 24 - Ken Snyder

BLOG POST

It’s About Data Baby

June 23 - Melissa Hege

BLOG POST

Don't Let Time Dilute Outrage Over BP Gulf Spill

<div> <div> Just because our media-ravenous culture inundates us with more news than we can stomach doesn't mean we should give up on the long term prospects of the BP catastrophe. As the poorly secured well beneath the exploded BP rig Deepwater Horizon continues its high-pressure torrent of not-yet-quantified-but-something-in-the-order-of-tens-to-hundreds-of-thousand-of-gallons-per-day of oil into the gorgeous waters of the Gulf of Mexico, we must not let the drone of time allow us lose sight of the result of horrendous and unforgivable destruction, weak industrial controls, and even weaker environmental morals. We must also not ignore that efforts to “contain” the spill were devised simultaneously with an effort to spare the well.

June 23 - Ian Sacs

BLOG POST

What a bus rider wants

As I began to type this, I was on a Greyhound bus somewhere in southern Ontario, on the first leg of my return from Toronto (where I have spent the past year getting an extra degree) to the United States. As I type, it occurs to me to ask myself: what are the interests of the long-distance bus rider? Are they the same as users of other forms of public transit, or closer to those of drivers and truckers? My short answer to these questions is: a little of both.

June 22 - Michael Lewyn

FEATURE

Civic Tourism, and the Importance of Place

June 21 - Dan Shilling

BLOG POST

Parking Garages Are So Last Century

The parking “epidemic” in Hoboken is so bad that no parking garage conceivable by man can contain our demand. So this week, Hoboken ventures where no city has gone before; we are <a href="http://www.hobokennj.org/news/hoboken-and-hertz-launch-first-city-wide-car-sharing-service-in-america/">rolling out</a> the nation’s first city-wide on-street car-sharing program as a public-private partnership between Hoboken and Connect by Hertz. <img src="/files/u20603/Corner_Car_5_Minute_Walk_Map.jpg" width="503" height="539" /> <img src="/files/u20603/cornercars_sign.jpg" width="415" height="531" />

June 17 - Ian Sacs

FEATURE

Road Diets: Making Streets Slim Down Is Good For Pedestrians, Businesses And Even Traffic

Cities are greatly in need of slimming down their roads, says architect Michael Bohn. A recent project in Long Beach, California shows how curb extensions and street furniture can have a huge impact on the economics of downtowns.

June 14 - Michael Bohn

BLOG POST

Valuing The Precious Hours Of Our Lives

Time is a limited and valuable resource. As much as possible, people should spend the precious hours of their lives in the most satisfying and productive possible ways. This has important implications for transportation planning, since most people spend a significant amount of time in transport, and travel time savings are often the greatest projected benefits of transport projects such as roadway and transit service improvements.

June 14 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

In Memoriam: William Mitchell

<div>I learned with great sadness about the loss of William Mitchell, 65, this past friday after a long battle with cancer. Bill was the chair of my Ph.D. committee, a mentor and a friend.</div><div>

June 13 - Anthony Townsend

BLOG POST

Beyond the Trail

A recent Planetizen interview on the <a href="/node/44392" target="_blank">relationship between park space and active living</a> got me thinking about what spaces inspire physical activity and what spaces discourage it. In my old apartment complex, the indoor fitness centers were jammed while the nearby riverside walking trails were desolate, despite nearly perfect year-round weather. Why? The trails were perceived as unsafe because they were completely isolated from view.

June 12 - Diana DeRubertis