Exclusives
BLOG POST
My Interview Published in the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's New Forefront Magazine
<p> I apologize for self-promotion but you have to admit that parts of this interview posted here at <a href="http://www.clevelandfed.org/Forefront/2009/12/ff_20091216_07.cfm">http://www.clevelandfed.org/Forefront/2009/12/ff_20091216_07.cfm</a> are funny and mildly thought provoking! This interview focuses on the causes and consequences of "green cities". </p> <p class="interview_q"> Here is an excerpt: </p> <p class="interview_q"> Richter: On your blog, you noted that you can buy 100 homes in Detroit for the price of one in Westwood [where UCLA is located]. Is that a good deal? </p>
BLOG POST
Fun With Research: Higher Fuel Prices Increase Economic Productivity
<p> <span style="font-family: Calibri"><span style="font-size: small">Last week I posted a blog, “</span><span style="font-size: 7.5pt; line-height: 115%"><a href="/node/42026"><strong>Win-Win Transportation Emission Reduction Strategies: Good News for Copenhagen</strong></a>”</span><span><span style="font-size: small"> which described emission reduction strategies that also help achieve economic and social objectives. I’ve continued doing research on the subject and made some additonal discoveries that I can report on now.</span></span></span> </p>
FEATURE
Newburg: Embracing Density at the Urban Fringe
The U.S. needs a new model for denser living, says John Stillich of the Sustainable Urban Development Association. 'Newburg' is SUDA's proposed solution to the problem.
BLOG POST
The New 'Urban Community' On The Las Vegas Strip
<p> Hey, Las Vegas. Good to see you! Tough break about all those foreclosures... But, hey, I hear you've got a new mega project opening up. That's cool! I bet those other broke cities are super jealous. Yeah, this new project's gonna bring you back to glory, eh? Oh, what's that? What did you just call it? CityCenter? The Capital of the New World? An urban community? <br /> <br /> Let me stop you right there.<br />
BLOG POST
The NIMBY Brain, and the Abstraction of Global Warming
<p> You may have noticed that over the past few years we've learned a lot more about how the brain works. This is mostly due to advances in functional neuroimaging (fMRI), which makes brain scanning much less onerous and dangerous (no radiation involved). Researchers are using this new access to the brain to send it through various puzzles and thoughts and seeing where and how the brain reacts. </p> <p> Josh Greene is an assistant professor at Harvard, and he has used his research to explore questions of moral judgement and decisionmaking. One puzzle he's looked at is called the "Trolley Problem." Here's the setup: </p>
BLOG POST
Two Separate Problems
<p> Conventional wisdom dictates that middle-class families would find urban schools more tempting if we only “fixed the schools”- a concept that implies that urban public schools are simply unable to educate anyone, because they are either horribly underfunded (in the liberal version of this claim) or horribly mismanaged (in the conservative version). </p>
BLOG POST
Yellow Ribbons Banned On Town Green
<p> The display of yellow ribbons in remembrance of friends and family serving far away goes back hundreds of years. Dr. Gavin Finley has an <a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://endtimepilgrim.org/yellowriboak.jpg&imgrefurl=http://endtimepilgrim.org/yellowrib.htm&usg=__Ksf0tpiIRNuBejziPwNGMPQdJfw=&h=384&w=248&sz=54&hl=en&start=13&um=1&tbnid=naMNZ7Kvgpah_M:&tbnh=123&tbnw=79&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyellow%2Bribbons%2Baround%2Btree%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4SUNA_enUS286US270%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1">interesting website </a>on the history. The American Folklore Center at The Library of Congress has more intriguing history and also cites the 1949 John Wayne and Joanne Dru film, <em>She Wore a Yellow Ribbon</em>. </p>
BLOG POST
Win-Win Transportation Emission Reduction Strategies: Good News for Copenhagen
<span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'"> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Calibri">Here is good news for anybody looking for smart ways to reduce climate change. </span><a href="http://www.vtpi.org/wwclimate.pdf"><span style="font-family: Calibri; color: #0000ff">"Win-Win" transportation emission reduction strategies</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri"> can provide substantial energy conservation and emission reductions in ways that also help achieve economic and social objectives.</span> </p>
BLOG POST
Mixier Use
<p> A recent event organized by <a href="http://www.good.is" target="_blank" title="Good Magazine">Good Magazine</a>, <a href="http://www.sheridanhawkes.com" target="_blank" title="Sheridan/Hawkes Collaborative">Sheridan/Hawkes Collaborative</a> and <a href="http://www.popsiclesforeveryone.org/" target="_blank" title="The Public Studio">The Public Studio</a> brought together about 30 civic-minded designers, planners and architects to come up with some ways to improve the urban environment of Los Angeles. It was a big question to tackle in one afternoon, with a huge array of possible solutions. The crowd was split up into five separate groups and surprisingly, each came up with a similar answer: taco trucks. OK, not taco trucks specifically, but the essence of taco trucks and what they bring to the city.
FEATURE
How to Make Vacant Properties Disappear
Vacant properties are considered blight instead of potential, argues John Kromer of the Fels Institute. By acting strategically and thinking smaller, officials can revitalize their cities and attract new, more stable investment.
BLOG POST
Copenhagen and 'Taking Care of the World'
<span>Yesterday, as a part of my university’s community outreach efforts, I delivered a lecture at a suburban retirement home on the theme of sustainable cities. I discussed Smart Growth, New Urbanism and the need for greater urban densities, all framed by the current events unfolding in Copenhagen at the <a href="http://en.cop15.dk/">United Nations Climate Change Conference</a>.<span> </span></span> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span>At the end of my talk, several elderly ladies came up to chat with me and thank me for the lecture. On her way out, one turned to me and said, “You take care of the world for us. We’re not going to be around much longer – it’s up to you young people.”<span> </span></span> </p>
BLOG POST
The Battle for Bedford Avenue
<p>For a myriad of personal and professional reasons I moved to New York City this fall. Part of the reason I uprooted myself from the pastel, sun soaked streets of Miami Beach to the chaos of New York is because Gotham has made such incredible strides in becoming one of America's most bicycle-friendly cities. </p>
FEATURE
The Teachings of Rome
Jay Walljasper reflects on the glorious urbanism of Rome, and what planners and architects in North America can learn from it.
BLOG POST
Backyard Burials
<p> I am prompted to report on this issue I came across in a <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20091125_ap_papastorseeksokforsonsgraveonchurchland.html">news item</a> last week. A Baptist minister in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, buried his 18-year-old son, who died three days after a car crash on July 12, in the backyard of the pastor’s church. While state law doesn’t prohibit this, some county and local ordinances do, and this county, Fayette County, only allows burials on large parcels zoned for agricultural use. The church has only five acres and is in a residential zone. </p>
BLOG POST
The Failure of Voluntarism
<p class="MsoNormal"> <span> I recently read an article containing a World War II-era poster: “When You Ride Alone You Ride With Hitler.” The authors of the article asked whether governments could use similar powers of persuasion today to discourage energy consumption and thus address climate change. </span> </p>
BLOG POST
Historic Redevelopment, Economic Preservation?
This Saturday, Nate Berg and I will be taking part in <a href="http://www.good.is/post/good-event-la-2-0-refresh-reinvent-re-imagine/">LA 2.0: Refresh, Reinvent, Re-Imagine</a>, an event hosted by <a href="http://www.good.is/">GOOD Magazine</a>, <a href="http://www.sheridanhawkes.com/">Sheridan/Hawkes Collaborative</a> and The Public Studio. <span> </span>The goal is to brainstorm innovative solutions to improve the physical environment of Los Angeles.
BLOG POST
Planning Experience before Graduate School?
The short answer to the question about whether someone needs professional or activist planning experience before graduate school is yes!
BLOG POST
Cause of the Housing Bubble, Burst and Recession Revealed: It's Growth Management
<p> Those of us whose professional lives are inextricably linked to the real estate development economy in one way or another have had plenty of time in the last year to twiddle our thumbs and attempt to figure out what the heck happened. This much we know — there was a housing bubble some places, it burst, and the economy collapsed. Have you ever slipped and fell – one those unexpected spectacular aerial feats where your feet fly out from underneath you, you look down your legs and see your toes at eye level pointing to the sky, and you say to yourself “this is really going to hurt when I land”? That’s what this year has been like for many, some of whom are still waiting to hit hard because they had projects in the pipeline and they are grinding their way through “inventory” of unfinished work. Plus, we started from a high plateau. Wall Street types call the unexpected but apparent life in the market during the first part of a recession “<a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/deadcatbounce.asp">dead cat bounce</a>” which Forbes defines as “a temporary recovery from a prolonged decline or bear market, after which the market continues to fall.” Even a dead cat dropped from a very high place will bounce a little when it hits the ground… </p>
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
