Exclusives
FEATURE
The Place Making Dividend
Edward T. MacMahon of ULI explains why cities and towns with unique character have an economic advantage over the sameness of chain stores and malls, and why people should fight to preserve and create a sense of place.
BLOG POST
Digging Holes
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Calibri">Once upon a time there was a transportation planner driving thru the sunbelt.<span> </span>He pulled into a truck stop and while fueling his vehicle he noticed a couple of workers working on the shoulder down the road.<span> </span>One man appeared to be digging holes about three feet across and three feet deep along the side of the road.<span> </span></span></span> </p>
FEATURE
The Motorist's Identity Crisis
Bicyclists and transit riders are losers - right? Or are they elitist, sneering yuppies? Brian Ladd says that people's attitudes and transportation choices are shaped by deep-seated feelings about respectability, and it planners should pay attention.
BLOG POST
What's in a name? Google may have the answer
<p> Google Labs has released another fascinating tool for researchers. Readers may already be familiar with <a href="http://trends.google.com">Google Trends</a> which can chart and reveal trends in search patterns for the last decade. The new tool allows similar analysis of Google's impressive library of digitized books spanning centuries. </p>
FEATURE
How Shared Space Challenges Conventional Thinking about Transportation Design
Shared streets -- the idea that pedestrians, bikes and cars can all navigate together in the same space -- is a fundamental rethinking of the underlying philosophy related to the design and operation of transportation facilities, write Norman W. Garrick and James G. Hanley.
BLOG POST
The Federal Interest in Non-Highway Transportation
As Congress begins to draft transportation legislation next year, fiscal scarcity may induce a fight between transit and highway advocates over federal funding, rather than the cooperation of the last few years. And if highway advocates seek to tear down federal support for other forms of transportation, they will probably rely heavily on federalism considerations, arguing that highways are inherently an interstate concern while transit and non-motorized forms of transportation are a nonfederal concern.<span> </span>For example, Alan Pisarski writes: “If sidewalks and bike paths are federal then <em>everything</em> is federal.” <p class="MsoNormal"> There are two flaws in this argument.<span> </span>First of all, highways are not always primarily an interstate concern
FEATURE
Following the High Line
BLOG POST
US Planning Isolationism
<p> Recently, the new <a href="http://www.planning.org/japa/" target="_blank" title="JAPA">Journal of the American Planning Association</a> editor Randall Crane circulated a message to US planning academics in which he asked for new submissions: </p> <p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'">"A reminder that JAPA is interested in your best work in any aspect of planning scholarship -- quantitative or qualitative, foreign or domestic -- that informs practice. We would particularly like to broaden subject content over the next few years." </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Temple Uni urban studies prof Ben Kohl replied: "For years I have wished that JAPA would show some interest in the lessons that ‘foreign’ planners and planning experience might have to offer.
FEATURE
Cycling Super Highways
Rachel Smith of AECOM says that seven-meter wide cycling "super highways" are the X-factor to transform our cities, our lifestyles and our health and revolutionize the way we travel.
BLOG POST
10 Urban Planning Songs
While there may not be popular songs specifically mentioning urban planning, there are many songs about cities and the impact of planning decisions. Here are my 10 of favorites.
BLOG POST
Highways And Labor Markets II
<span><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman"><em>One accurate measurement can be more insightful than a thousand expert opinions.</em> </span></span></span> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">In a recent blog titled, </span><a href="http://www.newgeography.com/content/001865-livability-and-all-that"><strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Livability and All That</span></strong></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">, highway expert Alan Pisarski argues that highway-oriented transport systems are necessary for efficient consumer and labor markets.
BLOG POST
Planner to Politician: The Inspiring Story of Ann Cheng
<p> Back in 2006, when I was working at <a href="http://www.reconnectingamerica.org" title="Reconnecting America">Reconnecting America</a> (A non-profit that promotes and studies transit-oriented development), I ended up crossing paths with a dedicated and intelligent woman named Ann Cheng. In her late-20s, she was working for an organization known as the Transportation and Land Use Coalition (they've since gone with the more attractive moniker <a href="http://transformca.org/">TransForm</a>). </p>
FEATURE
Walkable Cities, Walkable Neighborhoods
New neighborhood-level data from the walkability rating website Walk Score has broadened the view of what it means to live in a walkable city.
BLOG POST
Why Hosting a World Cup Doesn't Matter for Cities, and How it Can
Two major international decisions are being made today: which countries will host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The selected hosts will undoubtedly celebrate their victories, and look forward to the soft and hard benefits of hosting this most watched of sporting events. The host countries should also take care to prepare for negative impacts – short- and long-term effects that play out in physical, social and economic ways. Who gets selected is surely important in some ways, but when considering these mega-events in terms of their potential impact on the places in which they're held, who hosts the World Cup doesn't really matter.
BLOG POST
Planning Education: How Important is Having a Good Teacher?
<p class="MsoNormal"> As students have been choosing classes over the last year, one question I’ve received is: how important is the teacher vs. the subject matter? In general, I argue, your own attitude is the most important factor in how well you learn. However, truly terrible teaching can make that more difficult and truly wonderful teaching can change your life for the better.</p>
BLOG POST
Neighborhood Change
<p>It is often - and very inaccurately - said that people hate change. When people get married - they are overjoyed. When they hold the winning lottery ticket, or have children or get a raise or a promotion or a new car, they are thrilled. These are forms of change that illustrate the point that change is not what people hate; what people have trouble with is certain forms of change. This becomes especially relevant to planners and designers and community developers who are part of processes - shaping, facilitating, leading, participating in, or otherwise advocating for one form of change or another.</p>
FEATURE
Top 10 Books - 2011
Planetizen is pleased to release its ninth annual list of the ten best books in urban planning, design and development published in 2010. This year's selection includes some big names, some big ideas -- and a book called "Toilet."
BLOG POST
Highways and Labor Markets
<p> In a recent blog post,(1) highway expert Alan Pisarski suggests that highway-oriented sprawl development is somehow necessary for the development of modern labor markets.(2) Pisarski writes that regional job markets are jobs are more specialized today than they were in his youth, and labor markets are thus "of immense size because many [highly specialized] employers need a market of hundreds of thousands of potential workers to reach the ones they need. The Atlanta region of 26 counties is not a great economic engine because it is 26 charming adjacent hamlets, but rather because the market reach of employers, suppliers, customers and job seekers spreads over several million residents." </p>
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
