Exclusives

BLOG POST

With the passing in February 2010 of Canada&#39;s last surviving Great War veteran, we no longer have a living link to that conflict. Its infamous miseries, desolate battlefields, poison-gas attacks and industrial-scale slaughter are known to us now only through history. <p> While the veterans themselves are silent, Manitoba historian Jim Blanchard reminds us in his new book <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Winnipegs-Great-War-City-Comes/dp/088755721X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1287069475&amp;sr=1-1"><em>Winnipeg&#39;s Great War</em></a> that the city of Winnipeg has its own story to tell about the First World War.

October 14 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

<p> Every so often, I read something describing defenders of sprawl as &quot;contrarians&quot;, implying that they are underdogs fighting against the elitist, anti-sprawl Establishment. For example, when I did a google.com search for sites including Robert Bruegmann (author of one of the better defenses of the status quo) and the word &quot;contrarian&quot; I found over 1400 &quot;hits.&quot;  Similarly, a search for websites using the terms &quot;smart growth&quot; and &quot;elitist&quot; yielded over 6000 hits. </p> <p> But realistically, most of the U.S. built environment is sprawl by any concievable definition. So how can it be &quot;contrarian&quot; to defend the status quo? </p>

October 13 - Michael Lewyn

FEATURE

CEOs for Cities recently published a blistering criticism of The Texas Transportation Institute's "Urban Mobility Report", saying that the way they measure mobility helps justify sprawl. Norman W. Garrick says CEOs for Cities doesn't go far enough.

October 11 - Norman Garrick

BLOG POST

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October 10 - Rick Abelson

BLOG POST

<p> Ostensibly, the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69648520101007">actions today</a> by NJ Governor Chris Christie to cancel the &quot;Access to Region&#39;s Core&quot; (ARC) tunnel project seem like a vicious blow to the future of rail in our country (fatal even, given the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/us/05rail.html?_r=1&amp;hp">recent commentary</a> from conservatives country-wide on opposition to the national high speed rail network projects).  I myself am extremely disappointed that our state&#39;s fiscal circumstances have led the Governor to make this decision, and I am sincerely empathetic to the construction and operational jobs and potential to improve mobility conditions that this cancellation jeopardizes. </p>

October 7 - Ian Sacs

BLOG POST

<p> Over the past year, we&#39;ve been guiding the City of Hoboken, NJ towards providing sufficient alternative modes of transportation such that owning a car for a large number of residents becomes more than unattractive, it&#39;s simply not necessary.  The goal is not to tell residents that they can&#39;t own a car, but to make life without a car so easy that every single family in Hoboken can freely choose whether owning a car is what they want to spend their money on.  For those who decide that a daily commute by car is most practical, my job is to make it possible to find a parking space and travel in and out of town without too much friction.  However, for the overwhelming majority of Hobokenites who commute daily on foot, bicycle, or via transit, life without a car should be as

October 7 - Ian Sacs

BLOG POST

<span>My hometown of Winnipeg is going through a <a href="http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Bike-path-should-be-finished-before-lawsuit-settled--103638144.html">particularly nasty battle over cycling infrastructure</a>. Its current mayor, Sam Katz, while he may be reviled by rapid transit advocates for cancelling one BRT scheme and <a href="http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/epc-endorses-light-rail-transit-98007694.html">then muddling another </a>(will it be a bus? A train? A streetcar?), has nonetheless managed to accomplish more for cyclists than his predecessors. In recent years we have seen new bikelanes, multiuse pathways and a cycling culture invigorated by such events as Winnipeg&#39;s <a href="http://www.downtownwinnipegbiz.com/home/events/ciclovia/">Cyclovia</a>.</span>

October 6 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">Climate change has become a focal point of urban planning in the U.S. and abroad as cities grapple with so-called sustainability. </span><a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1562561&amp;show=html"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman; color: #800080">I’ve been a critic</span></a><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman"> of many attempts to implement sustainability plans, not so much because I disagree with the intent as much as I believe the tools used to achieve sustainability are not particularly effective.

October 5 - Samuel Staley

FEATURE

The latest in a series of academic challenges to the New Urbanism turns out to be weak in all the areas that matter most, argues author Michael Mehaffy.

October 4 - Michael Mehaffy

BLOG POST

<p> The term Green Urbanism keeps showing up unexpectedly in newspaper articles, conference session titles, blog posts, and casual conversation.  While there is an innate, intuitive sense of the meaning, green urbanism may also seem as elusive as it is evocative.  Having given this topic a fair amount of thought over the past several years, I, and my colleague and collaborator Ted Bardacke, arrived at the following working definition: </p> <p> <strong><em>green urbanism:</em></strong><em> the practice of creating communities mutually beneficial to humans and the environment </em> </p>

October 1 - Walker Wells

FEATURE

September 30 - Giulia Mastrangelo

BLOG POST

<div>As young planners bursting into the real world we are anxious to create communities that are vibrant, fun, and speak to the urbanity that will host future generations of our civilization.  What we lack in experience we make up for in enthusiasm, and hope that our superiors guide us on the finer points of less crystallized aspects of critical infrastructure such as designing for the elderly, disabled, and those semi-attached to a stroller.  In traffic engineering, we often hear a common rebuttal to technical traffic analysis from communities; they say, “I drive these streets every day, so I understand traffic here better than you.”  Well, they’re right.

September 30 - Ian Sacs

FEATURE

Yesterday's infrastructure can become tomorrow's agriculture, says Ed Harwood, by converting underused industrial warehouses and factories to hydroponic and aeroponic growing.

September 27 - Ed Harwood

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt" class="MsoNormal"> &#160; </p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Why <strong><em>didn’t</em></strong> the chicken cross the road?</span> </p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Because pedestrian Level-Of-Service was below “C”.</span> </p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt" class="MsoNormal"> &#160; </p>

September 22 - Todd Litman

FEATURE

With "brownfield" (former industrial or commercial sites) development on the rise, it is essential for planners to have a clear process for approaching this tricky development type, say Justin B. Hollander, Niall G. Kirkwood and Julia L. Gold.

September 20 - Justin B. Hollander

BLOG POST

<span style="widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font: medium 'Times New Roman'; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; letter-spacing: normal; color: #000000; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px" class="Apple-style-span"> <div style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px"> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span>One of my first posts back in 2007 dealt with planning faculty blogs (see </span><a href="/node/24748" target="_blank">http://www.planetizen.com/node/24748</a>).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> 

September 16 - Ann Forsyth

FEATURE

On a fact-finding mission to the Netherlands, a delegation of California public officials marvel at the promise of bicycles for 21st Century transportation. Jay Walljasper gives this personal account of the trip.

September 16 - Jay Walljasper

BLOG POST

<span><span style="font-size: x-small">When you buy a house, you might think that you are in control of that house and its value.  But in reality, your house’s value depends on a wide variety of factors beyond your control, such as the perceived desirability of your neighbors, local highway and transit policies, and trends in national and regional housing markets.  Your home may be your castle in a physical sense- but its value is heavily affected by what goes on outside the residential setting.<br /> <br /> In her new book The Unbounded Home, University of Chicago law professor Lee Fennell addresses the implications of this reality and of homeowners’ attempts to reassert control over property values through restrictive covenants and zoning.<br />

September 14 - Michael Lewyn

FEATURE

When Queen Elizabeth II -- now 84 -- passes on, Prince Charles will finally become king. With a history of active engagement in the built environment, will King Charles become a silent monarch, as some have claimed? David Sucher hopes not.

September 13 - David Sucher

BLOG POST

<div>On a day we remember how hate can be manifest into reckless slaughter, perhaps we can find a moment to also remind ourselves that the provision of mobility as a basic tenet of urban planning is one small but nonetheless fundamental way we can strengthen the brotherly ties between neighbors, nations, cultures, humanity. ~ian</div><div><br /></div><p>&nbsp;</p>

September 11 - Ian Sacs