Exclusives
BLOG POST
Rise of the Cruisers
<p> A few weeks back, I had a meeting at the University of Southern California's campus. It was a moderately nice day by Los Angeles standards, which in other parts of the country would equate to the best day of the year weather-wise. As I walked among the brick buildings, I was impressed by the number of bicycles parked willy-nilly around the grounds. </p> <p> <img src="/files/u20704/cruisers_at_USC.gif" alt="Cruiser bikes on the USC Campus." title="Cruiser bikes on the USC Campus." width="301" height="226" /> </p>
BLOG POST
The End of Sprawl As We Know It...NOT
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">As the housing market collapsed and gasoline prices spiked in 2007, many planners may have read Cornell University law professor Eduardo Penalver’s essay in the </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Washington Post</span></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small"> with more than a little satisfaction.
BLOG POST
Vancouver Olympics a Living Laboratory for Urbanism!
<p> Among the countless stories being written on the successes and challenges of these 2010 Olympic Winter Games, not surprisingly the most interesting stories to me are those that speak to the challenges of great urbanism. As a host city, Vancouver has become a massive urban laboratory, with so many opportunities to learn, and we’re soaking it all up.<br /> <br /> As we are coming to the end of the final week, a few examples of big experiments and learnings come to mind.<br />
FEATURE
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.
BLOG POST
Raise My Taxes, Please! Financing High Quality Public Transit Service Saves Me Money Overall
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Most North American cities offer only basic public transit service, with limited coverage and frequency, modest speeds, unattractive waiting areas, poor land use integration, and few amenities. Such service is used primarily by people who lack alternatives. In such communities, riders tend to abandon public transit as soon as feasible.</span> </p>
FEATURE
The Importance of Being Urban
If we are "urbanists," does that mean we're anti-suburban? Or do choice and economics define our choices? Architect Fanis Grammenos reflects on his own history of shelter and the ideology of urbanism.
BLOG POST
Smart Growth and Australia
<p> As managing editor of Planetizen, I'd like to make a quick note on today's op-ed, <a href="/node/42927">Resisting Dickensian Gloom</a> by Tony Recsei. Mr Recsei asked for a chance to respond to <a href="/node/42679">a recent criticism of his work</a> by Planetizen regular Michael Dudley. It is our policy at Planetizen to allow points of view that are critical of the status quo in urban planning, so I agreed to run the piece. I did ask Mr. Recsei to tone down some of the more personal attacks on smart growthers so that his points could be presented more clearly to our audience, and I believe he has done that. </p>
FEATURE
Resisting Dickensian Gloom
High-density development in Australia is causing more greenhouse gases than the suburbs, argues Dr. Tony Recsei of the group Save Our Suburbs, in this rebuttal of a blog post by Michael Dudley.
BLOG POST
Infuriating Inferiority
<p>I recently posted an open-ended question on facebook to my <em>friends</em> about Governor Palin, asking for their views. It was remarkable how condescending many of those views turned out to be, just as Gerard Alexander noted in his excellent February 4 Washington Post editorial. </p><p>Herewith are my thoughts on the tea party thing - whatever it is - and how it relates to the challenges faced by the New Urbanists and advocates for Smart Growth....</p>
BLOG POST
Living in Mrs. Jacobs' Neighborhood
<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> A decade or so ago, after reading some of Jane Jacobs’ work, I became aware of the distinction between mixed-use and single-use neighborhoods.<span> </span>In those days, I imagined that in a well-functioning urban neighborhood, every non-polluting use would be mixed together, and the lion of housing would lay down with the lamb of commerce. </p>
BLOG POST
Planning for the Vancouver Olympics
<p> The Winter Olympics will begin later this week in Vancouver, British Columbia. Like other hosts of such large-scale sporting events, the city has been getting ready for the international spotlight for many years. To hear more about what's been going on in the city in terms of urban planning, I interviewed Vancouver Planning Director Brent Toderian, and you can <a href="http://places.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=12693" title="Places - The Olympics and the City">read a transcript of that Q&A on Places</a>. </p>
BLOG POST
Carfree Design Manual
<p> <span><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">As planners, one of our roles is to help stretch the scope of what is considered possible. For example, between 1950 and 2000 most development was highly automobile-dependent, based on the assumption that almost all travel would be by personal automobile and other modes were relatively unimportant. This pattern is so well established that many people have difficulty imagining anything different. It is useful to help people understand the full range of options available, from automobile dependency to carfree communities. </span></span></span> </p>
FEATURE
Where Will We All Park? A Slightly Premature Case Study of Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken, New Jersey's Department of Transportation and Parking Director Ian Sacs offers this profile of his city and discusses how the dense but car-enamored city is trying to tackle the contemporary urban parking problem.
BLOG POST
New Books Depict Car Culture at a Turning Point
<p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crash-Course-American-Automobile-Industrys/dp/1400068630/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641815&sr=1-1"><strong>Crash Course: </strong></a><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crash-Course-American-Automobile-Industrys/dp/1400068630/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641815&sr=1-1">The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster</a><br /> By Paul Ingrassia<br /> Random House, 306 pages, $32</strong> </p> <p> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carjacked-Culture-Automobile-Effect-Lives/dp/0230618138/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641921&sr=1-1"><strong>Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile</strong> </a><strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carjacked-Culture-Automobile-Effect-Lives/dp/0230618138/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641921&sr=1-1">and its Effect on Our Lives</a><br /> By Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez<br /> Palgrave, 272 pages, $34</strong> </p> <p> Automobiles dominate our economies, our cities and our popular culture. As these new titles make abundantly apparent, they also tend to imbue their makers and owners with either delusions or arrogance that can lead to dangerously misguided decision-making, both behind the wheel and in corporate boardrooms.
BLOG POST
Why not rail?
<p> </p> <p> When faced with the costs and logistics of rail, planners and city officials increasingly seem to favor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a trend likely to continue through the current recession. But even with the many persuasive arguments for BRT, the nagging question remains: why not rail? <br /> <br />
BLOG POST
In Olympic year, Vancouver chooses LEED™ Gold for private buildings!
<p> Followers of Vancouver city planning will remember that in 2008, as part of the approval of the EcoDensity Initiative, our Council approved what remains (we think) the highest green standard for private sector building design in North America. The 2008 policy requires that buildings that go through rezonings (representing most buildings built in Vancouver) must establish that their design, at approval, is capable of achieving LEED™ Silver. We actually nick-named it "Silver Plus", because we mandated that there be a minimum of 3 energy points, 1 water point, and 1 storm water point, emphasizing the things that matter most to us.
FEATURE
The Right Interventions to Restore Confidence in Weak Markets
Housing affordability is too often seen as the way to stabilize and revitalize weak markets. Neighborhood planning consultants Charles Buki and Elizabeth Humphrey Schilling argue that interventions in weak markets must encourage investment by improving market confidence.
BLOG POST
Taming the Office Park
<p> Most attempts to regulate suburban development have focused on containing the growth of suburban housing. But such regulation, by restricting the supply of buildable land, risks incresing housing prices. And from a more libertarian perspective, an individual's interest in choosing to "drive to qualify" may seem quite appealing. Attempts to regulate commercial suburban development do not involve the same sentimental considerations as limits on residential development, but do risk increasing prices for commercial land, thus increasing prices for everything else. </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.
