Exclusives

FEATURE

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy spent two years looking at smart growth policies in a number of states to see how well they've achieved their goals. Gregory K. Ingram, President of the Institute, explains the results.

June 8 - Gregory K. Ingram

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'">Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) refers to communities with high quality public transit services, good walkability, and compact, mixed land use. This allows people to choose the best option for each trip: walking and cycling for local errands, convenient and comfortable public transit for travel along major urban corridors, and automobile travel to more dispersed destinations. People who live and work in such communities tend to own fewer vehicles, drive less, and rely more on alternative modes. </span> </p>

June 7 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

<p> I just got back from my first trip to Europe, where the cities are a lot older and a lot different than they are here in the New World. I made many observations on my brief trip, which included Paris and Barcelona, and I&#39;m sure those will bubble up in blog posts in the near future. However, I won&#39;t waste anyone&#39;s time remarking about how great European cities are. We&#39;ve all heard it before, and while it may be right, the point has been made. Like, really made. <br /> <br /> So, yes, the narrow streets are nice to walk on, the bike sharing system in Paris is awesome, and the architecture is impressive. But one piece of these cities that hasn&#39;t receioved enough praise is their garbage cans. </p>

June 6 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> It was the collapse of the housing bubble that triggered the current economic crisis.  As is the case in the aftermath of many calamities finger pointing abounds. There are an ample number of would be culprits. Take your pick; The Federal Reserve for keeping interest rates too low, mortgage brokers for pushing inappropriate loans, ratings agencies for blessing dubious securities, the list goes on.  A common criticism aimed at all of these culprits is that they lacked the foresight to see the inevitable housing bust. It was the housing bubble that camouflaged all of the bad decisions. </p>

June 5 - Lance Freeman

BLOG POST

<p> I’m watching local Rochester-area advocates respond to presentations by three panelists on the subject of “Community Food Supply and Environmental Justice” at the <a href="http://communitydesign.org/Annual_Conference.htm">Association for Community Design annual conference</a>. We’re here hosted by the Rochester <a href="http://www.rrcdc.org/">Regional Community Design Center</a>.

June 5 - Jess Zimbabwe

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> Once again, the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) delightfully surprises the design community with another major leap forward in making city streets a public realm for all users (I can’t tell you how odd it still feels to write that).  As if the impressive, incessant roll-out of bike lanes, successful implementation of the “Select Bus Service”, and the unprecedented changes to Times Square and its environs weren’t enough to pique the imaginations of New Yorkers used to streets built for cars, NYCDOT has just issued their “<a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/streetdesignmanual.shtml">2009 Street Design Manual</a>”.  Planners and Engineers, get ready for a thrill! </p>

June 3 - Ian Sacs

BLOG POST

<p> <span><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Calibri">Automobile industry subsidies are an inefficient way to support economic development. Even worse, policies intended to support automobile manufacturers and recover loans can be economically harmful.</span></span></span><span><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri"> </span></span> </p>

June 3 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman"> <p> I’ve read some airport-related planning literature about the interiors of airports and about their public transit connections. (For a good example of the latter, see <a href="/node/34842"><u><span style="color: #0000ff">http://www.planetizen.com/node/34842</span></u></a> ) But one other difference between airports relates to their exteriors: the difference between walkable airports and not-so-walkable airports. </p>

June 2 - Michael Lewyn

BLOG POST

<p> On my coveted “Bane of Americana” list just behind my cell phone company&#39;s automated customer support option to “Press &#39;3&#39; To Stay On Hold” (not kidding!), is the so-called “Passenger Pick-Up System” at airport terminals.  Instead of realizing a purported orderly and safe system, by forcing cars to circuit the entire loop road in an attempt to perfectly intercept with arriving passengers, airports are perpetuating a half-brained scheme reminiscent of Disney World&#39;s Mad Tea Party ride. </p> <p> <img src="/files/u20603/madteaparty.jpg" width="448" height="336" /> <br /> <strong>It&#39;s Always Six O&#39;Clock At Terminal Eight!  </strong> </p>

June 1 - Ian Sacs

FEATURE

Josh Stephens reviews two biographies of cities, <em>The Dallas Myth: The Making and Unmaking of An American City</em> and <em>Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Little City</em>.

June 1 - Josh Stephens

BLOG POST

<p> &nbsp; </p> <p> As James Howard Kunstler points out in <em>Home From Nowhere</em>, one of the tragedies of single-use zoning is that it branded shopping as an “obnoxious industrial activity that must be kept separate from houses”.  Ironically, the places where most Americans shop today come pretty close to “obnoxious” and “industrial”. 

May 30 - Diana DeRubertis

BLOG POST

<p> <br /> I had the opportuntity, at the 2009 national <a href="http://www.planning.org/nationalconference/">planning conference</a> in Minneapolis, to present (together with my colleague <a href="/blog/11">Christian Peralta Madera</a>) ten free web applications that can be used to support planning. <br /> <br /> Approximately 350 participants attended the session. Since the presentation, I&#39;ve received over 100 emails congratulating us on the practical nature of the presentation, and requesting links to the websites we presented. Since our presentation was a hands-on demonstration, this blog entry outlines the ten technologies, and provides links to examples of the technology in practice and resources so you can experiment with the technologies. <br />

May 27 - Chris Steins

BLOG POST

<p> A friend introduced me yesterday to rambunctious bicycling advocate Fred Oswald via a <a href="http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/05/_scott_shaw_the_plain.html">recent article</a> out of Cleveland’s press. Much debate swirls around his not-so-uncommon opinions. Mr. Oswald’s argument can be boiled down to two points: supporting a critical need for much more bicycling education on sharing public roadways with other vehicles, and fighting an industry-borne fallacy that breaking up streets with allocated spaces, such as bike lanes, is good for the biking community. The former is, of course, not contestable. We all agree that safety and training are absolutely critical to developing a strong and healthy bicycling community.

May 27 - Ian Sacs

BLOG POST

I’d been obsessed with it ever since I saw <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203632/"><em>The Princess and the Warrior</em></a>. (Between that and the funicular in <em><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085549/">Flashdance</a></em>, there is just something about bad-ass chicks that commute via unique transit.) So, when I found myself with an unexpected free morning in Essen, Germany, after especially cooperative weather for photographing the day before, I hopped on the S-Bahn towards Wuppertal to see the famed train.  <p class="MsoNormal"> <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3405/3506113776_77e7083411_d.jpg" width="500" height="375" /> </p>

May 26 - Jess Zimbabwe

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> For many students graduate school is the time to learn how to write professional reports and memos. One of the skills many planning students seem eager to master is writing the content-free document. This kind of writing is a little tricky to do. Accordingly, in this last blog in my series on planning skills I provide tips on how to create sentences, paragraphs, and whole reports and PowerPoint presentations that convey the absolute minimum of important information. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <em>Titles </em> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Titles should never reveal the actual content of the report. This is the guideline I find easiest to follow myself. </p>

May 26 - Ann Forsyth

BLOG POST

<p> This past week I had the pleasure and honor of participating in the <a href="http://americancity.org/vanguard09/">Next American City&#39;s Urban Vanguard</a> conference. Held in Washington DC, the event brought 35 young urban leaders together from a wide variety of backgrounds. The magazine--one of my favorites--did an outstanding job organizing and running the two-day blitz of tours, events, networking opportunities, and intimate conference sessions. In an effort to keep this brief, I have outlined three highlights from the second day of the conference.  </p>

May 25 - Mike Lydon

BLOG POST

<p> This extended holiday weekend is much anticipated personally because it signifies the return to a recreational activity that thrills me more so than any other.  By this time most years the weather has warmed up enough to prevent any further delay in getting my cheap, little sailboat ready “for the season”.  While there is very strong merit in, and a touch of <a href="/node/38336">previous discussion</a> on, the return to sailing vessels for the purposes of international commercial shipping, this Memorial Day weekend I rather turn to the merits sailing has as a sustainable, low-impact, and surprisingly cheap way of having fun and experiencing the splendor of nature first hand.  Won&#39;t you please take a few moments to consider how a traditional form of waterborne transportatio

May 25 - Ian Sacs

FEATURE

Last week, Mayor Bloomberg's office announced an initiative to encourage developers to include grocery stores in new projects. Nevin Cohen, whose research focuses on urban food system, reviews the plan.

May 25 - Nevin Cohen

BLOG POST

<p> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rlhZCdZl2is/ShGQfdtBmQI/AAAAAAAAKqo/5Zv7aHqBTYU/s1600-h/IMG_7662_2+copy.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"> <div style="text-align: center"> <img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_rlhZCdZl2is/ShGQfdtBmQI/AAAAAAAAKqo/5Zv7aHqBTYU/s400/IMG_7662_2+copy.jpg" /> </div> </a> </p> <p> See the building and the walls in the lower left?  They&#39;re designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.  They&#39;re part of the ensemble he designed at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).  Mies and his office designed this corner around the same time they were designing the masterpiece on campus - Crown Hall.   </p>

May 25 - Edward Lifson

FEATURE

The results are in! We asked for you ideas for reusing the empty car dealerships cropping up around the country. Urban gardens? Flying car launch pads? These ideas may seem far out, but the number one answer may surprise you.

May 21 - Nate Berg