Exclusives
FEATURE
BRT: A Case of Mistaken Identity
BLOG POST
Booze It Up for Barry and Save the Capitol
When President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated on January 20, the city of Washington D.C. is likely to be the most lively, exciting and vibrant city in the world. Millions will be there. Hotels for miles around are booked full, couches across the city will be crashed upon, and many in the city are expecting the party to last for days. City officials are doing what they can to make sure the party does indeed happen.<br />
BLOG POST
Colossal Sprawl in Greater Toronto
<em> <p align="left"> "Why did nobody notice it? If these things were so large, how come everyone missed them?" - Queen Elizabeth, on the global credit crunch. </p> </em> <p align="left"> Things are so large in the Vaughan Corporate Centre, an edge city about 20 kilometres northwest of downtown Toronto, that a cross-section of Vancouver's downtown peninsula, from False Creek to Lost Lagoon, could fit within five of its blocks. </p> <p align="left"> There's a street named Colossus, leading to a cineplex of the same name. The overpass and ramps of the adjacent freeways take up an area the size of the West End. They in turn are surrounded by acres of emptiness, just grass and dirt, awaiting more big boxes, more asphalt. </p>
BLOG POST
What Canada's Political Drama Could Mean for Cities
<p> While Americans and Canadians alike watched the U.S. presidential race with growing enthusiasm and passion over the past two years, it may have slipped the notice of our American friends that we actually had a federal election here in October. </p> <p> It was a decidedly passionless affair: the <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canadavotes/story/2008/10/15/voter-turnout.html">lowest voter turnout in Canadian history</a> helped to ensure that almost nothing changed in Ottawa in terms of the balance of power. The Conservatives were returned with a minority mandate, and the once seemingly undefeatable <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/world/americas/21canada.html?n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/Canada">Liberals had their worst showing ever</a>. </p>
BLOG POST
Grad School: Like a Conference, but With Less Sex
<p> Most of the time it’s not that hard to kind of forget that I’m a grad student. It often feels like a long, ongoing conference, but without nametags: We hear speakers (sometimes known as professors), have long lunch breaks, do exercises, then retire to the bar at night to talk about all of it. </p> <p> More similarities: None of our classrooms would be mistaken for hotel conference centers, but a bunch of them <em>are</em> windowless and characterless. People are cordial, but also kind of angling for a job. Everybody’s friendly, and sometimes, people hook up. </p> <p> Then reality comes crashing down like a pile of books: oh yeah. Exams. We have to take those. </p>
BLOG POST
Smart Economic Stimulation
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">Economic stimulation is an important issue these days. Let’s be smart when choosing economic stimulation strategies. </span> </p>
BLOG POST
Skills in Planning: The Planning Portfolio
<p class="MsoNormal"> With the return to prominence of physical planning and increasing use of GIS, planning students are becoming interested in developing portfolios of their work. This blog entry provides tips for this process exploring why portfolios are useful, who they are aimed at, and how to design the portfolio. It provides many of the resources needed to design your own! </p>
BLOG POST
Thanksgiving
<p class="MsoNormal"> Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I would ask myself: what I am thankful for that is related to urbanism? </p>
FEATURE
Community-Based Progress in Post-Katrina New Orleans
The grieving period has ended, and now resilient New Orleaneans are taking it upon themselves to rebuild their beloved city. Though it's sure to be a slow process, this could very well be community organization at its best.
BLOG POST
Push Back in the Community Development Field
<p> Locality: "We have distressed neighborhoods" </p> <p> Conventional Thinking: "We have housing dollars" </p> <p> Locality: "But we have distressed neighborhoods" </p> <p> Conventional Thinking: "But we have housing dollars" </p> <p> Locality: "So?" </p> <p> Conventional Thinking: "You can run organizations with these dollars and keep at it forever" </p> <p> Locality: "So problems don't actually have to be solved?" </p> <p> Conventional Thinking: "Correct" <br /> </p>
FEATURE
Top 10 Books - 2009
Planetizen is pleased to release its eighth annual list of the ten best books in the planning field. With titles covering some of the most timely issues in planning, the list gives readers an overview of the best ideas and writing in the field.
FEATURE
Important Court Decision Restores Local Govt. Control on Zoning for Wireless
Robert E. Smith, AICP, explains the impact of recent court decisions on the ability of local governments to control the placement of wireless towers in their communities.
BLOG POST
Dance Your Plan
<p> Getting people to understand the intricacies of planning can be a challenge. The modern-day emphasis on public participation is an effort to get people involved, but it's frankly not too appealing for most people to attend public hearings about zoning amendments and setback changes. But those zoning amendments and setback changes could be pretty important. Planners need to try harder to connect with the people their work affects to explain its importance. It's time to break from convention. One possible way is dancing.<br />
BLOG POST
Why I fight
<p> Occasionally, someone familiar with my scholarship asks me: why do you care about walkability and sprawl and cities? Why is this cause more important to you than twenty other worthy causes you might be involved in? </p> <p> The answer: Freedom. I grew up in a part of Atlanta that, for a carless teenager, was essentially a minimum-security prison. There were no buses or sidewalks, as in many of Atlanta’s suburbs and pseudo-suburbs. But in my parents' non-neighborhood, unlike in most American suburbs, there were also no lawns to walk on, so if you wanted to walk, you had to walk in the street - not a particularly safe experience in 40 mph traffic. </p>
BLOG POST
Rethinking Transportation Safety
<blockquote> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">A paradigm shift is changing the way we think about transportation safety. In the past, traffic safety experts evaluated risk using distance-based units (traffic crashes and casualties per 100 million vehicle-miles or billion vehicle-kilometers), which ignores increases in vehicle traffic as a risk factor, and mobility management as a safety strategy. Yet, we now have overwhelming evidence that the amount people drive has a major impact on their chance of being injured or killed in a traffic accident. Here is a small portion of the evidence:</span> </p>
FEATURE
The Work of Community Development
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a plan to help the nation's hardest hit homeowners and neighborhoods. But by concentrating assistance in the most devastated areas, few places will be saved, writes Charles Buki.
BLOG POST
The Transportation Agenda of the Obama Administration
The election is behind us. A Democratic administration headed by President-elect Barack Obama and a heavily Democratic Congress will assume power next January. How will this influence the direction of federal surface transportation policy and programs? To gain some insight, we have solicited the views of a number of people, including some who are familiar with the thinking of President-elect Obama’s transition team. While the views expressed below are our own, they have been influenced by the observations and speculations expressed in these interviews. By common agreement, all conversations were held off the record and not for attribution in order to allow for the freest possible expression of views.<br /> <br />
FEATURE
The Obama Administration: An Opportunity to Rebuild and Renew America
Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon thinks that an Obama administration, working with Congress, could effect change and create a new vision to Rebuild and Renew America.
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.
