Exclusives
BLOG POST
Airports as a Brake on Global City Growth
<p> It seems that global cities across the world are running up against an unforeseen brake on their future growth - airport and airspace congestion. </p>
FEATURE
Small Cities, Big Challenges
BLOG POST
Considering a Smart Growth President
<p>It's often said that in America, urban development issues are decided at the local level. In general the rule of thumb is accurate, explaining a country home to cities as different in form as Houston, Texas and San Francisco, California. The notable exception to the rule is the country's interstate highway system, build with extensive involvement of the federal government. However, under closer inspection we can find a number of areas where federal funding and policies has a strong impact on urban development. A survey of what the leading presidential candidates are saying about urban policy suggests what priorities our next president may have.</p>
BLOG POST
Smart Transport Emission Reductions
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Last week I attended the <a href="http://www.nrel.gov/analysis/news.html">NREL Energy Analysis Forum</a>, where leading North American energy analysts discussed current thinking concerning greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies, much of which involves emission cap and trade programs (as summarized in the report by Resources for the Future, "<a href="http://www.rff.org/rff/News/Releases/2007Releases/July2007ClimateChangeBillsinCongress.cfm">Key Congressional Climate Change Legislation Compared</a>"). Similarly, a recent report, "<a href="http://www.mckinsey.com/clientservice/ccsi/greenhousegas.asp">Reducing U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions: How Much At What Cost</a>" evaluates emission reduction strategies according to their cost effectiveness.
BLOG POST
Planning Schools: To Rank, Or Not To Rank?
<p>Professor Lance Freeman's <a href="/node/28749">recent post</a> about Planetizen's rankings of graduate planning programs does an excellent job of summarizing some of the thorniest problems with school rankings. The editors of Planetizen certainly agree with Professor Freeman when he states that rankings cannot accurately predict whether a particular program will provide a particular student with the type of education he or she would deem best. There are far too many individual factors involved, and any student who makes their decision primarily on the basis of such rankings would be doing themselves a great disservice. This point is also the reason why most of the 142 pages of the <a href="/guide">2007 Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs</a> consist of detailed profiles of programs -- not rankings.<br /><br />However, we continue to believe, as Professor Freeman also acknowledges, that rankings do provide a useful measure of comparison for students who are evaluating a graduate program of study in planning -- something that is likely to be the largest single investment in their educational career. Therefore, we are planning to publish a new edition of the Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs in the spring. In addition, we're working to improve our rankings process to help address some the concerns that Professor Freeman and others have raised.
BLOG POST
Vancouver's EcoDensity Initiative Takes Next Step
<p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial">In an earlier post, I wrote about how the EcoDensity Initiative here in Vancouver has been transforming the public dialogue about density<span style="color: blue"> ( <a href="/node/25399">http://www.planetizen.com/node/25399</a> ). </span>Since then, over autumn, the conversations have intensified, with Vancouverites from all perspectives weighing in. Just Google "ecodensity" for a flavour of what’s being written, in media, articles, and blogs, etc. The community is very aware and engaged in this important initiative, and that’s a great thing.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; color: blue"> </span> </p>
BLOG POST
What do Planning School Rankings Really Mean?
<p class="MsoNormal">Last Year Planetizen published their first Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs.<span> </span>The Guide includes basic information about the programs (location, specializations, faculty, etc) and an overall ranking of the schools and ranking by specialization.<span> </span>It is these rankings that are the source of much consternation within the planning academy.<span> </span></p>
BLOG POST
Developing A TND Ordinance
<p><em>When I opened my email this morning I was delighted to see that the City of Flagstaff unanimously approved a <a href="/www.smartcodecentral.com">SmartCode</a> based TND ordinance. The ordinance, created to make a recent <a href="/www.doverkohl.com">Dover Kohl</a> designed project called Juniper Point legal, allows a more compact, pedstrian friendly urban pattern to be established within the City. This is a crucial step in providing alternatives to business as usual sprawl development. Fortunately, more and more cities - From Jamestown, Rhode Island to Miami, Florida, to Montgomery, Alabama - are making smart growth a legal and easy choice. </em> </p>
BLOG POST
Finding Planning Scholarship for Free: Articles with Open Access or Partly-Open Access
<style> <!-- ul li {margin-bottom: 10px;} --> </style> <p>Online versions of journals have made quick inroads at universities. However, subscriptions are expensive and those outside universities seldom have access. A new generation of open access journals is making planning research accessible beyond the campus. </p> <p>Some examples illustrate the range of material now available. Some are fully accessible and some are partially open to non-subscribers:</p>
BLOG POST
Safety Through Singing Streets
A bit of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2209957,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=technology" target="_blank" title="Guardian: Japan's melody roads play music as you drive">bizarre news</a> caught my attention recently and it got me thinking. It was about these roads in Japan that had been designed to play music as cars drive over them. The engineers behind this idea cut thousands of grooves into the roadway, separated them by certain specific intervals, and then drove their cars. What resulted is a weird humming melody that reverberates in the cars as they drive. The video linked below showing the roads and their songs is awesome, but so much more could be done.<br />
BLOG POST
Beaten by an ugly stick?
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana">Journalists and bloggers love to argue over city rankings which tend to multiply faster than the tribbles on star trek.<span> </span>Which city is the friendliest?<span> </span>What cities have the nicest parks?<span> </span>What cities are the best places to live for mildly overweight divorcees between the ages of 32 and 34?<span> </span>The data is scrutinized and then how it was interpreted lambasted as ridiculous.<span> </span>And of course rankings are ridiculous.<span> </span>Cities are too complex to boil down to a few numbers.
BLOG POST
Planning the Long Tail
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">One of the more powerful concepts to come out of the information and services economy is the </font><a href="http://www.thelongtail.com/"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" color="#800080">Long Tail</font></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">.
FEATURE
The Need For Planning In An Aging Society
Community design, the availability of amenities, and ease of mobility have a tremendous impact on the aging population, but the 50+ community is often ignored when these elements are being planned.
BLOG POST
Designing the way to Sustainability
<p>Over the last few weeks, I have participated in two panels on Social and Environmental Sustainability. The first one was at the Ringling School of Art’s "Designing for Life" conference, the second was at BuildBoston where Adaptive Environments organized a day long symposium on Universal Design. In both cases, design took center stage. Design as a means towards change, and design as a business force. This is good news for advocates of Universal Design. </p>
BLOG POST
Smart Growth Safety Benefits
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Many families move to sprawled, automobile-dependent suburbs because they want a safe place to raise their children. They are mistaken. A smart growth community is actually a much safer and healthier place to live overall.</p>
BLOG POST
Libertarians v. Planners - Round II
<p>Last year California was one of the states targeted by libertarians in the post-Kelo environment for an initiative that, if successful, would essentially outlaw takings. The country is still at near-fever pitch about eminent domain, but the really scary aspect of the legislation (modeled on Oregon's Prop 37) was that it would have virtually tied local governments' hands with regard to regulatory takings as well. In California Proposition 90 failed to pass after the New York developer who was financing the campaign stopped funding it. However, the Yes campaign had created some strange bedfellows, with poor African-Americans in particular advocating Yes votes as a way to end the destruction of their neighborhoods through badly managed redevelopment initiatives.</p>
BLOG POST
A Planning Contrarian's Reading List
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Transcontinental flights are a great time to catch up on reading, and a recent flight from San Jose to Chicago inspired this blog post. As I was reading book #1 (below), I realized that a number books have been published recently that have important things to say about cities although they might be dismissed too easily as reactionary, ideological, or simply not relevant to urban planning. </font></p>
BLOG POST
What Happens When 250 Million Children Grow Up With Urban Planning?
<p><img src="/files/u4/xo.png" alt="XO-1 computer" title="XO-1 computer" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="252" height="242" align="right" />Here at Planetizen and Urban Insight, many of our efforts to serve the planning community take place on Windows and Mac computers that would, much like your own computers at your home and office (or even your sparkly new iPhone), dwarf even the most powerful machines of a generation ago. We use these computers to build websites, create maps, share data, <a href="http://www.urbaninsight.com/virtual/2ndlife0307.html">explore 3D environments</a>, design, organize databases, and lots of other tasks that can bring new worlds to life without shoveling an ounce of dirt.</p>
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
