Exclusives

BLOG POST

Laneway Housing moves forward in Vancouver

When Vancouver City Council approved the new EcoDensity Charter and Initial Actions earlier this year, among these was a prioritized action to further develop the idea of laneway housing. The issues and options report relating to this work program is now available for downloading from the <a href="http://www.vancouver-ecodensity.ca/content.php?id=42" title="EcoDensity">EcoDensity website</a>.

October 28 - Brent Toderian

BLOG POST

The Global Transit Space Race: China's $272 Billion Advantage

This morning I was reading through my daily dose of planning related blogs and dropped in on <a href="http://theoverheadwire.blogspot.com/">The Overhead Wire</a>, Jeff Wood's excellent transit soapbox. One of Jeff's most recent posts links to an October 25th <a href="http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24551437-38197,00.html">Reuters article</a> announcing China's $272 billion dollar investment in new rail infrastructure. Yes, you read that correctly. 272 billion. Can't you see president <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu_Jintao">Hu Jintao</a> bringing his pinky to his lips, à la Dr. Evil?

October 28 - Mike Lydon

BLOG POST

DIYcity.org - Leveraging Web 2.0 for Smarter Cities

Here in New York City, there is an incredibly popular burger stand in Madison Square Park called The Shake Shack. It's one of the touchpoints for Silicon Alley, and a great meet-up spot. The problem is that its usually insanely crowded, with an hour-long line stretching well across the park.Not to be defeated, Silicon Alley geeks created the Shake Shack Twitter Bot, which serves as a sort of chat room for people to report wait times at the Shake Shack. It's a few dozen lines of code that leverages Web 2.0 technology to make the city smarter, more efficient, and more fun.

October 28 - Anthony Townsend

FEATURE

Stop Development, Stop Traffic?

October 27 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

Business Not As Usual

Out in the bar, the world as we know it was coming to an end. In the backroom, meanwhile, smart people were trying to figure out the future of suburbia. The bar was in the lobby of a classic desert resort in Arizona. On the TV, CNN was delivering headlines of imminent doom. It was the last days of September, and the foundations of American finance were cracking under the strains of default and distrust.

October 26 - Gordon Price

BLOG POST

Energy Crisis Solved

Technology innovation – that’s all we need to solve the energy crisis! Unleash American ingenuity and we’ll be able to cope with higher energy costs. The Windmillmobile, should go a long way toward reducing petroleum consumption. It seems to work fine unless there is a strong tailwind. The engineers are still working on the sensor to fold down the windmill for garages and overpasses.

October 24 - Steven Polzin

BLOG POST

YouTube For Your Data: Many Eyes on Obama & McCain

<img src="/files/u2/20080827-clip.png" align="right" />Is it possible to condense two weeks of soaring rhetoric by politicians into a single graphic? Let's find out. In my last post I covered free online tools for <a href="/node/34623">creating information graphics</a>. Here is a look at another free online tool that can be used to easily create sophisticated visualizations and information graphics.

October 23 - Abhijeet Chavan

BLOG POST

'Death Wish' and the Life of Great American Cities

City streets need only few things to make them safe, according to the famous urbanist Jane Jacobs. She says safe streets need people walking around, places for them to go, things for them to do and other people for them to interact with. Simple as that. But Jane forgot one more thing: a sock full of quarters.

October 23 - Nate Berg

FEATURE

Curing Urbanitis – the Metropolitan Disease

The problems of today's inner cities and the problems of the suburbs are inextricably linked, says William E. Finley, author of Curing Urbanitis.

October 23 - William E. Finley

BLOG POST

Is the bad economy good for cities?

A few days ago, someone asked a question on one of my listservs about the likely impact of America’s economic crises upon urbanism. The best answer is: it depends.

October 22 - Michael Lewyn

FEATURE

When Financial Bridges Fail

Martin H. Krieger compares the lack of oversight involved in today's financial crisis with the transparency and responsibility involved in making bridges.

October 20 - Martin H. Krieger

BLOG POST

Crises Come And Go, But Smart Policies Live on

A recent report that I coauthored, "<a href="http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/research/reports/357.pdf">Managing Transport Challenges When Oil Prices Rise</a>" provides practical policy guidance on how to manage the risks of rising oil prices by increasing transport system efficiency. People with short attention spans might think that this report is already outdated, since global financial uncertainty has replaced rising fuel prices as the crisis-of-the-month. Leading businesses are bankrupt, employees are frightened, consumers are cautious, and fuel prices plummeting.

October 17 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

A Vote for the City

The answer is: “Because people today would rather not work and instead just sit at home collecting welfare checks.” And the question? If you guessed, “What should you not say in a room full of city planning students?”, congratulations! You win. We would have also accepted, “FDR began a ton of new federal programs during the New Deal. As long as we have a $700 billion financial bailout, what programs would you enact or not enact as part of a New Deal today?” Thanks for playing. We have some lovely parting gifts for you.

October 16 - Jeffrey Barg

FEATURE

News Summary: Cities and the Financial Crisis

How is the financial crisis impacting urban planning and land use policy? Managing Editor Tim Halbur takes a look at some early indicators drawn from recent news headlines and conversations with planning professionals.

October 15 - Tim Halbur

BLOG POST

Fear and Housing on the Campaign Trail, 2008

James Howard Kunstler <a href="http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/">has been saying for some time now</a> that when our "ponzi scheme" economy finally crumbles around us, people are going to be very angry, and looking for someone to blame.

October 14 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

Urban Renewal: Tragedies and Ironies Yesterday and Today

One of the most interesting things that I have learned in school thus far is the history of the urban renewal program. As a budding urban planner, I have often used the term “urban renewal” interchangeably with “urban revitalization” to describe the process of neighborhood improvement via economic and housing development. Regardless of the term I used, I was very clear that revitalization – or renewal – was a catch-22. The implementation of business and housing developments would jumpstart a neighborhood deemed blighted and consequently, only affluent residents could afford to enjoy the amenities of the revitalized neighborhood.

October 13 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

BLOG POST

Of Songs And Cities: Listening To NYC's Columbus Park

Jane Jacobs once said, “Songs and cities are the best things about us. Songs and cities are so indispensable.” For a long time I thought Mother Jacobs was speaking, as only she could, about two separate, but vital human necessities. Yet after another weekend exploring New York City, I am convinced the two—songs and cities—are inextricably linked. That is, truly great cities play their own songs, and after one listen you can’t get them out of your head.

October 13 - Mike Lydon

FEATURE

Economic Thinking is Job Number One

In the midst of this financial crisis, it is doubly important to understand the economic perspective on urban planning and real estate development, argues USC Professor Peter Gordon.

October 13 - Peter Gordon

BLOG POST

Thinking Beyond the Gas Tax

<div> "We must respond to the reality that the gas tax, the traditional source of revenue for transportation investments at both the state and federal level, is not expected to keep pace with transportation needs in the future." With these words, New York Transportation Commissioner Astrid C. Glynn welcomed participants to a New York State DOT-sponsored symposium, "Beyond the Gas Tax: Funding Future Transportation Needs." The event, organized by Prof. Robert (Buz) Paaswell, Director of the University Transportation Research Center at City College of New York, drew some 200 participants to Syracuse N.Y. on October 7. Emil Frankel, former Assistant Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation and currently head of the National Transportation Policy Project at the Bipartisan Policy Center, gave the keynote address. He was followed by a group of national and state speakers who examined the status of state and federal transportation finances and explored the funding options for the future.

October 12 - Kenneth Orski

BLOG POST

Malls needn't wait for failure, to Re-Urbanize

One of Vancouver's most recent significant planning exercises is noteworthy not simply because of the merits of its process or its resulting planning and design vision, but perhaps more so because of the new model it may represent to North American mall owners. But I'll come back to that.

October 9 - Brent Toderian