Exclusives

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> I often hear debates over the costs of different modes of transportation, particularly between driving and public transit travel. Rising fuel prices have made public transit more attractive for some trips, boosting ridership, but critics point out that for most trips, transit fares are still comparable with fuel costs (for example, at $4 a gallon, fuel costs about $2 for a typical 10-mile trip, comparable to a bus fare in a typical city), and generally take longer. It is therefore legitimate to ask whether public transit really saves money. </p>

September 15 - Todd Litman

FEATURE

Chuck Donley argues that planners should get over their fear of being pigeonholed as "the technically-savvy" one in the office and learn to embrace new graphics technologies like Google Earth.

September 15 - Chuck Donley

BLOG POST

<p> The battle for the White House has reached my inbox, as even listservs about urbanism crackle with endorsements and denunciations of Obama, McCain, Palin, etc. <br /> <br /> But all of this frenzied activity assumes that what a President says or thinks is particularly relevant to urban issues.  But this need not be so.  The policy areas most relevant to sprawl and urbanism, land use and transportation, are not likely to be directly affected by the results of the presidential election.  <br /> <br /> In particular, zoning and similar land use issues are generally addressed by state and local governments.  Even the most pro-urban president is unlikely to take on anti-infill NIMBYism (1), make strip malls more walkable. or make streets narrower.  <br />

September 15 - Michael Lewyn

BLOG POST

<p> Earlier this month, researchers performed a test run of a bus that basically drives itself. It follows a line of magnets embedded in the pavement, coursing exactly along its route and eventually to the bus stop. The tiny magnets on the bus and in the street guide the bus to the perfect parking position at the stop for picking up passengers. It&#39;s a cool idea, and a lot of transit agencies are interested. But there are wider applications. Take, for example, my neighborhood, where nobody knows how to park.<br />

September 14 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

As the summer winds down, here are a list of the five funniest urban planning videos I&#39;ve found on YouTube over the years, covering news for Planetizen.

September 13 - Chris Steins

BLOG POST

<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"> This week will be my first full week of classes at MIT; however, I have actually been here for three.<span>  </span>I arrived into Cambridge at the end of August to attend the weeklong department orientation, which was as orientations are – full of very important yet-easy-to-forget information.<span> </span>Alone, the pressure of learning nearly 65 names can induce periodic episodes of amnesia.<span>  </span> </p>

September 11 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> Deindustrialization has wreaked havoc across many American cities and towns.<span> </span>One only need visit the landscape of the rust belt, places like Buffalo, Detroit or Flint, Michigan to get a sense how damaging this transformation can be.<span> </span>Behind the ugly ruins of abandoned factories and shuttered stores are the lives of real people who have suffered.<span> </span>Manufacturing provided jobs, good paying ones at that, that helped create a blue collar middle class. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> &nbsp; </p>

September 10 - Lance Freeman

BLOG POST

<p style="text-align: justify" class="MsoNormal"> <span><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--></span> </p> <p style="text-align: justify" class="MsoNormal"> <span><!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]--></span> </p> <p class="MsoBodyText"> <span>Blogs are emerging as important information sources in the contemporary discourse on cities and city planning. <br /> </span> </p>

September 9 - Michael Dudley

FEATURE

Leonardo Vázquez, AICP/PP, applauds recent changes to the AICP Certification Maintenance Program that reduce costs and improve access.

September 8 - Leonardo Vazquez, AICP/PP

BLOG POST

Decades after its founding, New Urbanism design movement retains a serious reputation problems among American urbanists.

September 7 - Robert Goodspeed

BLOG POST

<p> I used to have interns. Probably hundreds of them, if you add them up over the years. I lorded over them all—benevolently, of course—while they, with doe eyes and studied eagerness, did whatever they could to impress me and my colleagues. </p> <p> Then this week, at orientation for the University of Pennsylvania’s master of city planning program, I sat in the crowd, one face out of about 70. A plebe once again. </p> <p> Talk about humbling. </p>

September 5 - Jeffrey Barg

BLOG POST

I clearly remember the day that I received a call from MIT faculty notifying me of my acceptance into the Master of City Planning (MCP) program.  I could not believe that a department within the illustrious MIT (and I do not say that facetiously), the epitomic bastion of computer geeks, rocket scientists and the like selected me for its MCP program.  Moreover, the path that led me to that moment was somewhat accidental. My interest in urban planning, though earnest and fervent today, was not grounded in even the slightest exposure to urban planning or urban design in my pre-MIT life.  <br />

September 4 - Tamika Camille Gauvin

FEATURE

Human behavior and land use affect air quality, and those effects are very distinct at the local level. A new environmental game fusing public participation, air quality sensors and web technology shows how.

September 4 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

<p> Despite the rising costs of belonging to the jet set, I took my share of flights for a few business trips and boondoggles this summer. Though most of my plane tickets were paid for, my transportation to and from my respective airports were not. Like any good urbanist, I approached each airport as a challenge to see how cheaply and quickly I could get from the airport to my in-town destination. <br /> <br /> These were challenges that I -- or, rather, the cities -- failed more often than they passed. <br />

September 2 - Josh Stephens

FEATURE

Pineville, North Carolina was expanding rapidly and at risk of losing its identity. To preserve the town's character, planners put their faith in the common brick. City planning officials Kevin Icard and Travis Morgan bring us the story.

September 1 - Kevin Icard

BLOG POST

<p> Just spent 4 action-packed days (have <span style="font-style: italic" class="Apple-style-span">yo</span><span style="font-style: italic" class="Apple-style-span">u</span> ever tried to keep up with Dan Burden?) touring the Pacific Northwest with Dan, Paul Zykofsky, a very patient charter bus driver, and 40 +/- townmaking fanatics. Our assemblage came from as far away as New Zealand and Taiwan, from small towns and large cities, and from disciplines including planning, engineering, transportation, software design, elected officials, public health, bike advocates, and lots more. We toured communities in Washington state and in British Columbia, meeting local luminaries along the way. </p>

August 31 - Lisa Feldstein

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> At the beginning of semester students are signing up for classes and planning their degrees. Lately, a question I have been asked quite frequently is which classes will make new planners most employable? Students ask if computer aided design or GIS will be key. However, surveys of planning practitioners show that a far more basic set of skills is important—skills in communication, information analysis and synthesis, political savvy, and basic workplace competencies and attitudes. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> Below, I highlight three of these studies from across three decades: </p>

August 31 - Ann Forsyth

BLOG POST

<p> Smart growth supporters tend to prefer grid systems to cul-de-sacs, for excellent reasons. A proliferation of cul-de-sacs artificially lengthens walking distances: if streets don’t connect to each other, you might have to walk a mile to go just a few hundred feet. In addition, cul-de-sacs increase traffic congestion by dumping most vehicular traffic on a few major streets. And because biking is less safe on busy, high-traffic streets, bikers benefit from a grid system as well. </p>

August 28 - Michael Lewyn

BLOG POST

<p> A couple months ago, we posted an announcement seeking student bloggers for the 2008-2009 school year. We received a pile of great applications, but two new students stood out. Each week, they will bring you reports from their master&#39;s programs at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachussetts Institute of Technology. </p> <p> <img src="/files/u20704/Tamika.jpg" width="179" height="183" align="left" /><img src="/files/u20704/JBArg.jpg" width="167" height="183" /> </p> <p> <em>Tamika Camille Gauvin                      Jeffrey Barg<br /> </em> </p>

August 27 - Tim Halbur

BLOG POST

<p> This year, the future of public-private partnerships is expected to receive heightened attention amid speculations that Congress may attempt to assert oversight over public-private partnerships and place conditions on private toll road concession agreements as part of next year&#39;s transportation program reauthorization. Some interest groups, notably the trucking industry and public employe labor unions, are expected to vigorously support efforts to regulate PPPs at the federal level. Meanwhile, PPP proponents believe that the case for greater private sector involvement in infrastructure funding has never been stronger. They want to see this involvement mature free of congressional oversight or federal regulatory controls.

August 27 - Kenneth Orski