Exclusives

BLOG POST

Railing About Rules

At the opening dinner of an international workshop on building a better national transportation policy, I found myself seated between Charlotte, North Carolina mayor Pat McCrory and Shirley DeLibero, a consultant who headed transit authorities in New Jersey and Houston, and was a deputy in both Dallas and Washington D.C. McCrory's a Republican, Charlotte's first six-term mayor, first elected mayor in 1995. While his city has grown 20 percent, McCrory's presided over a shift from an all-roads strategy to a hybrid model adding rail transit to heavily congested corridors radiated from the region's center. The first line, a south corridor, is scheduled to open this fall, supported by the half-cent sales tax passed in 1998 to build and operate a better transit system. Now in 2007, the mayor finds himself in a serious cross-fire as he ponders re-election prospects.

July 23 - Anonymous

BLOG POST

It's Summer, Inspire Me...

Most people use the Summer months to re-connect with pastimes forgotten during winter months. It is this time of the year that sales soar both at the box office and in bookstores. Most normal people I know take trashy novels with them to the beach or submerge themselves in an entire season of 24 (which thanks to Netflix can be accomplished in a few intense evenings). I tend to lean toward the other extreme (although I have indulged in bad TV from time to time). My wife calls me a design geek because my bedside table is always full of design magazines, books and theory.

July 23 - Scott Page

BLOG POST

Saving Ginormous Amounts of Energy

I couldn’t wait to use the new word, ginormous, which Merriam-Webster recently added to the Collegiate Dictionary. My spell checker has been trained and now I can get about the business of saving ginormous amounts of energy. Recent bouts of ecoterrorism in the form of Hummer vandalism in Washington D.C. and the growing media attention to the environmental hypocrisy of the travel and housing habits of card-carrying carbon footprint club members (take a gander at the 10,000 sq. ft. home of Al Gore or the 28,200 sq.

July 21 - Steven Polzin

BLOG POST

How Do You Like Your Public Space, Grilled Or Fried?

I am currently on charrette in Bryant, Arkansas. As a brief primer, Bryant is located approximatley 15 miles to the southwest of Little Rock and is currently the fastest growing city in the state. This is mostly due to a its proximity to major employment centers and its thriving LEED certified school system. Though I could regurgitate a slew of citizen comments regarding the city's lack of communal space and the recent impoverishiment of its public realm, the picture and brief explantation below says it all. <img src="/files/u405-Bryant-Chick-Fil-A.jpg" alt="Bryant Chik-Fil-A" title="Bryant Chik-Fil-A" width="303" height="201" align="middle" />Photo Courtesy of Matt Lambert

July 19 - Mike Lydon

BLOG POST

Europe's Glory, America's Opportunity

WROCLAW, Poland--I have been swanning about Eastern Europe for the better part of two months, wandering the streets of cities large and small, famous and obscure. As should be apparent to anyone short of Toby Keith or <a href="http://inhofe.senate.gov/" target="_blank" title="Charmingly conservative">James Inhofe</a>, even the most undistinguished European city could teach any American city a thing or two about charm, walkability, and gracious living.

July 17 - Josh Stephens

FEATURE

Book Review: Worthy Of The Nation

The second edition of this seminal historical planning study of Washington, D.C. offers readers an in-depth look at the city's birth and creation.

July 16 - Matthew B. Gilmore

BLOG POST

Car Kabob Kibosh

In the Chicago suburb of Berwyn, Illinois, an iconic piece of public art featuring a 40-foot spear stabbing through a pileup of eight cars will soon be replaced with a Walgreens pharmacy. <img src="/files/u5174/carkabob2.jpg" alt="The Spindle, Berwyn, Illinois (Source: www.berwyn-il.gov)" title="The Spindle, Berwyn, Illinois (Source: www.berwyn-il.gov)" width="133" height="167" align="middle" />

July 12 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

Where Are the Star Planners?

I recently discovered the Greek urban planner <a href="http://www.doxiadis.org/page/default.asp?la=1&id=10">Constantinos Doxiadis</a> (1913-1975) through a biographical sketch by Ray Bromley in a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0470851600/sr=8-2/qid=1184009865/ref=dp_proddesc_0/102-0473148-3796168?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books&qid=1184009865&sr=8-2">collection of essays</a>. An energetic polymath, Doxiadis launched his career overseeing postwar reconstruction in Greece after WWII. Through involvement in the United Nations he developed an extensive international network of contacts concerned with urban development.

July 9 - Robert Goodspeed

BLOG POST

Mixed Use A Mixed Bag

BELLAGIO – No, not that Vegas hotel, but the ancient village of Bellagio, Italy – on the gorgeous rocky shores of Lake Como, a deep water lake that winds around the Dolomites in northern Italy. Here to cover a month-long summit about 21st century urban futures, I rented an apartment and rather quickly woke up to realize that, after many years writing about the virtues of mixed-use urban centers, I had never actually known a single residential night in one. Lots of nights in big hotels of course, but that’s not really the same thing as living in a residential unit of a small building over retail shops and restaurants.

July 9 - Anonymous

BLOG POST

More Folks Work at Home and More Homes Where No One Works

I find it intriguing when I hear folks talk about how high energy prices will cause a tipping point and everyone will rush back into the city in order to afford to commute to work. If, or as, higher costs for energy begin to play a greater role in location choice it is as likely that they will force even more employers to move to the suburbs. In many urban areas we may be well past the point where fuel price pressures to minimize travel would result in land use changes that move population back to town.

July 8 - Steven Polzin

BLOG POST

Whatever happened to Integration?

This year in Parents Involved in Community Schools Inc. v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson County (Ky.) Board of Education the Supreme Court ruled that school districts could not assign students on the basis of race, even if the goal was to promote integration. To some this is the end of an era, with affirmative action and other diversity promoting programs in jeopardy as the court has now come full circle using the Brown decision to outlaw programs that promote integration. Most commentators on this ruling have highlighted the implications for school integration programs and even affirmative action more broadly. But the ruling also speaks to an issue pertinent to planners as well—racial segregation in American cities, and by racial segregation I am referring to the segregation of African Americans who are by far the most segregated group in America.

July 6 - Lance Freeman

BLOG POST

Truly Great Teachers: Remembering Peter Marris

As an educator who also enjoys practice, I periodically weigh up where my efforts are best spent. Is it making a difference via educating students in the classroom, and through my research and writing, as they use this knowledge in their work in the distant future? Or can I make a difference more directly though practice now? It is hard to know which path is best and the path of teaching is a riskier choice. Truly exceptional teachers and scholars, however, can make an enormous impact.

July 4 - Ann Forsyth

BLOG POST

Can Transit Link A Sprawling County?

I’ve confirmed that it is possible to take public transportation to the most suburban of suburban locations: the outlet mall.

July 3 - Diana DeRubertis

FEATURE

Straw Men In A Sprawl World

Smart growth isn't an attack on the middle class, and those who argue as such are simply misrepresenting facts to distract from the real issues that planners are trying to mitigate.

July 2 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

Taking The “Short View” On Shrinking Cities

I’m not basing this quick observation on any specific historical research or book, so bear with me. Cities grow and shrink; in effect they change rapidly (although sometimes it doesn’t seem rapidly enough and at other times all too rapidly). Where we operate in that continuum I think shapes much of how we see our role as professionals. Planning to address either shrinking cities or growing ones can seem, at times, like totally different professions. A colleague of mine remarked that planning for shrinking cities is definitely a niche market. With so much discussion surrounding growth and how we grow, there is much less dialog that defines the opposite. </sp

July 1 - Scott Page

BLOG POST

Why is Vancouver Such a Nice City?

Last week I was up in Vancouver participating in a "Roundtable" discussion focused on whether Vancouver's politicians should pass policies to "protect" commercial activity downtown from displacement caused by the red hot residential condo market. At this roundtable, I had the opportunity to meet Brent Toderian. He is the City of Vancouver's Director of Planning. I was very impressed with him. It now strikes me that "free market" enviro/urban economists (such as myself) and urban planners should talk more often. Permit me to generalize based on 2 data points!

June 30 - Matthew E. Kahn

BLOG POST

EcoDensity Transforming the Density Discussion – Part 1

By North-American standards, Vancouver is already a density-friendly city, relatively speaking. Although we've had our share of density related brawls and debates over the decades, by comparison to the wars fought in other cities, the "D-Word" gets a better reception here than in most places.

June 29 - Brent Toderian

BLOG POST

City of the Future: Houston?

Thanks to Planetizen, I found <a href="http://www.joelkotkin.com/Urban_Affairs/GHP101_Greater_Houston_5_22_07_1007am.pdf" target="_blank">“Opportunity Urbanism,”</a> a report that posits Houston as “an emerging paradigm for the 21st century.” (There's a related op-ed <a href="http://www.planetizen.com/node/25284" target="_blank">here</a>.) The report, regrettably, is a manifesto as empty as the title -- which Kotkin clearly hopes will become a catchphrase. So why is it important?

June 28 - James S. Russell

BLOG POST

No Freeways in Vancouver? Not Quite ...

<div>Let's begin by killing off one of the cherished half-truths about Vancouver.</div><div>Vancouver, it is said, is the only major city in North America without freeways.

June 26 - Gordon Price

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