Exclusives

FEATURE

Bicycles on the Verge of Extinction in Bangalore

February 25 - Sudhir

BLOG POST

An Algorithmic Antidote To Sprawl

How could a new chamber of commerce algorithm drive decisions about employer locations, improve mobility of workers, while reducing pollution accruing from longer daily work trips? The answer is simple, says the chief economist of the Greater Dallas Chamber, Lyssa Jenkens, “You change the data system to deliver information people never got before.”

February 20 - Anonymous

FEATURE

Suburbia: The Natural Evolution of Development?

Is suburban growth really a product of the natural progression of human development, and if not, could a a different growth pattern better meet our desires and reduce our impact the climate?

February 19 - Ashwani Vasisth

BLOG POST

Smart Growth at the Grassroots, Part 2

Rethinking College Park <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rethinkcollegepark/389600607/" title="Route 1 by RethinkCollegePark, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/144/389600607_46aace7f11_m.jpg" alt="Route 1" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="240" height="180" align="right" /></a>Is College Park, Maryland a great college town? Although the town is home to a top-ranked national research university that is one of the largest employers in the state of Maryland, the town pales in comparison with the nation's best-liked college towns, whether Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ithaca, New York, or Charlottesville, Virginia. In this post I describe <a href="http://rethinkcollegepark.net/blog/">one attempt</a> to use the internet to improve an aspiring college town.

February 14 - Robert Goodspeed

BLOG POST

21 'Strange' Maps

<img src="/files/u2/20080211_1.jpg" alt=" " title=" " width="234" height="112" align="right" />The Strange Maps blog is an eclectic collection of maps, diagrams, and cartoons. Some graphics featured on this blog are informative, some are creative, and others are completely bizarre.The website is maintained by an anonymous blogger. The posted graphic is often accompanied by informative notes. Here is a list of 21 maps that I found interesting:

February 11 - Abhijeet Chavan

FEATURE

The City as Factory

February 11 - Josh Stephens

BLOG POST

A Practical Need for Utopianism

Who doesn’t love the Apocalypse? Society collapses, people run around in chaos, and we try to imitate the survival strategies culled from too many Hollywood end-of-the world blockbusters. Apocalyptic predictions have always been part of American culture, and why not?

February 6 - Greg Smithsimon

BLOG POST

Singing the City Sterile: Urbanism and New Wave

I've always hated songs about cities, particularly mawkish anthems like "New York, New York," "I Left My Heart in San Francisco," and the ghastly "I Love L.A." Lyricists seem to dream them up when there's nothing else to sing about. Indeed, cities are the setting for life, not the object of it. Singing about them is like performing a play about a theater.

February 2 - Josh Stephens

FEATURE

Debating Detroit’s Redevelopment

January 31 - Joseph Cialdella

BLOG POST

Getting Started on an Exit Project or Thesis in Planning

My December <a href="/node/29121" target="_blank">blog</a> dealt with key problems faced by those heading for an end-of-school-year graduation—completing a proposal, choosing methods, starting to write, and dealing with formatting. This month I step back and ask some bigger questions: what kind of exit paper or project you should prepare, why, and when?

January 30 - Ann Forsyth

BLOG POST

Tax and Burn Environmentalism

We’re recognizing the scale of the global warming crisis just as there’s a parallel crisis of imagination about how to address environmental problems. Because of years of conservatives’ claims that government doesn’t work, and that the only option is to privatize and deregulate, we’re left believing that we can’t take decisive action in the public interest. We think we can do no more than charge a fee while allowing the smokestacks to keep belching. Call it tax-and-burn environmentalism: Rather than eliminating dangerous practices, tax-and-burn introduces taxes and leaves practices unreformed. Ironically, tax-and-burn often makes things easier for polluters.

January 30 - Greg Smithsimon

BLOG POST

The Art and Science of Planning

As technology becomes more an integral part of planning and public outreach around planning, the need for a “creative touch” becomes increasingly important. While technology can increase the quality and quantity of public input, it can also diminish the quality of human interaction and creativeness. As we look for technologies that engage citizens, we also need to find ways to utilize art materials, maps and other visuals, and encourage storytelling.

January 27 - Ken Snyder

BLOG POST

Does Vancouver need (or want) Iconic Architecture?

Like many world cities, Vancouver has a growing discussion on the issue of "iconic" architecture, one that I've been a part of and encouraging. This despite the fact that, like many urbanists, the word iconic actually makes me nervous.

January 21 - Brent Toderian

FEATURE

Not Your Typical Redevelopment Board

With little else to do, teenagers in the rural Indiana town of San Pierre have found a new place to hang out: community meetings. But they're not just hanging out, they are actively participating in the planning and revitalization of their community.

January 21 - Therese Schmidt

BLOG POST

What Balls!

The other day, half a million plastic balls bounced down the Spanish Steps, one of Rome's most visited and historic public places. Many visitors, picture-takers and members of the media were caused to wonder 'what's up with all these balls?'

January 18 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

Smart Growth and Sustainability Should Focus on Climate Change More Than Immigration

This evening my wife, Beth Conover, will appear on a televised panel discussion on "Immigration and Sustainability" aired on Rocky Mountain PBS's <a href="http://www.rmpbs.org/content/index.cfm/show/199305" title="Rocky Mountain PBS Colorado State of Mind">Colorado State of Mind</a>, hosted by Greg Dobbs. The panel includes former Gov. Dick Lamm, former Post columnist Diane Carman, and State Rep. Michael Garcia (D-Aurora). An mp3 of the program is already available at the following <a href="http://www.rmpbs.org/resources/files/programs/local_productions/csom/csom603.mp3" title="MP3 of 7-18-07 Colorado State of Mind PBS Show">link</a>.

January 17 - Ken Snyder

BLOG POST

Smart Growth at the Grassroots, Part 1

Matching Obstacles and Techniques (Part one of two) Creating Smart Growth in our metropolitan areas is generally more complex than conventional auto-oriented development, more expensive, and requires more public involvement and coordination. The strong policies and regional cooperation planners desire to coordinate development have proven politically challenging. Unless planners are able to create systems that overcome these obstacles our efforts to encourage Smart Growth will be stymied. Luckily solutions are available, but they must be as nimble and resourceful as the forces they hope to counter.

January 15 - Robert Goodspeed

BLOG POST

A Billion Reasons to Take Biking Seriously

Sometime in the last year – when the smart people in North America weren't looking – bike-sharing turned into a billion-dollar industry. I may be exaggerating when I say “industry.” But not “billion.”

January 14 - Gordon Price

FEATURE

Planners Need To Work With Difference

There are many voices in the process of community planning. To create effective plans, planners need to welcome these many voices and their respective differences, not suppress them into consensus.

January 14 - Lewis D. Hopkins, Marisa A. Zapata

BLOG POST

Undressing the naked city

Often times I’m struck by the advances we’ve made in mapping, modeling and depicting our cities. What was once the purview of mapmakers, surveyors or architects is now a democratized, engaging process that brings unexpected results. And the more advanced the technology, the more transparent our cities seem to become.

January 11 - Scott Page