Exclusives
BLOG POST
A Manual For The Future
The Wacker’s Manual of the Plan of Chicago: Municipal Economy, first written in 1911 as a way to educate Chicago students about the City’s Plan of 1909, provides remarkable insight into America’s diminished socio-cultural ambitions.
BLOG POST
Is eminent domain necessary for revitalizing cities?
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Planners are split on eminent domain—one group believes it’s a critical component of planning since it allows them to implement plans more quickly. Others believe eminent domain does more to destroy urbanism than build it up. I’ve weighed in on it numerous times, including </font><a href="/node/150"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3" color="#800080">this commentary published by Planetizen</font></a><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">. </font></p>
FEATURE
Personal Rapid Transit: The Connective Tissue of Better Mobility
Two high-profile Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) systems are currently under construction, and their implementation could serve as a model for how cities can better connect their existing transit systems to improve mobility.
BLOG POST
Resolving to Graduate on Time: Troubleshooting Your Urban Planning Exit Project or Thesis
<p class="MsoNormal"> For students facing the end of their masters programs, an individual exit project, paper, or thesis is often part of the final semester. Over the years I’ve watched many very competent students struggle with this process and delay graduation for years because they could not complete their thesis or project “book”. Over the following months I am going to focus on the various parts of the process of writing these documents—from literature reviews and research questions to time management and creating informative illustrations. To help those currently near the end, in this entry I focus on key trouble spots for those a few months from graduation. </p>
FEATURE
Best of the Worst in Planning for 2007
Keeping track of the weird things that occur in the planning and government world – from rules prohibiting screaming on amusement park rides to “green” cremation techniques – isn't really necessary. But someone should do it anyway.
BLOG POST
Art, Agriculture, and Civic Identity Converge in the Great Plains
<p class="MsoNormal">MINNEAPOLIS--If not for the <a href="http://www.walkerart.org" target="_blank">Walker Art Center</a> I would have scant reason to spend extra time in Minneapolis.<span> </span>Minneapolis is not lacking for charm or culture, but it certainly falls in that middle range of American cities, somewhere between New York and nondescript, which is to say that it is not a destination in and of itself, yet it offers reasons to extend a stay for those who find themselves so far north for other reasons. </p>
BLOG POST
The Myth of the Urban Core
<p><font size="3"><u><span style="font-family: Arial">Question</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial">: What do Keybank Tower in Cleveland, the Kettering Tower in Dayton, and One Seagate in Toledo have in common? </span></font></p><p><font size="3"><u><span style="font-family: Arial">Answer</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial">: They are their respective city’s tallest buildings, and they were built <em>after</em> their city’s population peaked.</span></font></p>
BLOG POST
The Party Train
<p><img style="width: 200px; height: 150px; float: right" src="/files/u2/20071214-toy-train.jpg" alt="Toy train" title="Toy train" hspace="30" vspace="2" width="200" height="150" align="right" />Metrolink is Southern California's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrolink_%28Southern_California%29">regional rail</a> system linking several counties. The 15-year old system with 7 lines, 54 stations, and 388 route miles serves over 40,000 passengers in the Southland. <a href="http://www.metrolinktrains.com/about/">Metrolink</a> says its mission is "to provide the people of Southern California safe, reliable and environmentally friendly commute option." Sure, but can it also serve as an interesting venue to host a 4-year old's birthday party?</p> <p>One birthday boy in particular loves trains and is a fan of a popular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Tank_Engine_and_Friends">TV series</a> featuring trains. His mother told me that their family trips were often planned around using rail transit to get to destinations in Central and Southern California. So what better way to celebrate his birthday than to invite his friends -- accompanied by parents of course -- for a trip on a commuter train? Children that age are probably more used to birthday parties where they are entertained by clowns or magicians. Would these children, growing up in Southern California's car-centric culture be entertained at a party where the view through a train window was the main attraction? </p>
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 />
KFH Group Inc.
Greater Baltimore Committee
Eagle County Government
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
