Exclusives
FEATURE
Book Review - 'Imagined Cities'
BLOG POST
Low-Tech Communications
There's been an increasing number of urban projects breaking out the paint brushes as a low-cost means of improving cities. As stated by Jaime Lerner, former Mayor of Curitiba, for every zero that is removed from a city budget, the more creative solutions become. It seems these examples represent areas with extremely limited budgets. Object Orange is a public art project in Detroit that is calling attention to blighted structures through the use of bright orange paint. It seems their efforts have resulted in their desired outcome - increased demolition of unsafe structures.
BLOG POST
Mike Davis says something interesting
The always-rewarding <a href="http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2006/05/interview-with-mike-davis-part-1.html">Bldgblog</a> has a fun interview with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/102-2109421-3874529?search-alias=aps&keywords=Mike%20Davis">Mike Davis</a>, who wrote the iconic history of Los Angeles <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679738061/sr=8-3/qid=1148411041/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-2109421-3874529?%5Fencoding=UTF8"><em>City of Quartz</em></a>. Davis is flacking a new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1844670228/sr=8-1/qid=1148411041/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-2109421-3874529?%5Fencoding=UTF8"><em>Planet of Slums</em></a>
FEATURE
States Take Action To Protect Property Rights
Oregon's Measure 37 has inspired a national property rights movement to restrict local regulatory takings and dramatically reduce eminent domain powers, writes Leonard Gilroy, AICP, in this Op-Ed.
BLOG POST
DIY GPS
Next weekend -- that'd be May 6-7 -- a bunch of GPS geeks are going to map the entire Isle of Wight, off England. Not much on the Isle, apparently, but whatever's there is gonna get mapped. Says the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2006/05/gps-island.html"><em>New Scientist</em> blog</a>:<br /> <br /> <blockquote>These high-tech cartographers will drive, cycle and ramble all over the island, using their GPS receivers to record the co-ordinates of roads, natural landmarks and points of interest. They'll use this data to create a completely digital map which will be available online to anyone.</blockquote>
BLOG POST
The Google Flanuer
Building on the Google thread here started by Chris, this <a href="http://www.geotracing.com/">Geo-Tracing</a> site was brought to my attention that links google mapping with individually uploaded content. Its, as I see it, the next iteration of <a href="http://www.foundcity.net/">Found City </a>and other geo-tagging sites. Very interesting combination of technology to provide a sense of experience and place in cities that is often hard to capture on screen. As stated from the site:<br /> <br /> "The main concept is depicted above.
BLOG POST
Imagine a 3D Google Earth World
Chris' last posting is big news!<br /> <br /> Imagine a google earth world where millions of enthusiastic users build replicas of their homes and the stores/ buildings in their neighborhood and then they become veiwable by anybody else. Wiki style, people can work collaboratively to improve and constantly update buildings. What would normally cost billions of dollars for 3D design company to make available then become part of a 3D vitual town/yellow pages. And it would be built for free and rapidly.<br /> <br /> Like <a href="http://secondlife.com/whatis/">Second Life</a>
BLOG POST
(Google) Sketchup Now Free
<img src="http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/download?mid=f2991e0c12644c9ff87d99a411d2b1c5&rtyp=t" alt="USC Tower / 3-D Warehouse - Google SketchUp" align="right" /><a href="http://www.publish.com/">Publish</a> is <a href="http://www.publish.com/article2/0,1895,1954625,00.asp">reporting</a> that Google has released a free version of the popular 3-D drawing program, SketchUp, <a href="http://www.planetizen.com/tech/archives/2004/07/09/111/">reviewed so well</a> on TechTalk earlier by Ken (Snyder).
FEATURE
Remembering Jane Jacobs
BLOG POST
Touring the Infrastructure
Nice bit of writing on London's sewers starting up on <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2139945/entry/0/">Slate</a> today.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <blockquote>Down in the Fleet, Rob shines his helmet lamp on a pipe. It's encrusted with something. "Liquid concrete!" he says with disgust. "This is a throwaway society. Out of sight, out of mind." People will chuck anything, he says. Flushers—wastewater operatives got their name because they used to flush river water into the system to help it flow—have found gold, jewelry, even motorbikes. But mostly they find cotton buds, condoms, and fat.</blockquote>
FEATURE
What Is The New Suburbanism?
Joel Kotkin, author of the November 2005 report "The New Suburbanism", introduces the new planning theory, clarifies what it means, and describes how it remains very much a work in progress.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
