Exclusives
FEATURE
Learning to Love Congestion
BLOG POST
What AASHTO, NACTO and other Acronyms Tell Us About the Future of Professional Guidance
<p> The recent release of the <a href="http://www.transportation.org/" target="_blank">American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’</a> (AASHTO) 2012 <a href="https://bookstore.transportation.org/collection_detail.aspx?ID=116" target="_blank">Update to the Guide for Development of Bicycle Facilities</a> sparked an interesting discussion on the <a href="http://www.apbp.org/default.asp?" target="_blank">Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professional</a>’s (APBP) email listserv. <br />
BLOG POST
Blessed Are The Hipsters, For They Shall Inherit The City
<p> How much is a hipster worth to a city? Is she worth more when she's building an app, or when she's writing a blog? Is a hipster with a walrus mustache and a mean whiffle ball pitch worth more than one who wears a sarong and practices aerial yoga? How many of them can dance on the pull tab of a PBR? <br />
BLOG POST
Land-Use Regulation, Income Inequality and Smart Growth
<p class="MsoNormal"> A recent paper by Harvard economists <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm">Daniel Shoag</span> and<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif"> </span></span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; padding: 0cm">Peter Ganong</span> titled, <span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2081216">Why Has Regional Convergence in the U.S. Stopped?</a></span> indicates that land development regulations tend to increase housing costs, which contributes to inequality by excluding lower-income households from more economically productive urban regions. Does this means that planners are guilty of increasing income inequality? </p>
BLOG POST
Powerful Place-Making Meets Cowboy Culture
<p> Returning home to Vancouver last week after taking in some of the 100th Anniversary world-famous Calgary Stampede, I find myself thinking about the relationship between city-defining events and place-making. I also couldn’t help remembering an unusual moment in my career that relates to the Stampede.<br /> <br /> In 2006 when I was 36, after 4 rounds of interviews, I found myself in a closed-door session with Vancouver's City Council. I was being recommended to Council to become the new Director of City Planning, replacing former Co-Directors Larry Beasley and Dr. Ann McAfee. Council was meeting me for the first time, before going in-camera to officially decide on my hiring.<br /> <br />
BLOG POST
Traffic deaths, safety and suburbia, Part 2
<p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'">A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post comparing the safety of inner suburbs and outer suburbs. (See <a href="/node/56468">http://www.planetizen.com/node/56468</a> )</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook'">My post showed that (in least in the metropolitan areas I looked at) inner suburbs were safer than outer suburbs, because violent deaths from murder and traffic combined were lower in the former.</span> </p>
BLOG POST
End of an Era for Planning Information in Canada?
Whenever we weed through the records of our personal past -- diaries, letters, drawings, school assignments from our youth -- we face difficult decisions over what to keep and what to discard. We are forced to come to terms with our documented past, and often recognize the power such records hold to both inspire – and embarrass. For individuals and governments alike, the decision over what to record, what to retain and what to communicate is a potent one, for it can either afford or constrain opportunities for actions in the future, as well as confirm or conflict with the image or myths we choose to tell about ourselves.
BLOG POST
The Precarious Nature of Guerilla Planning
How forlorn spaces might be developed as community resources that lend a sense of place, however fleeting, can be a precarious exploit.<br /> <br /> Convinced the real challenge in planning and design these dog days is placemaking, my convivial colleague Rhett Beavers and I have been exploring the potential of a variety of fringe and derelict sites under the banner of the Landscape Architecture program at UCLA Extension. With big and brutalistic no longer winning the hearts and minds of the discerning public, we are thinking small and green. <br />
BLOG POST
Breadth and Depth in Planning Education
A frequent query I receive from students is whether they should focus on gaining a broad understanding of many aspects of planning and places or if they should focus on one topic in depth. This is an important question.
BLOG POST
If I'm eating chowdah I must be in Boston
<p> <span style="white-space: pre" class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>One of the ways we identify places is by foods for which those places are known. Baltimore – crab. Maine – lobster. Cincinnati – chili. San Francisco – sourdough bread. Vienna – pastry. Even for a city to which you’ve never been, chances are that in your mind that city has some food association. </p>
FEATURE
What's to Become of Small Towns?
BLOG POST
The Ecological Value of Lawns
I appreciate natural environments. I have always enjoyed walking in wilderness and cycling on rural roads, and I understand the ecological value provided by undeveloped lands, which include clean water, air and wildlife habitat. I also enjoy local fresh vegetables and fruits and so appreciate the value of preserving regional farmlands. Planners call these "greenspace," or more generally "openspace" since some, such as deserts and waterways, are open but not necessarily green.
BLOG POST
Nothing really pays for itself (except maybe toll roads)
<p> Arguments over transportation policy often run as follows: </p> <p> HIGHWAY SUPPORTER: Highways pay for themselves! Buses/trains don't! So highways good and everything else bad bad bad! </p> <p> TRANSIT SUPPORTER: But highways create bad externalities like pollution and climate change! So if highways were taxed at their true cost gas would cost a zillion billion cajillion dollars per gallon! (followed by numerous counterarguments and counter-counterarguments that I won't bore you with, except as written below...) </p> <p> It seems to me that these arguments miss one point: even if the highway system as a whole pays for itself, the system is so chock full of cross-subsidies that each individual road doesn't (except for toll roads). </p>
BLOG POST
A Tree Grows in Pigeon Town
I don’t know what it is about New Orleans that makes me wax rhapsodic. But something about the city makes everyday life look poetic. I returned to the Crescent City last week after having last visited just seven months ago, when a tree planting
BLOG POST
From On High, Chelsea Looks Much Different. But, is it for the Better?
<p> The High Line curving through the west Chelsea section of Manhattan bordering the Hudson River has to be one of the most successful planning and design stories in New York City in recent years, touted as a crowning achievement of the reign of Mayor Bloomberg, to be emulated in cities across the country. </p> <p> Testimonials and awards not withstanding, I am wary of the cloying elitism of a crowing Bloomberg. Having followed the project’s promotions for the last decade and the community’s evolution for the last half century, I am skeptical of its heralded success. And with the recent sounding of related development controversies, a second opinion is in order. </p>
BLOG POST
APA Poll Calls for Major Shift in Planning Profession
This week the American Planning Association proudly released the results of a recent poll entitled <a href=http://www.planning.org/policy/economicrecovery/>Planning in America: Perceptions and Priorities</a>, which it commissioned indicating that Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of community planning. Given the state of national politics, it's no wonder that Americans are reserving their passions for local issues. Boss Tweed and Mayor Quimby are looking like angels by comparison. Some of the results are beyond obvious -- such as the fact that 77% of Americans "agree that communities that plan for the future are stronger" -- while others could, if heeded, foretell profound changes for the profession.
BLOG POST
Center for Neighborhood Technology Responds to Criticism
<p> <em>Editor's Note: A <a href="/node/56493" target="_blank">recent Planetizen blog post</a> by the University of South Florida’s Steven Polzin voiced several criticisms about the Housing + Transportation (H+T®) Affordability Index, created by the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT). We have provided a venue for Scott Bernstein, founder and president of CNT, to respond below.</em> </p> <p align="center"> <u>CNT’s H+T Index Fills Gaps in Data that Others Don’t Provide</u> </p>
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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