Infrastructure
A new study of transit-oriented growth in America's most transit-served cities reveals that Chicago lags way behind its peers. The area's enduring pattern of sprawling development is blamed.
Better! Cities & Towns
Brian Merchant explores the fascinating history of the California Cycleway, a dedicated bicycling superhighway that was partially constructed beginning in 1897 between Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles.
Motherboard
Eric Jaffe traces the uneven history of private sector involvement in road construction and management. The involvement of public-private partnerships will likely continue to grow, despite the potential pitfalls.
The Atlantic Cities
Ben Poston investigates Los Angeles's "60-year backlog of failed streets." A strategy designed to pave over the disparities between council districts means that the most damaged of the city's 6,500 miles of paved roadway get fixed last.
Los Angeles Times
Before there were Safeways and Sam's Clubs, public markets served as the cultural and culinary anchors of towns across the United States. Many were also fine pieces of architecture. David K. O’Neil looks at 10 of the best that have been lost to time.
PPS Placemaking Blog
The infrastructure necessary to keep a city's systems running can frankly get kind of ugly. See what some cities have done to help disguise unsightly infrastructure.
WebUrbanist
Bacterial manufacturing, bio-electric envelopes, robotic swarm construction, biosynthetic design patterns; Chris Arkenberg sketches the future of city design and construction in which "the barriers between biology and technology will start to fall."
Fast Company Co.Exist
Paris's Boulevard Peripherique is one of the most clogged roadways in Europe, it delivers dangerous pollution to 100,000 people in its vicinity, and this year it turned 40. Lara Marlowe looks at the future for one of Paris's little loved landscapes.
The Irish Times
Patrick J. Kiger looks at the global trends that will impact urban landscapes over the next 50 years and explores two competing visions for the future of land use.
Urban Land
As cash strapped communities look to maximize their return on investment, a potent argument can be made for leveraging significant investments already made in a city's legacy assets to drive economic development.
philly.com
Yonah Freemark writes about the expiration of the nation's five-year rail investment program that funds the FRA, Amtrak, and freight rail - separate from MAP 21, and suggests that without a new funding source, don't expect to see any increases.
the transport politic
Just as the power industry turned toward lower priced natural gas and away from dirtier coal, there are signs that trucks and trains are looking to lower priced liquefied natural gas (LNG) to replace diesel-powered vehicles, but there are challenges.
The New York Times - Energy & Environment
Michael Kimmelman examines the race to rebuild and redefine post-revolutionary Cairo, where residents are recreating the city and civic society, and reclaiming public spaces, from the bottom-up.
The New York Times
How did childhood visions of future cities differ for kids growing up in the 1980s when compared to the 1960s or today? Matt Novak shares a short film from 1983 that captures the prescient urban visions of students.
Smithsonian
From traditional stormwater management to storm surge abatement and conserving drinking water and watersheds, green infrastructure improves our cities, explains Adrian Benepe of the Trust for Public Land.
Sustainable Cities Collective
A group of America's leading corporations, health care providers, and government officials are preparing to launch a national walking movement this fall. "If walking was a pill or surgical procedure, it would be on 60 Minutes,” says Dr. Bob Sallis.
Citiwire.net
The world's increasing water crises demand a new approach to managing the urban water cycle. Water sensitive urban design seeks to integrate water into urban environments, rather than isolating it, to create more livable cities.
The Guardian
With a burgeoning bike culture that saw the fastest rise in bike commuting in America from 2000-2009, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has recognized the potential in this grassroots growth by announcing the goal of being a top-ten cycling city by 2016.
WNYC: Transportation Nation
Justin Gerdes discusses the variety of tactics the city of Copenhagen is utilizing in its march to become the world's first carbon-neutral capital by 2025.
The Guardian
While a massive redevelopment project waits to proceed, an 80-acre oceanfront site in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of New York City will host a competition to advance concepts for resilient waterfront development, reports Matt Chaban.
Crain's New York Business
