Infrastructure
New Mobile Phone Charging Stations Powered By Kinetic Energy
Combining both solar power and kinetic energy, the first public phone charging station of its kind was recently installed at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Making NYC's Sanitation and Waste Disposal Sexy
A new six-part video series from The New York Times called "Living City" is aiming to make the infrastructure handling New York City's basic needs sexy.
The Race to Map Brazil's Favelas
In an effort to tap into new users, companies like Google and Microsoft are racing to map the winding, informal streets of Brazil's slums in Rio de Janeiro.
Report Reveals Imbalanced Investments for Atlanta's BeltLine
While the neighborhoods on northern segments of the Atlanta's BeltLine has received 94 percent of funding invested towards parks and trails, segments to the south have received 86 percent of affordable housing investments.
What's Your 'Elevator Pitch' for Greener, Healthier Cities?
Kaid Benfield shares his placemaking pitch.
Seattle Adjusts Signals for Downtown Protected Bike Lane
Brandon G. Donnelly reports that after implementing a Downtown protected bike lane along 2nd Avenue, Seattle has had to make some adjustments to the signaling for the lane.
Another (Surprising) Toll Road Bankruptcy
It wasn't supposed to go this way. When Indiana leased the state's namesake, but failing, 157-mile toll road for $3.8 billion to an Australian-Spanish consortium in 2006 for 75 years, analysts predicted a handsome return for investors.
On the Importance of Maintaining Trans-Hudson Rail Capacity
Amtrak's Gateway project is not only key to maintaining and increasing commuter and intercity rail capacity between the Empire and Garden States, but also to ensuring that the $1 billion investment in the new Moynihan Station makes sense.
Relief for Amtrak Travelers to New York's Penn Station Closer at Hand
CityLab's Eric Jaffe provides an update on the two phases of construction of Moynihan Station, an annex to America's busiest train station. Phase One could be completed next year and Phase Two is in need of a "mere" $200 million. But is that enough?
Quantifying the Economic and Employment Impacts of Water
The Brookings Institution takes a closer look at the economic and employment impacts that water has on the United States.
How LEDs Re-Illuminate the Urban Night Sky
Forbes Magazine reflects on the importance and impacts of light-emitting diode (LED) lights as more cities replace their traditional streetlamps with LEDs.
5 Mid-Sized Cities Rethinking the Urban Waterfront
Nick Addamo discusses and outlines the plans of five small and mid-sized cities that are re-evaluating their waterfront and developing them to be more people-focused.
The Urban Design of Burning Man's Black Rock City
Black Rock City is the temporary city initially designed by Rod Garrett in 1997 that springs up for the annual Burning Man festival. Each year the city expands to accommodate more people, but still retains its core utopian characteristics.
Survey: Tolls OK if Revenue Improves Road Conditions
A survey by HNTB Corp. found that 79 percent of respondents would support tolling currently untolled roads, including highways, if the revenue was used to improve traveling conditions on the tolled road.
110-mph Talgo Trains Headed to Michigan [Corrected]
If the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) approves the order, two Wisconsin-manufactured Talgo train sets will reduce travel times from Detroit to Chicago by as much as two hours while significantly increasing on-time performance.
Why Placemaking Matters: What's in it for Me?
What's your elevator pitch on why placemaking matters? Here's a couple rounded up by Hazel Borys, and some numbers that help refine their message.
Chinese City Installs Special Lanes for Distracted Walkers
In both a literal and figurative sign of the times, the Chinese city of Chongqing recently installed signage and marking to segregate pedestrian traffic between smartphone users and those walking free of such technological distractions.
Developer Pins Los Angeles' Infrastructure Problems on Bureaucratic Bloat
According to developer and consultant Michael P. Russell, the city of Los Angeles has a chronic shortage of funds for infrastructure due to a bloated bureaucracy, small district city council elections, and term limits.
Uncertainty Ahead for Department of Transportation Funding
While projects funded from the Highway Trust Fund are safe through May, discretionary programs run by DOT from annual appropriations must wait for Congress to approve a budget, which just got more complicated due to Obama's anti-ISIS funding request.
Questioning the Science Behind New York's Storm Proofing Plans for Fire Island
An expert insists that a massive coastal engineering project in a National Park should consider different environmental impacts than a similar project along developed coastline.
Pagination
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.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello