Land Use
What's It Like to Design for North Korea?
Middlemen, private jets, communication blackouts: providing design services to the world's most reclusive regime isn't easy. Mark Byrnes describes how one architecture and planning firm was selected to redesign North Korea's airports.
How Can Northeast Ohio Grow Smarter?
The 'biggest regional planning effort in a generation' is providing residents of twelve Northeast Ohio counties with an opportunity to discuss how the area can leverage its existing infrastructure rather than continuing to sprawl.
New Bay Area K-12 Redefines Relationship Between a School and its Community
This summer, a new school will begin rising in the Bay Area city of Emeryville that redefines the relationship between a K-12 school and its surrounding community.
When Debating a Controversial Plan, Does 30 Percent Equal a Majority?
In the face of vocal opposition, Vancouver's city council approved a proposed bike route and greenway. For one former councillor, if a third of the speakers in hostile public meetings support a project, that's enough to indicate a silent majority.
MoMA Architecture Head Goes Back to School
Barry Bergdoll, the Museum of Modern Art's Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, has announced he is leaving the museum to take up a post at Columbia University. Over six years he curated a number of popular, and critically praised, exhibitions.
Planning a People-Centered Renaissance for La Defense
Since it was begun in the late 1950's, Paris's La Defense business district 'has always worked better in architectural theory than in anthropological practice,' says Georgi Kantchev. A new plan seeks to humanize the spaces between its tall towers.
NYC Pushes Ahead With Plans for New Neighborhood Built on Landfill
A far-fetched proposal for Seaport City - a new landfill neighborhood on the East Side of lower Manhattan - is one step closer to reality with New York City's release of a request for proposals to study the idea.
Quantifying How Haussmann Changed the Function and Form of Paris
A new study has quantified how Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann's plans changed the form and function of Paris - a topic that had previously been open to the subjective analysis of urban theorists. The results might surprise you.
What Makes a Place Feel Safe?
Utilizing an online tool that compares images from Google Street View, researchers have built a better understanding of the 'small, often imperceptible reasons' that make some streets and places feel safer than others.
L.A. Inspectors Take a Bite out of Edible Landscapes
Two years after Councilman (now Council President) Herb Wesson vowed to allow vegetable gardens to be planted in public parkways to help improve access to fresh food, an 'edible landscape' motion languishes while the city cracks down on homeowners.
Lessons for Repurposing Surplus Parking
Stuck with millions of square feet of superfluous parking like the Cascadian communities we examined yesterday? Joyce Law offers seven examples of creative repurposing of parking lots and garages for active uses in New York City.
Pop-Ups Smooth Tysons' Urban Transformation
A multi-decade vision will transform the auto-oriented DC suburb of Tysons Corner into a vibrant, walkable place. While the subway extension at the heart of the plan will open this year, development will take time. Pop-ups will help bridge the gap.
Legislating the Waste of Land
Surveys of parking use in multifamily buildings across Cascadia have quantified the extent to which parking requirements have 'force fed' more spaces into projects than developers would provide based on demand. Alan Durning examines the implications.
Cottage Living Shows the Enduring Attraction of Simplicity
In a world of seemingly infinite variety and excess, simplicity engenders great affection. Hazel Borys offers this query on the subject of cottage living: How is it that less adds up to so much more?
What is the Ideal Catchment Area for TODs?
The half-mile circle has become the standard metric for focusing planning efforts and judging the impacts of transit-oriented development. A new study examines whether the half-mile circle is an effective predictor of TOD success.
'Toxic Tour' Brings Visitors Face-to-Face With L.A.'s Landmarks of Pollution
A 'toxic tour' of Los Angeles raises awareness of the harmful effects the city's industrial infrastructure brings to adjacent, often minority, communities. Stops include a battery recycling plant, rendering plant, oil refinery, and scrap yards.
Competition Aims to Shrink Miami's Public Space Deficit
Seeking to help improve the city's livability and boost its attraction to talented workers, the Miami Foundation has launched an open competition to identify, and ultimately build, neighborhood public spaces.
Rational Fear
Many people believe that cities are dangerous due to exaggerated fears of urban crime. Cities are actually far safer and healthier than suburban and rural locations, and smart growth policies can further enhance their safety and health advantages.
Driverless Cars Steer Us Away From a Carless Future
Discussions over the potential benefits and drawbacks of driverless cars seemingly overlook one important question, says Allison Arieff: "[W]hy continue to design and plan for a car-based society?"
Three Strategies for Refueling Abandoned Gas Stations
Lucas Lindsey explores the rise and fall of gas stations in the U.S. With stations closing across the country, and cities wrestling with how to reclaim them, he looks at some that have found a new life through reuse, redevelopment, or repositioning.
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.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Portland
City of Laramie
