Land Use

Generalist Geoff Dyer delivers his walkability design tactics magnum opus on PlaceShakers. His years of practical experience are conveniently condensed for your consumption.

March 11, 2013 - PlaceShakers

In the 1960s and 70s, America witnessed a bike boom that sounds very similar to today's. Although it petered out, Tom Payne argues why contemporary circumstances have altered the long-term viability of a bicycling revolution.

March 11, 2013 - Urban Times

With its progressive mayor and recent examples of exemplary architecture and urbanism, you'd think alternatives to sprawl would be an easy sell in Calgary. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong, says Christopher Hume.

March 10, 2013 - The Toronto Star

A newly published University of Melbourne study ten years in the making reveals that increased access to shops, parks, and other amenities increased walking and overall health.

March 10, 2013 - Science Daily

In a video documentary, Matthew Gordon examines the elements of Fresno's General Plan update, which seeks to reorient the city around a more sustainable urban form, and turn around the fortunes of one of the country's most impoverished cities.

March 9, 2013 - InfrastructureUSA

To the surprise of many, a change in governments has failed to derail former president Nicolas Sarkozy's ambitious "Greater Paris" plan for an expanded transit network linking the French capital to its suburbs.

March 9, 2013 - The Guardian

This week, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators introduced the Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development Act of 2013 (BUILD Act), a bill aimed at assisting local communities in remediating and redeveloping contaminated sites.

March 8, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

That wild "mountain-slash-ski-slope-slash-waste-to-energy-power-plant" project proposed by "it" architecture firm BIG that everyone thought was dead has broken ground in Copenhagen, reports Branden Klayko.

March 8, 2013 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

Paul Barter answers with an unequivocal no. He outlines the reasons why debates over the elimination of parking minimums should be decoupled from transit, and identifies other reforms that can make parking changes palatable.

March 8, 2013 - Reinventing Parking

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the news media were fixated on the plight of middle-class homeowners in places like the Rockaways in Queens. But two new reports show that low-income renters were the more prevalent victims of the storm.

March 8, 2013 - Crain's New York Business

The passage of the Localism Act gave broad new planning powers to local communities across the UK. A new project seeks to build a bottom-up planning culture to take advantage of new opportunities.

March 6, 2013 - The Guardian

Joe Gose examines the growing use of health impact assessments to guide decision-making through a case study from the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood near downtown Denver.

March 6, 2013 - The New York Times

Over the next 20 years, San Francisco is expected to add 150,000 new residents, or nearly 20% of its existing population. John Wildermuth looks at the "hard choices" confronting the city as it plans for its future.

March 6, 2013 - San Francisco Chronicle

Jennifer Keesmaat is "on her way to becoming modern Toronto’s first celebrity bureaucrat," says Marcus Gee, who profiles the city's new chief planner. Can she succeed in her quest for change without offending those whose support she'll need?

March 6, 2013 - Globe and Mail

Alan G. Brake outlines the redesigned plans to develop the site of the historic Domino Sugar refinery along Brooklyn's East River waterfront. The $1.5 billion plan is the latest, and perhaps last, turn in the site's tortured redevelopment saga.

March 5, 2013 - The Architect's Newspaper

Adam Nossiter reports on the latest episode in Lagos's quest to become a "premier business center" - the demolition of the Badia East slum, which instantly left 10,000 residents homeless.

March 4, 2013 - The New York Times

Throughout the history of planning, compelling visuals have been essential to communicating the concepts established in "our most influential plans," says Howard Blackson. That tradition continues in New Urban placemaking endeavors.

March 4, 2013 - PlaceShakers

Just as the debate over the planned rezoning of the Midtown East neighborhood ossified into two strongly opposed camps, the city has provided more details on their recommendations and outlined an ambitious schedule for public review.

March 4, 2013 - Crain's New York Business

Since it began in 1999, Toronto's condo boom has added 120,000 units to the city and, in the process, transformed its urban landscape. City leaders are just now beginning to address how to accommodate these new residents.

March 4, 2013 - The Globe and Mail

LAX, the LA River, Pershing Square; the list of Los Angeles' under-performing public spaces could sadly continue for a while. As the city votes for its next mayor, Christopher Hawthorne offers some "some straightforward ideas" about how to fix them.

March 4, 2013 - Los Angeles Times