"Smart city" plans are being announced at a steady clip. The latest master planned "smart city" proposal comes for a former U.S. Navy-owned site near Boston.
"Architecture firms Elkus Manfredi and Sasaki have unveiled a masterplan to transform a parcel of land south of Boston into a smart city," according to an article by Eleanor Gibson.
The 1,500-acre site is the former home of a U.S. Navy airfield. "Developer LStar Ventures acquired the site – approximately 1,500 acres (607 hectares) – two years ago, with the ambition to build a new community 'from the ground up'," according to Gibson.
Union Point, as the master planned development is named, "will incorporate high-tech features such as autonomous vehicles, and smart systems for collecting and sharing data, to improve the lifestyles of future residents and the management of the city," explains Gibson. More details, and renderings, are included in the original article.
Union Point joins a smart city landscape that has populated quickly in recent months. In October, Toronto announced a plan to partner with Sidewalk Labs (a unit of Google's parent company) to develop the Quayside district into a smart cities experiment. News also broke in November that Bill Gates had acquired 25,000 acres of land located outside of Phoenix to develop a smart city dubbed Belmont.
FULL STORY: Smart city planned for former US Navy airfield near Boston

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

New State Study Suggests Homelessness Far Undercounted in New Mexico
An analysis of hospital visit records provided a more accurate count than the annual point-in-time count used by most agencies.

Michigan Bills Would Stiffen Penalties for Deadly Crashes
Proposed state legislation would close a ‘legal gap’ that lets drivers who kill get away with few repercussions.

Report: Bus Ridership Back to 86 Percent of Pre-Covid Levels
Transit ridership around the country was up by 85 percent in all modes in 2024.
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.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions