The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
A Community That Fails To Plan, Plans To Fail
Steve Herbaly, a former planning director, talks about how politics gets in the way of planning.
The 'Dream Team' To Rebuild New Orleans
The Nation magazine outlines their leadership, architecture and planning 'dream team' for rebuilding New Orleans.
BLOG POST
Why Open Source? Ask Massachusetts
<img src='http://www.planetizen.com/tech/files/20050922openoffice.png' alt='OpenOffice' align="right"/><br /> <br /> Open source is not just about lowering costs. It's about staying in control of your own data. For governments, it is important to specify open file formats for storing public data. Eric Kriss, Massachussets' secretary of administration and finance asks an important question about long-term archiving of public documents created with Microsoft Office. "Will those documents still be legible 10 years from now, or in 50?" The state of Massachusetts has given some thought to that question and is taking action.
Outsourcing City Management
Sandy Springs, GA, is undertaking a bold experiment to outsource city administration to the private sector.
BLOG POST
Mambo is dead…
…here comes Joomla. There was a lot of uncertainty about the future of the Content Management System Mambo over the past months. Finally the Developers now left Mambo and started Joomla.<br /> <br /> As <a href="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1851367,00.asp">this article in eWeek</a> points out, "the original owners [Miro], wanted to regain control of the project. The developers, realizing that they were being cut out of executive management, decided to take the code and run…â€<br /> <br /> The outcomes might describe the state of open source today.
New Orleans Industrial Market Bounces Back, Fast
Industrial owners and brokers are scrambling to find space for tenants in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Marshall Field's, Macy's and the Absentocracy
Can big business maintain local values, even as national and international conglomerates swallow up hometown companies?
The United States of Wal-Mart
In his irreverent new book, journalist John Dicker reveals the super-high social costs of Wal-Mart's super-low prices.
A Blueprint To Rebuild New Orleans
There are three basic needs that must be met in order for New Orleans to come back -- the city's infrastructure, reviving its economy and resettling its population.
Redesigning New Orleans
New Orleans was a deeply flawed city before Katrina, and now, evacuees are stating they won't move back unless changes are made.
Southern California Cities Test Smart Parking Meters
Los Angeles is testing out new 'smart' parking meters that use credit or ATM cards as payment and remind you to pay via text messaging.
Smart Growth Experts Debate How To Rebuild New Orleans
With more than half of the city still underwater, smart-growth experts say now's an ideal time to rethink the entire infrastructure of the city.
Stranded In The Wake Of Disaster
Over 200,000 people without cars in New Orleans had no way out of the city in Katrina's wake.
Vancouverism vs. Lower Manhattanism: Shaping the High Density City
Shaping high density residential environments is the most important issue before urban designers in North America today.
Public Park Or Glorified Front Lawn?
Planned Brooklyn waterfront park draws criticism from neighborhood groups.
Dreaming Of A Car-Free Development
While local developers and city leaders reject the idea, Sherman Lewis, professor emeritus at California State University, East Bay, continues to advocate for a pedestrian-friendly development of 1,000 residences in Hayward, CA.
The Death of Marshall Fields and the Dissolution of the Sense of Place
In banishing the Marshall Fields name, Federated Department Stores is just doing to Chicago what's its already done to cities across the country. The implications are anything but positive, writes Lynn Becker.
FEATURE
Recovering New Orleans
Smart Growth and National Security
Hurricane Katrina exposes the urgent need to fix America’s obsolete way of life.
Lessons From Katrina: What A Major Disaster Can Teach Transportation Planners
This paper examines failures in Hurricane Katrina disaster response and their lessons for transportation policy and planning in other communities.
planning NEXT
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
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
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.
