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And The Winner Is…
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Spanish football fans are celebrating in the streets, while in The Netherlands they are drowning their sorrows, but the real winners of the 2010 World Cup are the people of South Africa. Long after the last vuvuzela is sounded, residents and visitors will enjoy the legacy of new </span><a href="http://www.arrivealive.co.za/pages.aspx?i=2874"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)</span></a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small"> systems build in South Africa’s four major cities.</span> </p> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal">   </p>
Many Ways to Reimagine Suburbia
The "Build a Better Burb" contest from Long Island Index has chosen 23 finalists with a variety of interesting ideas for redesigning the suburbs for the next century - in this case, Long Island.
Emissions-Eating Roads
A new report says that roads embedded with titanium dioxide can help purify the air by absorbing 25 to 45 percent of nitrogen oxides emitted by cars.
New Development: Always a Good Sign?
Dan Rodricks has been reading a lot of "good news" about new residential building permits being taken out around Baltimore, and questions whether new development is always a good sign.
Road Diet Crash Reduction Variations Studied By DOT
This 4-page summary report (PDF) is a summary of a technical paper attempting to show differences in the reduction in road crashes that result from road diets.
S.F.'s Market Street Railway Celebrates Sesquicentennial
Carl Nolte, the San Francisco Chronicle's historian, writes on the 150-year anniversary of the Market St. Railway that began operation as a 2-car steam train on July 4, 1860, and the evolution of rail on/under Market St including BART & Muni Metro.
Foreclosure Rate Highest Among Wealthy
What's not known is how many of the homes are investments, or primary or secondary residences, but it's clear that the foreclosure rate for mortgages exceeding $1million is higher than for lower priced homes, according to the New York Times analysis.
The "Blunt Savvy" of Eli Broad
"For all of Eli Broad's consistent prominence on the public stage in recent years, the buildings he has helped develop make up a disparate, even contradictory group," writes Christopher Hawthorne as he describes the patron's philanthropic endeavors.
Walkability Makes You Healthier and Wealthier
Conrad deFiebre sums up the benefits of living in a walkable neighborhood, from improved health to improved wealth, both via higher property values and less of hard-earned dollars paid out to oil and car companies.
Used MetroCards Make Big Litter - MTA Proposes a Solution
They litter almost every subway entrance - the ubiquitous, value-exhausted plastic MetroCards. Yet, MetroCards are refillable. Now MTA has devised a simple, revenue-producing measure that would reduce the litter by adding a $1 fee to new cards.
TOD Boom in L.A.
Light rail is expanding to Los Angeles' Westside, and with it is coming a wave of transit-oriented developments.
Can The Feds Make Sustainability Happen?
The Obama administration is trying to rein in suburban sprawl. But is it any match for 70 years of unsustainable development?
Lowest Gas Taxes In History
USA Today does some interesting analysis of the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and comes to some startling conclusions about how historically low it is when considered with vehicle miles driven and per capita income.
Take A Floating Hotel Across the Ocean
Designer Nick Talbot, who worked on Virgin Galactic projects, is proposing a floating hotel he's calling "Aircruise" which would take a leisurely 37 hour journey between London and New York.
Bamboo, the Miracle Homebuilding Material
Bamboo homes survive earthquakes and typhoons, it grows like a weed, and has twice the compression strength of concrete. Elisabeth Best reports on the wonder material and the image problem bamboo must overcome to be used more widely.
Electric Highway On its Way to Pacific Northwest
The nation's first electric highway could be coming to the Pacific Northwest.
Obama Announces New Urban Policy to Shelter 1.6 Million Homeless
A total of 1.6 million people experienced homelessness last year alone. President Obama has decided to attempt to remedy this sobering fact with the new Interagency Council on Homelessness' (USICH) "Opening Doors" plan.
Can an Operating System be Developed to Run a City?
Melissa Lafsky asks if citizen initiative facilities like '311' and 'fixmystreet' should be expanded into an "operating system" for cities.
Main Streets Revitalized
The Project for Public Spaces has begun to publicize improvements it has made to main streets across the country with a new web feature, reports Kaid Benfield.
A Broader Audience for Bicycles
Fast Company reports on a branding company that is working to get biking out of the "hipster ghetto" and into the mainstream.
Pagination
City of Fort Worth
planning NEXT
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie
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.