Prompted to find a silver lining to the gloom of rainy Pacific Northwest days, an artist hit upon a novel solution: water-activated sidewalk paint.
A Seattle artist is beautifying the city’s sidewalks with art that only becomes visible when the pavement gets wet, bringing a whimsical dimension to the city’s reputation for rainy weather.
Artist Peregrine Church developed a water-based, invisible spray that lasts up to four months and reveals designs when it gets wet, explains Maggie Penman in The Washington Post.
Church now runs a company that sells the paint to other organizations. “Church has worked with schools and universities, such as Indiana University; nonprofits like the Kimball Arts Center in Park City, Utah; and public transit authorities and parks departments in Washington state to create fun distractions for people waiting for a bus or walking down the street on a dreary day. He’s made a maze near a bus stop, an environmental message in a park, an ode to rain on the sidewalk.”
FULL STORY: To make people smile when it rains, his sidewalk art appears only when wet
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
New Jersey’s second-largest city bans standalone data centers
Jersey City will continue to allow co-location facilities, such as those meant for research institutions that store their own data.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
Phoenix announces new on-demand transit service, more frequent RAPID buses
Both new services will launch in October, and are part of Phoenix's Project Effective Access Solutions for Easing Congestion.
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association