Linden Labs, creator of Second Life, has awarded a Linden Prize to Studio Wikitecture for their WikiTree project. The online collaboration uses the virtual world "to harness a groups collective intelligence in designing architecture."
"To help aggregate the contributions of such a disparate range of individuals, we developed what could best be described as a 3D-Wiki plugin for Second Life. The Wiki-Tree, as we called it, worked very much like a conventional Wiki, but instead of tracking text documents in a linear history, this 3D-Wiki tracked versions of digital models and saved them within a continually evolving 3-dimensional collective 'mind map'.
When a contributor used the inworld interface to upload their design iteration, a new leaf grew out of the existing 'Canopy'. For every leaf created inworld, a corresponding section was also created on an external website. Besides storing the individual design iterations, the 3-dimensional Canopy was able to visually convey how the different ideas, submitted by different contributors, grew and evolved from on another. Popular designs in the canopy turned green, and the less popular designs turned red and were automatically pruned.
To review the various designs, members could simply click the individual 'leaves' and the design contained within would rez itself out on the parcel. Members were also able to upload snapshots, vote and comment on their fellow contributor's designs."
FULL STORY: Studio Wikitecture: Open Architecture Challenge

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.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units
Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

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

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing
The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant
A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing
Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.
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 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