Worldchanging's Alex Steffen reflects on the increasing impact of Internet-enabled information sharing at the community level, and suggests that it's helping to make neighborhoods more walkable.
"As technology has suffused our cities -- think not only iPhones and GoogleMaps, but community ratings of restaurants and shops, real-time traffic reports, smart electrical grids, even hyper-local news sites -- it has magnified the feedback loop between online connection and in-person conversation: we're learning that public space and cyberspace are symbionts; technology and physical community fuel each other. The trend is only accellerating. Technology has gotten smaller, spread out and become ubiquitous in urban space. We're surrounded constantly by data points, sensors, and layered information about everything from transit delays to weather reports to the bar where our friends are having happy hour.
As cities become smarter, urban living becomes much more efficient, and in many ways more pleasurable. With the street being a platform for technology, it becomes much easier to know where the things we want are and who has them and how they're using them."
This increase in local information stands to be a boon of the urban walkshed, according to Steffen.
FULL STORY: Walkshed Technologies and the Smart City
The Mall Is Dead — Long Live the Mall
The American shopping mall may be closer to its original vision than ever.
The Paradox of American Housing
How the tension between housing as an asset and as an essential good keeps the supply inadequate and costs high.
Report: Las Vegas, Houston Top List of Least Affordable Cities
The report assesses the availability of affordable rental units for low-income households.
Anchorage Leaders Debate Zoning Reform Plan
Last year, the city produced the fewest new housing units in a decade.
How to Protect Pedestrians With Disabilities
Public agencies don’t track traffic deaths and injuries involving disabled people, leaving a gap in data to guide safety interventions.
Colorado Town Fills Workforce Housing Need With ‘Dorm-Style’ Housing
Median rent in Steamboat Springs is $4,000 per month.
City of Yakima
City of Auburn
Baylands Development Inc.
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
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.