In Berlin and The Netherlands, crazy ideas of building mountains for recreational purposes are actually being entertained.
Architect Jakob Tigges floated the idea for the grounds of the retired Tempelhof Airport. The Dutch plan would be to build on a landscape that has already been dramatically altered, with an artificial lake and other large-scale earth moving. A sports journalist actually proposed the plan first, suggesting the mountain could be used as "...a recreational space, an iconic landscape with spectacular views, and a popular destination for climbers and ramblers."
Read the full story: A Mountain for the Netherlands
Berlin to Consider Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan
The area bound by the 22-mile Ringbahn would still allow 12 uses of a private automobile per year per person, and several other exemptions.
Grassroots Dutch Movement Replaces Pavement With Green Space
Neighbors engage in a practice known as “tegelwippen,” picking up paving stones and replacing them with permeable surfaces, often with the support of local governments.
New HSR Train Conects Paris and Berlin
Officials hail the new route as a symbol of the friendship between two of Europe’s most important economic powers.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
California city breaks ground on transit connector
The project includes three mobility hubs and a pedestrian bridge.
After public outcry, Massachusetts city releases housing development tracker
Cambridge’s tracker currently shows 250 housing projects in various stages of development.
40 years after approval, Chicago breaks ground on new park
The park honors Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the city’s first permanent non-native settler.
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.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority