Mike Sheridan looks at the changing types of workspaces being demanded by knowledge-economy businesses. These aren't your parents' cubicle-filled steel and glass boxes.
Sheridan explores the impacts of the emerging information-based economy on everything from the design of multifamily housing to corporate campuses.
"Not only are high-tech companies looking for unusual spaces that are reflective of their corporate culture, but firms in the knowledge sector are also reviving inner-city neighborhoods, spearheading the drive for sustainability, and even changing the way some new buildings are designed."
"Today's creative class drives the knowledge economy, and participants tend to want both their home and workplace to be in a walkable urban place with coffee shops, entertainment, and stores," says Christopher B. Leinberger, president of LOCUS, a real estate policy advocate for walkable and transit-oriented development (TOD).
"Thus, builders, architects, and designers must think in a different way. Over the past half-century, the U.S. real estate sector was like NASCAR, Leinberger adds. 'NASCAR drivers drive 150 miles an hour and just go straight or turn to the left,' he says. But building professionals now have to do things differently, he says, and learn how to develop complex and more risky walkable urban projects."
FULL STORY: Building for the Needs of an Information-Based Economy
Is the Urban-Suburban Divide Destined to Disappear?
In a new book, Hans Westlund and Tigran Haas argue that the global knowledge economy is radically reshaping urban development. Eventually, they say, it'll render meaningless our present notions of "urban," "suburban," and "rural."
Designing Buildings to Positively Impact Health and Well-Being
Architects at Gresham, Smith & Partners discuss designing for health and wellness, aligning with the US Green Building Council's WELL Building Standard.
Why New Sources of Capital Matter for Cites
Cities are becoming the new economic engines due to growing sectors in technology and knowledge production. Yet, cities must recognize with that transformation there comes not only opportunities but also new challenges.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Canada vs. Kamala: Whose Liberal Housing Platform Comes Out on Top?
As Canada votes for a new Prime Minister, what can America learn from the leading liberal candidate of its neighbor to the north?
The Five Most-Changed American Cities
A ranking of population change, home values, and jobs highlights the nation’s most dynamic and most stagnant regions.
San Diego Adopts First Mobility Master Plan
The plan provides a comprehensive framework for making San Diego’s transportation network more multimodal, accessible, and sustainable.
Housing, Supportive Service Providers Brace for Federal Cuts
Organizations that provide housing assistance are tightening their purse strings and making plans for maintaining operations if federal funding dries up.
Op-Ed: Why an Effective Passenger Rail Network Needs Government Involvement
An outdated rail network that privileges freight won’t be fixed by privatizing Amtrak.
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions