Instead of planning cities around shiny, tomorrowland dreams of our own invention, how about planning them around something we can count on: the needs of people! Complete with a groovy, vintage planning video mash-up.
Scott Doyon does a run down of recent blogs that encourage us to plan for people; not some unproven ideas and untried, futuristic concepts. Doyon encourages us to resist "...[planning] a city around an imagined tomorrow that’s in large parts the same as today, only shinier and more organized. We’re people, not organizing units. And what it takes, at the most basic level, to accommodate us, nurture us, and bring us together is a question already answered."
"We need an urban form proven to adapt to and weather change, progress and the promise of the unexpected. And that form already exists. In fact, it’s been adapting and improving incrementally for 5,000 years."
"The traditional city serves people. And, through thoughtful and ongoing collaboration with those people, it will continue to do so. Whatever the future throws our way."
Read the full story: Planning for People
EPCOT: The Original 'Smart City'
What can today’s futurists learn from Disney’s unrealized utopia?
Ford Launches City of Tomorrow Challenge in Grand Rapids
The new initiative will fund crowdsourced mobility solutions.
The Sidewalk to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions
When the vision's all right but the outcomes are all wrong, zoning's often the problem. And the public realm is left holding the bag.
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.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
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