Google Faces is a fun, and slightly freaky, project that plays off of humans' penchant for seeing faces in everything by testing if a computer could do the same.

"We humans tend to see faces where they don’t actually exist," writes Liz Stinson. "Clouds, the moon, grilled cheese; it’s all a canvas for our imaginations. The psychological tendency to see meaningful images in vague visuals actually has a name—pareidolia—and it’s the basis for a mesmerizing new project."
"Berlin-based design studio Onformative created Google Faces, an algorithm-based system that searches Google Maps’ satellite images for landscapes that resemble the human face. The design team, made of up Cedric Kiefer and Julia Laub, stumbled on the idea after previous facial recognition projects kept generating false positives (detecting facial images where there are none)."
FULL STORY: Mug Shots: Bots Scour Google Maps to Find Faces in the Land

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

Vehicle-related Deaths Drop 29% in Richmond, VA
The seventh year of the city's Vision Zero strategy also cut the number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes by half.

Can We Please Give Communities the Design They Deserve?
Often an afterthought, graphic design impacts everything from how we navigate a city to how we feel about it. One designer argues: the people deserve better.

Southern Californians Survey Trees for Destructive Oak Pest
Hundreds of volunteers across five counties participated in the first Goldspotted Oak Borer Blitz, surveying oak trees for signs of the invasive beetle and contributing valuable data to help protect Southern California’s native woodlands.

Opinion: How Geothermal HVAC Lowers Costs, Improves Grid Resilience
Geothermal heating and cooling systems can reduce energy costs and dramatically improve efficiency.

Tenant Screening: A Billion-Dollar Industry with Little Oversight. What’s Being Done to Protect Renters?
Reports show that the data tenant screening companies use is often riddled with errors and relies on information that has no bearing on whether someone will be a good tenant.
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.
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Smith Gee Studio
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Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)