The Urban Archive app will be popular with anyone interested in the history of New York City. Hopefully the idea spreads to other cities soon.
Andrew Davis shares news of a new app called Urban Archive that gelocates historic photos of New York to your mobile phone. So, imagine walking past Grand Army Plaza, with a view out to the Manhattan Bridge, and receiving a push notification from your phone that opens an image taken a century ago.
Working with Brooklyn Historical Society, the New York Public Library, and the Museum of the City of New York, Urban Archive has made accessible over 2,500 images from all five boroughs (sorry New Jersey). The newly formed nonprofit’s ambition is to create apertures into the city’s urban history in a multi-dimensional digital platform that both informs and entertains the public.
The app also includes walking tours and a side-by-side photo generator. Currently the archive includes 2,500 images from all five boroughs, but the Urban Archive is sorting and geotagging some 50,000 additional images and seeking more.
Read the full story: New app transports you through NYC’s historic cityscape with archival photos
Miss the Subway? There's an App for That
The NYC Subway Sounds app is a great tool for dealing with nostalgia for the old ways of life.
Checking in on Two of de Blasio's Big Transportation Promises
Mayor Bill de Blasio made a couple of promises about new the transportation technology that would be available to New Yorkers in 2016. The results of those promises reveal good news for drivers and some bad news for bus riders.
MTA gives itself 30 days to transform pit into basketball court
The site has been under construction since 2022; the city originally estimated it would finish the court in 2024.
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.
In Texas, data centers are swallowing promised parkland
Residents who moved to Taylor, Texas for a rural community now have to contend with three data centers in their backyard.
How a Chicago-sized wind farm beat the odds and powered on
The project spanned five presidential administrations and a standoff with a U.S. military base.
MTA gives itself 30 days to transform pit into basketball court
The site has been under construction since 2022; the city originally estimated it would finish the court in 2024.
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