North America
To Understand New York's Needs, Think Beyond Manhattan
When most people think of New York City, says CUNY planning professor and activist Tom Angotti, they think of Manhattan. This excessive focus on a narrow slice of the greater New York metropolitan area needs to be reconsidered.
Emerging Trends Report: Urbanization is the 'New Normal'
The Toronto Star picks up on the Urban Land Institute's Emerging Trends in Real Estate report, finding the trend of urbanization in Canada to reflect the trend in the United States.
Disappointment, Pessimism, Rage: Is this America at Middle Age?
Community conversations often devolve. Could it be partly due to the "midlife crisis" of the North American demographic? Can we look forward to a time of more social connectedness in the next decade, as we recalibrate to less "me," more "we?"
If Keystone Bill Becomes Law, Would it be Built?
It's not a foregone conclusion that President Obama would veto a bill expected in the Senate next week to allow the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. But if it were to pass and Obama signs it, would it be built? CNBC investigates.
How To: Smarter Infrastructure Investments
In the next few decades, U.S. governments and businesses are predicted to spend trillions of dollars on infrastructure. This is the reality. The question is: how do we get smart about these investments?
The Undeniable Urbanism of the 'Plot'
According to researchers and practitioners in the United Kingdom, there's still room for another urbanism. Chuck Wolfe digests the recent Summit on Plot-Based Urbanism from Glasgow.
How to Recover from a Poorly Attended Public Meeting
From the periphery, planning and community engagement seems easy. You schedule a few public meetings. You confer with a few experts and put together a plan for the future of a community. Easy? Nope.
Mapping the Knowledge Domain of Planning
Tom Sanchez and Nader Afzalan explore the age old question, "what is planning?" in their new report published earlier this week.
An Interview with Kaid Benfield, Urban Resilience Guru
PlaceMakers asks Kaid to give us his idea of where we are in the effort to integrate smart growth strategies in the broadest sense into community planning and design.
Freight Rail Conundrum: Speed vs. Safety
Safety would win hands down for passenger rail, but for-profit railroads have a bottom line to consider. Regulators have proposed reduced train speeds, opposed by railroads, to prevent fiery derailments that have resulted from shipping shale oil.
Millennials Are in Motion, But Not Necessarily by Car
A new report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Frontier Group shows mounting evidence that the Millennial generation’s dramatic shift away from driving is more than temporary. Planning must change to accommodate these demands.
Trees In Urban Design: Are You Planting a Liability or Growing an Asset?
Trees are a vital element of urban design, one that must considered at every stage of planning, design and development.
Creative Placemaking: Preserve, Repair, Intensify
Many cities have long been investing in art and culture, marrying it to placemaking, and generating extraordinary local transformations. Hazel Borys offers up a little inspiration from an art opening this week, and a few pointers for urbanists.
What an Innocuous Piece of Plastic Says About Our Suburban Future
Suburban Starbucks models are bumming urbanists out. But they also served as a nice allegory of what the future there might hold. Scott Doyon's latest blog post explains.
The Importance of Inter-Urban Walkability
In his third "place-decoding" essay from France, Chuck Wolfe recalls all that we can learn from walking between settled places.
The Option of Sensing the City
In his second Huffington Post article on "place-decoding," Chuck Wolfe argues for considered attention to enhancing people's abilities to discern the city around them.
Euro-Envy Reconsidered: Talkin' Time, Distance, and Change
Most North American urbanists turn to Europe for inspiration and direction. Some of that brilliance, Ben Brown reminds us, is due to time and distance.
Interpreting the 'Timeless and Time-Bound' in Cities
In his latest essay on interpretation of the urban environment, Chuck Wolfe suggests that if we take away context clues cities become matrices -- with blank cells to complete -- where each of us personalizes how space meets time.
Increased Street Connectivity Improves Public Health Outcomes
A new study, "Community Design, Street Networks, and Public Health" published in the Journal of Transport & Health finds that increased local street connectivity improves public health outcomes, apparently by encouraging more walking and cycling.
Revisiting the Common Sense Elements of City Life
Chuck Wolfe revisits five instances of how we can learn from the urbanism we already have.
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
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
