North America
Is the Fight Against Keystone XL Hurting the Environmental Movement?
The fight to block approval of the Keystone XL pipeline has galvanized support like few recent controversies. But is there a danger in focusing so much attention on one decision when there are innumerable threats to the climate across North America?
How Cities Can Help Get the Kids to Daycare
Erin Anderssen takes a critical look at the role of our cities in the provision of much needed childcare. While municipally-delivered childcare has been successful in Scandinavia, some Canadian cities are left playing with alternative approaches.
New Paper Makes the Case for Placemaking's Role in Building Community
With the publication of a new paper, PPS is celebrating "an important occasion in the evolution of the Placemaking movement." Through 10 case studies, the paper argues for "the importance of Placemaking as a vital part of community-building."
Civic Tech and Mobile Engagement 2.0
Community engagement efforts increasingly look to harness mobile devices and mobile applications to access, inform, and empower the public. However the mobile market is evolving at a fast pace, which complicates our understanding of what works best.
Why Are "Best Practices" So Hard to Copy?
Though studies of "best practices" are meant to produce a path to success, they're invariably hard to follow. What we like best about cities - their unique character and systems - is exactly what limits the reach of best practices, says Mike Pagano.
A Sociologist Explains Why We Shouldn't Dismiss the Cul-de-Sac
With their anti-urban inward orientation, cul-de-sacs are representative of the auto-oriented, privatized suburban development model. But one sociologist is out to demonstrate their benefits by showing how cul-de-sacs can develop social cohesion.
The Next Big Thing: "Sit-able Cities"
Supported by imagery of human urban conduct, Chuck Wolfe argues that walkable is good, but sit-able is better—and that "it’s time for the next big focal point and the next big idea, the 'Sit-able City'."
New Outreach Tools Reshape the Relationship Between Citizens and Government
Driven by an explosion of online tools, cities across the country are looking beyond the traditional public hearing to rethink how to increase citizen involvement in decision-making and reshape the relationship between citizens and government.
Who'll Fix the Suburbs?
Two new books proffer the end of the suburbs and the salvation of dense urbanity. But the suburbs are "not about to shrivel," says Justin Davidson. So who should be responsible for fixing suburban dysfunction?
Why Affordable Housing is an Environmental Issue
Improving our cities and suburbs is just as important to environmental sustainability as regulating pollution or conserving undeveloped land, argues Kaid Benfield.
10 Cities Most at Risk From Natural Disasters
Natural disasters affect millions of people each year, and cost between $60 billion and $100 billion worldwide. Here are the 10 global cities most at risk.
Smart Meters Spill Your Secrets and Utilities Respond
The millions of smart meters and grid sensors in operation across North America are providing a flood of information that utilities are still struggling to process. But changes in operations are already emerging, and potential uses grow by the day.
Cities Hit Back at 'Patent Troll'
City transit authorities are fighting back against a notorious non-practicing entity, or patent troll.
What is a "Community"?
As communities based on proximate and personal relationships decline, the application of term "community" multiplies. Anand Giridharadas looks at the hijacking of the word and what its new applications say about our contemporary culture.
Is There Such Thing as an "Urban Freeway"?
Freeways are disconnected, unwalkable, and have limited access; they are the antithesis of "urban." So we should probably use a different term to describe them, argues Alex McKeag.
4 Steps to Building Bike Lanes in Your City
Want to encourage city leaders to hop on the biking bandwagon and expand cycling infrastructure where you live, but don't know where to start? Kristin Smith lays out four key steps for joining the "pedal-powered, green lane movement".
The Suburbs Are Deficient Because We Made Them That Way
With their unhealthy environments, unsustainability, and relatively poor return on investment, "the suburbs" are an easy target for criticism. But suburbs aren't inherently inadequate, says David Levinson, they suffer from poor postwar urban design.
Does Obama's Keystone XL Decision Still Matter?
John Upton notes some startling changes among Gulf oil refineries - the ones that had been clamoring for the Keystone XL pipeline to be built in order to access Canada's oil sands. It's been two years - and the oil is flowing - with or without it.
From Suburbs to "Urban Burbs"
Eric Jaffe of The Atlantic Cities talks with writer Leigh Gallagher about her new book, The End of the Suburbs: Where the American Dream Is Moving, and her opinions on the rapidly evolving American housing market.
How Parking Rules Raise Rents
Alan Durning details the negative effects that parking requirements have on housing affordability.
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
