Nature
Matching Urban Nature to Community Values
Researcher Chris Ives suggests that rather than relying solely on economic gains to justify urban nature and biodiversity, community values may be more effective in gaining public support.
ASLA Assembles Reservoir of Resources on Health Benefits of Nature
For years, science has been catching up to the intuitive wisdom that spending time in, or adjacent to, nature has physical and mental health benefits. The ASLA has collected a trove of this research in one easy to navigate website.
Realigning Nature and the City
Using two paradigms addressing synergies of nature and the city, Chuck Wolfe contrasts gradually merging animal and human habitats in the United States with calculated greening of city spaces overseas.
NPR Turns Its Attention to Cities
Announced this week by All Things Considered hosts Melissa Block and Robert Siegel, National Public Radio is launching a new series called the NPR Cities Project and they're asking listeners for their input.
San Francisco's Battle With Mother Nature
As climate change accelerates coastal erosion across the continent, officials everywhere look to San Francisco to see how it will stem the tide, Felicity Barringer reports.
Mongolia Constructs Glacier To Cool Capital
The Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator will begin construction this winter of an artificial glacier to cool the city next summer and provide melt water for drinking and irrigation.
Nature Essential to Counteract Modern Life
Richard Louv says we're drowning in a "sea of circuitry" and in desperate need to reconnect with greenery and nature in our living spaces to sooth our souls.
All-Natural Cities
In this post from NRDC Swithcboard, Kaid Benfield argues that environmentalists need to care about cities, as urban areas can't be separated form "nature".
Portable Gardens Move Into Urban San Francisco Space
The Yerba Buena District Street Life Plan starts off its 10-year life to improve public space by placing six mobile gardens in parts of the district that have more concrete and asphalt than vegetation, reports John King for San Francisco Chronicle.
The Campsite as Place
This piece from Places delves into the history of the campsite, their use of space, and their role in modern culture.
Nature-Mimicking Infrastructure: 21st Century Technology?
Andy Lipkis, the founder and president of TreePeople, an organization in Los Angeles that brings natural concepts into the "urban forest", details his 40 years of work proving the feasibility of projects such as the Elmer Avenue Project.
What is Green Urbanism?
The term Green Urbanism keeps showing up unexpectedly in newspaper articles, conference session titles, blog posts, and casual conversation. While there is an innate, intuitive sense of the meaning, green urbanism may also seem as elusive as it is evocative. Having given this topic a fair amount of thought over the past several years, I, and my colleague and collaborator Ted Bardacke, arrived at the following working definition: green urbanism: the practice of creating communities mutually beneficial to humans and the environment
Giving Nature Rights
This piece from Utne Reader looks at Ecuador's recent extension of inalienable rights to nature and why other countries should follow this lead.
Nature Gains Constitutional Rights in Ecuador
A new constitution has been approved in Ecuador, and among its amendments are specific articles that grant inalienable rights to nature.
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.
Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)
