Urban Design
General Plans Getting Increasingly Specific
As cities like Long Beach and Santa Monica get more focused on urban design, their general plans become more and more proscriptive.
Alternative Energy Lights Up Streets in Suburban Chicago
Downers Grove, IL has won accolades for being the first residential subdivision to install a hybrid solar-wind powered street lighting system, reports TribLocal.
Town Futures in Photoshop
A picture's worth a thousand plans - at least when it's a "photo-realistic visualization." Designer Steve Price's detailed 3D flash animations show towns what empty streetscapes and drab buildings could look like with a little bit of planning.
Engaging Communities, Improving Neighborhoods
Dr. Marc Schlossberg of the University of Oregon developed a series of tools for mobile GIS devices, and set community members loose to use the technology to collect data about their streets and improve their neighborhood livability.
Omaha's Design Board Throws a Wrench in Revitalization
The new urban design review board once again deems that a publicly backed project doesn't do enough to encourage activity on the street and sends the Downtown Improvement District back to the drawing board.
New Zoning for Design Stirs Controversy
In Anchorage, Alaska, planners are rolling out a substantial new version of their zoning code, which includes some design requirements like no blank walls. Business owners are up in arms over the proposed changes.
Portland Learning from Los Angeles
An interdisciplinary team of urban designers, architects, and analysts have proposed a neo-retro-futurist scenario for making downtown Portland nearly car-free by 2050.
Expanding Collaboration Beyond Designers
This essay from Urban Omnibus calls for greater collaboration in urban design -- both amongst designers and architects, and with the surrounding community.
Brazilian BRT Spreads Through Latin America
This article looks at the influence of the bus rapid transit system of Curitiba, Brazil, and how it is becoming a major aspect of urban design in other Latin American cities.
Can Homelessness be Designed Out?
Urban designers Terri Chiao and Deborah Grossberg Katz take on the problem of homelessness in New York proactively, rather than waiting for RFPs to come in.
Class Conscience: When Is Clean-Slate Planning Okay?
My classmate was up in front of everyone, flapping and flailing, pleading his case and getting shot down at every turn. It was a bit like watching a train wreck in slow motion. It was also kind of like looking in the mirror. I’m just more than halfway through a planning school studio project working on the beautiful (no, really) Lower Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. They’ve teamed up about 15 planner/urban designers with about 45 landscape architects, who, as I mentioned last time, are reasonably bonkers. That was about a month and a half ago; since then, I’ve begun to think maybe I’m the one needing a room with padded walls.
Fleeting Design
If you’ve ever worked in distressed communities, you’ve faced the dilemma that there simply is no private market for what you want to see built. You can chip away at the problem of vacant land with thoughtful affordable housing developments or, if you’re lucky, a new recreation center but by and large, large amounts of vacancy remain and impact the psyche of those that live nearby. So working closely with residents, and really listening, has sparked a whole new sub-discipline in our world of urban planning and design - temporary use. The shrinking cities movement shined a light on the potential of ad-hoc reuse and programming some time ago but so too has groups like the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
Changing Behavior With Fun
Some excellent video illustrations of how including an element of fun can change people's behavior, including the 'World's Deepest' Trashcan.
Reinventing Raleigh
Raleigh planner Dan Douglas has some bold proposals for the city, including nine new public squares, green roofs, and a new Grand Central Station-style transit hub.
Ow! That hurt! Or: The Start of Planning School, Year Two
Forgive me Olmsted, for I have sinned. I have strayed. I have coveted. I have had doubts. I have thought about kicking urban design to the curb like a mangy puppy.
Toronto Planner Appointed to UK Commission on Architecture
Christopher Hume talks to Joe Berridge, a Toronto planner who has been appointed to Britain's Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment, about the power of urban design.
Planning City Love
This week's episode of Smart City features a discussion with planner Larry Beasley about how love can be an economic driver for cities, and how planning around emotions can improve cities.
The Future of Francisville
The Philadelphia neighborhood of Francisville is about to get an urban makeover, but two competing visions have very different ideas of what that means.
Design our industrial future
I previously lamented the apparent death of industrial use in our cities by the widespread application of terms like “post-industrial” and “rust-belt.” While semantics is an issue, let’s not forget that design matters and, in terms of industrial use, it hasn’t seemed to matter enough in recent years. In times past, industrial use was often a form of pride. Many of the hulking, multi-story industrial buildings in older cities are (still) beautiful additions to our cityscapes. In some cities, those that went vacant have spawned a new form of urban scavenge hunting by those seeking to fuel their appreciation for our industrial past through photography and exploration. Think as well of the WPA posters, many of which used stylized industrial themes to promote our “American” identity.
Public Space Starting Small On Philadelphia's Waterfront
A competition to redesign Philadelphia's Pier 11 represents a concentrated -- and viable -- effort to create quality public space along the city's waterfront, according to Philadelphia Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron.
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Ada County Highway District
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
