Urbanism
Urbanism As a Process
As populations shift to cities, the concept of urbanism begins to take on more relevance across the planet. In a recent book, author Jeb Brugmann explores what urbanism means as a trend and a process.
Vancouver Urbanism in the Suburbs
In suburban Vancouver, a small development near a university is trying to replicate the successes of Vancouver's urbanism with dense building clusters and walkable neighborhoods.
Can Cities Make Us Happier?
PlaceMaker Hazel Borys explores what might be the most important metric of sustainable places.
Rappin' About Urbanism
Finnish architect Tuomas Toivonen has just released an album of urbanism- and architecture-themed rap songs.
Urbanization Multiplies The Phenomenon of Strangers
Kio Stark, professor at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program explains lucidly how strangers and cities are "inherently intertwined."
Community-Supported Businesses on the Rise
Stacy Mitchell reports on the growing trend of micro-financing, where small business people turn to the local community to get the funding they need to open restaurants or small shops.
Houston, A Model City for the U.S.
Houston is often the butt of many urban planners' jokes. With no formal zoning, wide roads and huge houses, it's often what urban planners are trying to move American cities away from. Joel Kotkin argues Houston is a model city for the U.S.
DIY Urbanism: One Block, One Shipping Pallet at a Time
Jim Kunstler once said that if the 20th Century was about getting around, the 21st Century is about staying in places worth staying in.
Support Builds For Highway Removal in Saint Louis
St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board formally endorses the removal of elevated and depressed lanes of current I-70 ROW to reconnect city and arch grounds.
The Importance of Being Urban
If we are "urbanists," does that mean we're anti-suburban? Or do choice and economics define our choices? Architect Fanis Grammenos reflects on his own history of shelter and the ideology of urbanism.
A City To Live In
The tide is turning from the last half century, with population trends heading inward and urban from the sundered seas of suburbia.
The New 'Urban Community' On The Las Vegas Strip
Hey, Las Vegas. Good to see you! Tough break about all those foreclosures... But, hey, I hear you've got a new mega project opening up. That's cool! I bet those other broke cities are super jealous. Yeah, this new project's gonna bring you back to glory, eh? Oh, what's that? What did you just call it? CityCenter? The Capital of the New World? An urban community? Let me stop you right there.
The Fourth Urbanism
Columnist Frank Gruber seeks to define an urbanism separate from New Urbanism, Post-Urbanism, and 'Everyday' Urbanism: what he calls "Cityism."
Judaism and Urbanism
After visiting Denver for the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) conference, I began to meditate on the relationship between Judaism and urbanism, and on how few cities accommodate both. In particular, I was impressed by how well-populated downtown Denver was compared to the southern cities where I have spent the past three years (Jacksonville) and this summer (Little Rock) - but I stll couldn’t imagine myself living in downtown Denver all that comfortably.
The Death, Then Life, of Great American Cities
On Tuesday, over a million Americans made it to Washington, D.C. to attend President Obama's inauguration. Christopher Hawthorne relates the nation's refreshed optimism to an impending revival of urbanism and public space.
Is Urbanism Enough to Curb Global Warming?
Witold Rybczynski reports on a recent conference at the University of Pennsylvania at which planners emphasized technology. He thinks that there is more to it than that.
Thanksgiving
Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I would ask myself: what I am thankful for that is related to urbanism?
On 'Black Urbanism'
Architects and researchers are looking into the influences of African and African-American culture on urbanism.
Crime and urban design: Oscar Newman 36 years later
I recently read Oscar Newman’s 1970s book on crime prevention, “Defensible Space.” In this book, Newman addressed the question of why some public housing projects are insanely dangerous, and others only moderately so. Although Newman’s analysis is mostly confined to low-income housing, commentators of all stripes have relied on his work: new urbanist commentator Laurence Aurbach asserts that Newman’s work supports new urbanists’ emphasis on heavily trafficked, walkable streets (1) while Randall O’Toole considers Newman to be a defender of single-use, cul-de-sac sprawl (2).
End of Suburbia? Kotkin Says No Way
Joel Kotkin once again leaps to the defense of the suburbs as a choice, and says that urbanists who are hoping that Americans will rush back into the cities are sadly mistaken.
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
