Technology

Palm Trees

A Wind Turbine Acting Like a Palm Tree Delivers Five Times the Electricity

It's still a longshot for full-scale production, but a unique research partnership has produced a unique example of biomimicry: a wind turbine that borrows from palm trees to achieve new levels of energy production.

February 4, 2016 - ASME

Video game door

What If Gordon Freeman Was a Civil Engineer?

The video game INFRA trades your typical Russian ultra-nationalists and Nazi zombies for a city on the verge of ruin. The protagonist, an engineer, is tasked with the seemingly mundane tasks that will bring the place back to life.

February 3, 2016 - CityLab

Little Free Library

Op-Ed: Sharing Cities We Can Trust

Duncan McLaren and Julian Agyeman launch a withering critique of the sharing economy as we know it, and envision "sharing cities" built around technologies that put community before commerce.

February 3, 2016 - The Boston Globe

Coming This Week to D.C. Metro Stations: Grocery Delivery

Three D.C. Metro stations will now include grocery delivery. The service could expand, especially if it raises revenues for the cash-strapped transit agency.

February 2, 2016 - The Washington Post

Facebook Developing Carpool Capabilities

The most popular social media site in the world is the latest entry in the quickly evolving world of mobility applications after filing a patent to for technology that would connect carpoolers.

February 1, 2016 - Tech Insider

Public Wi-Fi

A Primer on New York City’s Fast, Free Public Wi-Fi

New York City’s new public Wi-Fi system is fast—really fast. But before you logon, remember to take all those encryption precautions you've heard about for years.

February 1, 2016 - The Wall Street Journal

Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority Adopts Open Data Policy

It makes sense that the transit agency serving the Silicon Valley would be one of the first to adopt a formal open data policy.

January 29, 2016 - Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority

Metro Map

The Go LA App Offers a One-Stop Shop for Transportation Choices

A public-private partnership between Xerox and the city of Los Angeles rolls out a new mobile trip-planning app to the public today. Now it's on the city's residents to use this new power wisely.

January 27, 2016 - James Brasuell

Denver Launching 'Smart City' Partnership With Panasonic

Energy infrastructure, street lighting, security services, health outcomes, and more will receive a technological overhaul for Denver's Peña Station NEXT project.

January 25, 2016 - The Denver Post

Lancaster Central Market

Imagining the Future Urban Food Market

Public food markets can be key centers of urban commerce and social life. Late last year, a brainstorming event in London considered how they might evolve to accommodate modern lifestyles and technologies.

January 22, 2016 - Nesta

Students Submitting Ideas for the Hyperloop

As a part of a competition sponsored by SpaceX, university students and independent engineering teams are building scale-model Hyperloop pods.

January 22, 2016 - FutureStructure

Solar Power Plant

Texas Solar Market Poised to Grow

Over the past decade, Texas has led on wind but lagged on solar power. That may soon change. Texas solar companies are now offering "all-solar" plans to take advantage of an improved market.

January 21, 2016 - Dallas News

Study: Transit Agencies Should Respond to the Haters

Here's a counter-intuitive proposition for transit agencies: feed the Twitter trolls.

January 20, 2016 - The Urban Edge

Map

Getting Residents Engaged in Participatory Mapping

Participatory mapping has become an increasingly popular planning tool. The examples that follow highlight how communities are using participatory mapping.

January 18, 2016 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

GE Relocates HQ from Suburban Connecticut to Boston

GE is abandoning its 68-acre suburban campus in Fairfield, Conn. for Boston's Seaport District. As WBUR's technology reporter, Curt Nickisch put it, "Today's knowledge workers want bike racks and subway stops not country clubs and parking garages."

January 17, 2016 - NPR

One App Combines Bikeshare Info for 110 Cities

The trip planning app Moovit this week announced a big upgrade, bringing together bikeshare info from cities around the world into one place.

January 17, 2016 - Geektime

Tiny House

Are Tiny Houses All They Are Cracked Up To Be?

Maybe not so much, according to an article in the Globe and Mail.

January 16, 2016 - The Globe and Mail

Cautious Optimism in the Wake of COP21

With the historic climate agreement reached in Paris at COP21, what implications will it have on the architecture, engineering and design industries? Doggerel spoke to U.S. Green Building Council Chair-elect Fiona Cousins for her perspective.

January 15, 2016 - Doggerel

Using Twitter to Better Understand Public Sentiment

By using the data provided by millions of Twitter users, two researchers discovered surprising insights into public sentiment in shrinking cities.

January 14, 2016 - At Lincoln House

How the Internet of Things Helps to Bridge the Digital Divide

Internet access and digital skills unlock the Internet of Things (IoT). Applications such as telecommuting, virtual meetings, app-enabled public transport, smart cars, and smart logistics can curb emissions and create sustainable growth.

January 13, 2016 - Cities of the Future

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.