Technology

The Best Urban Crowdfunding Projects
Guardian Cities has compiled a list (with pictures!) of the "smartest" urban crowdfunding projects from around the world.

Planning on a Budget: There is an App for That
Tight on time, staff, and budget and looking for technology to help your planning effort? Explore new mobile friendly tools that can aid planners with public engagement, documentation of existing conditions, and traffic counting.
The Hudson Yards 'Quantified Community' Experiment
Undergirding the massive mix of uses and investments called Hudson Yards is an ambitious plan to gather and analyze data provided by the 65,000 people a day who make use of the facility.
Detroit's Citizen Filmmakers Document 'One Day in Detroit'
Following a concept familiar from the 'One Day on Earth' documentary, a legion of citizen filmmakers spent April 26, 2014 documenting the many moments that mark the Detroit experience.
Policy First; Then Technology
Civic leaders chime in on how policy should guide technology and smart cities initiatives.

Veto Kills Uber and Lyft Regulation Exemptions in Arizona
While many states are rushing to figure out how to regulate transportation network companies like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar, Arizona came very close to exempting the companies from the taxi and limo regulations.
Friday Eye Candy: The 'Most Definitive' Film About Water
Canadian filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nick de Pencier created a feature length documentary film called Watermark to capture the “existential interactions around the world with water."
Travel Back in Time with Google Street View
Clear your schedule: a new feature on Google Street View allows users to click through images from the past.
A Shot Across the Bow of the Shared Economy
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman penned an op-ed for the New York Times that specifically calls out Airbnb and Uber—two companies at the forefront of calls to regulate the emerging sharing economy.

Big Data’s Victory Over Anonymity
A writer laments the advances made by data collection in cities—once a location where people could maintain or seek anonymity.
Will Tampa Bay Solve its Transit Equation?
Robert Trigaux wonders if the Tampa Bay metro area will be wake up to the country’s changing demands of transportation and end “the parochial arm wrestling over what kind (if any) of mass transit lies in its future.”
On the State of Architecture Criticism
Inga Saffron recently joined a very small group of architecture critics to win the Pulitzer Prize. What does her victory say about the state of criticism, especially built environment criticism, today?
Seattle’s Cap on Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar Rescinded by Referendum
After Seattle Citizens to Repeal Ordinance 124441 acquired twice the necessary number of signatures necessary to send a March ordinance capping the number of Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar drivers in the city, the mayor will negotiate with the companies.
A Comprehensive Examination of the Bay Area Housing Crisis
The Google Bus protests got the media’s attention, and the Ellis Act has politicians' attention, but the Bay Area’s current tech-housing-gentrification crisis is a big, complicated mess.
Capital Beltway Peak Toll Tops $11
Use of the 495 Express Lanes, a HOT variable toll, has been fetching a pretty penny this year for commuters looking to escape the notoriously congested Capital Beltway. The ongoing experiment in commute pricing should recede before a tipping point.
Cities Map—and Track Benefits—of Urban Forest
OpenTreeMap allows cities to inventory trees and see the environmental and economic benefits.
Beyond Oil: Trains Turn to LNG Fuel and Hybrid Locomotives
According to a new EIA report, the cost advantages of liquefied natural gas make it an attractive alternative to diesel fuel for major U.S. freight railroad companies. Hybrid diesel-electric locomotives on order for 5 states will power HSR routes.
Coming this Summer: Airbnb Will Collect Taxes in San Francisco, New York State
The ongoing saga of the tax and regulatory standing of Airbnb, the popular room rental app and poster child for the sharing economy, is evolving in San Francisco, Portland and the state of New York.
The History of GPS—Back to the First Century
A new book details the primitive origins of the GPS tracking technologies that are so pervasive in today’s mobile-phone-enabled world.
Real-Time Multi-Modal Way-Finding—Displayed in the Public Realm
The TransitScreen service has been around since 2012, but it’s latest product, real-time displays of all modes of transportation, can display in the public realm, providing a whole new level of interaction with the city.
Pagination
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.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions