Technology

Helmet Camera

Ready, Set, Action: Using 'Active Lifestyle Cameras' in Planning

Active Lifestyle Cameras are increasing in popularity—allowing for people to capture the moment on camera while in action. Now planners can use active lifestyle cameras to study all manner of activities, from use of parks to commuting.

February 17, 2015 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

Pop Up Plaza in Louisville

Part Two: Should MoMA Tout Tactical Urbanism(s) as a Solution to Uneven Growth?

The second and final post about MoMa's exhibit, "Uneven Growth: Tactical Urbanisms for Expanding Megacities."

February 13, 2015 - Mike Lydon

FLV California train

Is California's High Speed Rail the Transcontinental Railroad of its Time?

Journalist Kathleen Sharp, whose great-grandfather worked on the transcontinental railroad, draws comparisons between that epic achievement and the construction of California's high speed rail in this New York Times op-ed.

February 10, 2015 - The New York Times - Opinion

Measuring Brainwaves to Map the Stress Level of Bike Routes

Anyone who uses a bike to navigate their city knows that every ride has stretches that are much more stressful than others. A new project collects data from brainwaves to map the stress levels of bikers in New York City.

February 8, 2015 - Wired

Lyft

New Index Ranks Cities by their Transportation Apps

In some cities, it can feel like a new era of transportation—with new options like real-time bus arrival data, on-demand cars-for-hire, and more, all available through a smart phone. Which cities are out in front of the new world?

February 7, 2015 - Frontier Group

Website Opens Bay Area Transportation Data to the Masses

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission—the Bay Area's regional transportation planning agency—recently did fans of data and mapping a huge favor and launched a website called Vital Signs.

February 7, 2015 - LA.Streetsblog

Social Media Apps

Digital Divide Includes Transportation And Tech

For people who'd rather own a smart phone than a set of wheels, new types of mobile tech are making it increasingly easy to get around cities. A recent report ranks the metro areas that are making best use of these technologies. On top: Austin, TX

February 6, 2015 - Streetsblog USA

San Francisco Skyline

Auto Use Holds Steady in San Francisco

Even as innovations like ridesharing take hold in tech-friendly San Francisco, the percentage of trips taken by personal auto is stuck at just under 50 percent.

February 5, 2015 - Streetsblog SF

Uber's Newest Competitor: Google

Big news on the automated vehicle front yesterday, as Google and Uber now seem destined to become competitors in the battle for the future of transportation.

February 3, 2015 - Bloomberg

Burlington Vermont

Running on 100 Percent Renewables, Burlington Shows the Way Forward

The city of Burlington, largest in the Green Mountain State, is the only city in the U.S. to provide electricity from entirely renewable sources, notwithstanding criticism from some environmentalists. PBS Newshour Weekend investigates.

February 1, 2015 - PBS NewsHour

High Tech Stores Provide New Leases on Life for High-End Malls

Big-name technology companies with retail stores, like Apple, Microsoft, and Tesla, have enabled many Class A malls to not just stay in business, but thrive. Record sales per square foot are flowing.

January 31, 2015 - The Wall Street Journal

Commute

Mapping U.S. Highway Intensity

A new map from Mapbox visualizes traffic on all roads eligible for highway safety funds by combining data available through the Highway Performance Monitoring System on OpenStreetMap.

January 29, 2015 - MapBox

Private Cellphone Data and the Next Frontier of Urban Planning

A survey of the quickly broadening reach of data about the movement of traffic reveals the next step necessary to achieve congestion nirvana: unfettered access to private cell phone data.

January 28, 2015 - Next City

Is the Waze Police-Tracking Feature a Threat to Public Safety?

The popular navigation app Waze includes a feature that rewards users for revealing the location of police officers. A debate over the public safety impacts of that feature is gaining traction, and some police officers want the feature removed.

January 27, 2015 - Fusion

Technology Survey

City Planning Department Technology Benchmarking Survey 2015

The following report surveys the current state of Internet technology as employed by the planning departments of over 500 cities in the United States.

January 27, 2015 - William Riggs

An Interactive Map of California's Urban Water Use

California has commenced new water use reporting requirements, which the Pacific Institute has compiled into an interactive map and database to provide accessible evidence about where the state's water goes.

January 23, 2015 - Pacific Institute

Snowplow

Pittsburgh Launches GPS-Enabled Snow Plow Tracker

Pittsburgh has a new web-based portal for residents to track snow removal operations as they happen. It's the latest example of a city allowing public access to the details of city operations during snowstorms.

January 22, 2015 - CityLab

Can Maine Follow Denmark to Energy Independence?

Visitors from small islands off the coast of Maine traveled to Samsø, a larger island off the coast of Denmark, to learn how to emulate its transformation into a model of renewable energy.

January 20, 2015 - The New York Times

Lessons for the Real World in SimCity 4's Homeless Problem

Emanuel Maiberg discusses an ongoing crisis in a simulated version of reality familiar to many planners—i.e., the homelessness problem in SimCity 4.

January 17, 2015 - Motherboard

Plan Portsmouth

A Small Town's Game-Changing Approach to Mapping

Portsmoth, New Hampshire has created textured, 3D maps of its historic district to help illustrate development impacts during the approval process.

January 15, 2015 - Next City

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.