Technology
Los Angeles Lacking Data to Support Bike Infrastructure Investments
Los Angeles has added hundreds of miles of bike routes in recent years, but the local paper of record identifies a lack of data as contributing to ongoing discord from drivers who feel like they're being pinched by bike lanes.
An App to Help the Visually Impaired Use Transit
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, working with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is testing an app that will help the blind navigate Arlington Station in early 2015. The app will eventually be free to use throughout the system.
How Google Maps Gets the 'Ground Truth' for Street View
A peak under the hood at "Ground Truth"—the operation behind Google Street View.
Part One: Should MoMA Tout Tactical Urbanism(s) as a Solution to Uneven Growth?
In part one of a two-part series, I introduce MoMA's latest Issues in Contemporary Architecture exhibit and offer a definition of Tactical Urbanism.
Do Good Techies Make Good Neighbors?
Who wouldn’t want the many benefits that a thriving digital workforce can bring? Growing wages, agile thinking, and jeans and ping pong in the office! Oh, but wait...
New Mayor, New Agenda for the Port City of Long Beach
Recently elected Mayor of Long Beach Robert Garcia, 37 years old, outlines his priorities: education, climate change, and economic development.
The Most Popular Planetizen Posts of 2014
We've been collecting data on the posts you made the most popular for the year 2014.
Study: 'It's hard to beat gasoline' on Air Quality
A University of Minnesota study published in PNAS looks at alternatives including ethanol and electricity and determined that "it's hard to beat gasoline." Even electric vehicles can do better or worse depending on how utilities source electricity.
Mapping the Locavore's Food Supply
FiveThirtyEight and ESPN recently produced a short documentary about the creators of Falling Fruit—a website that maps food sources in cities around the world.
Citizens in Central Arkansas Imagine the Future with Interactive Online Plans
How do you create a plan document that grabs the attention of your audience and generates feedback? In Central Arkansas, citizens are exploring and experiencing an interactive online draft plan that makes participation easy and fun.
Study: Passenger Vehicle Fleet is Older and More Polluting
Arguably just as important than the sales of new vehicles, e.g., hybrids and EVs, are the consequences of not buying new cars.
Tough Week for Uber on the West Coast—Three Cities File Injunctions
Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland all filed suit against Uber recently hoping to bring the transportation network company in conformity with public safety regulations.
Five Things You Need to Know About E-Bikes—An Urban Transportation Paradigm Shift
When you have a small electric motor, a battery, and a throttle on your bicycle, it becomes very difficult to make any more excuses. Here's why...
Op-Ed: Urban Design Should Mind the Line Between 'Cute' and 'Safe'
Sarah Goodyear writes a dissenting take on the "cutestification" of urban design—calling for a priority on clean and safe over "fun."
Six Helpful Apps for Urban Designers
Leslie Clagett shares a list of apps for urban designers (helpful to project managers, too) "to streamline design problems, decision making, and materials selection."
The Eco Village Concept: Climate Mitigation Might Require Experimentation
Robert Boyer of UNC-Charlotte discusses his new article on the hurdles surrounding building environmentally friendly Ecovillages. Follow Journal of Planning Education and Research @JPER7.
Market in Portland Creates Bicycle Bridge Options
A new project to convert a little-used parking lot in a cloverleaf onramp opens the door to improve an awkward bike bridge landing in Portland, Oregon.
Friday Eye Candy: Stunning Visualizations of Civilization in Space
Dan Malouf shares a collection of still images taken from the four-minute film Wanderers showing "what human civilization might look like with colonies on Mars, in the asteroid belt, and on the moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus."
The United Nations Studies Urban Emissions Monitoring
Urban emissions researchers have been invited to speak at the UN Climate Conference in Lima. Their findings: through focused and networked monitoring, cities can make real inroads on cutting carbon.
Tel Aviv Named World's Smartest City
The Smart City Expo and World Congress, held this year in Barcelona, announced its 2014 World Smart Cities Awards. This year the top award went to Tel Aviv, Israel.
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
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority
