Technology
Follow the Music... In Central Park
Brothers Hays and Ryan Holladay team up with Brooklyn-based developer, Bradley Feldman, to create a "location-aware album" app for Central Park.
First Look at Cornell's Winning $2 Billion Tech Campus
New details and a visualization from Cornell University's winning proposal to create a "game-changing" applied sciences and technology campus on New York's Roosevelt Island.
CA HSR: A Speed Too Fast?
LA to SF in 2 hrs, 40 mins? That promise in the proposition that voters approved in 2008 could be the train's undoing, as to keep that schedule it will require more expensive design, including viaducts and tunnels, than would otherwise necessitate.
Not An Inexpensive Bike Lane
Adding a pedestrian/bike lane to the 'west span' of the Bay Bridge won't come on the cheap: $550 million is the current estimate. The east span lane, from Yerba Buena Island to Oakland, will be included in the new bridge due to open in late 2013.
Environmental Devastation From Russia's Oil Drilling Considered Routine
It's on the scale of a Deepwater Horizon spill every 2 months - except that it's considered the cost of doing business. Aging pipes, lax oversight and inclement weather all combine to make an estimated 5 million tons of annual spillage.
Robot Roadbuilders of the Future
In 1958, it seemed all but inevitable that giant tree-chomping, asphalt-pouring machines would roam across the countryside leaving gleaming interstate highways in their wake.
Good News/Bad News For GM's Volt
October saw the first time the plug-in hybrid Volt outsell the all-electric Leaf; Consumer Reports rates Volt owners the most satisfied, but the car's potential to catch on fire is being investigated, and the $7,500 EV tax credit is under attack.
High-Speed Rail Project Faces Opposition
In California, a recent poll, according to Charles Chieppo, brought bad news stating that 53% of the states voters approved a $9.9 billion bond three years ago, but of those polled, 64% support a re-vote, and 59% would vote no if they had the chance.
Tiger III Grant Funds Awarded to Streetcar Project
In Cincinnati, Ohio, the "shovel-ready" Streetcar project has been awarded 10.9 million dollars in grant funding, according to Jenny Kessler, to "restore the project to its original aim of connecting the Uptown and Downtown employment centers."
Banning Cell Phone Use by Drivers Nationwide
The National Transportation Safety Board's recommendation is voluntary - it is up to the states to enact them into law. The CA state senator responsible for the ban on talking on hand-held cell phones and texting called it a 'political nonstarter'.
Folding Bikes Gain Popularity in Brazil
Maria Fernanda Cavalcanti, a resident of Brazil, writes that folding bicycles "...have been catching the attention of urban cyclists everywhere."
NYC Gets to Work on "Green Zoning" Rules
New York has created new zoning rules, now officially under review for approval, that combat the current zoning's sometimes impeding effect on green building.
Even or Odd? Rome Restricts Car Use
With pollution levels becoming dangerous in Rome, Italy, the government is taking a hard line on driving. In late November, only cars with even-numbered license plates were allowed to drive in the city, with odd plates the next.
Public Parks to Cover Highways in Hamburg
The City of Hamburg, Germany is planning on building elevated public parks on sections of the to-be-expanded A7 (Highway 7), which is considered one of the most important north-south connectors in Germany.
Doing it Old School with Physical Models
In this era of computer simulations, are models like the Bay Model (a giant replica of the San Francisco Bay previously used for research on estuary hydraulics and fluid dynamics) relevant? Janice Sinclaire says yes.
Actualizing Seasteads
Brainchild of libertarians, seasteads are brand new cities built upon the ocean. It's not as far-fetched as it sounds, according to this article's author, but it will have to overcome the myriad engineering, energy, and legal challenges.
Train Cars Recycle Kinetic Energy
A subway in Warsaw, Poland now features a system that captures the energy created by braking train cars for reuse elsewhere in the system.
Assessing Asia's Brand New Cities
In this piece, Greg Lindsay take a cautiously optimistic stance on whether or not from-scratch Asian cities are the way to address urban overpopulation.
Can Electric Cars Help Automakers Reach 55 MPG?
Consumers still have "range anxiety", the fear that electric cars won't get them to and from their destinations on one charge. NPR looks at the attitudes that are still keeping people from investing in electric vehicles.
How - and Where - Should We Live?
A new report predicts how - and where - we'll be living in the near future, and where planners and developers should focus.
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
