Technology
Sure These Cars Can Talk, But Do They Listen?
Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) announces the winners of the Connected Vehicle Challenge that asked people to submit ideas, using the Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) technology to its full potential.
Planning for Robots
Art student Diego Trujillo-Pisanty is considering what a future of domestic robot servants would do to the built environment.
Putting Alternative Fuel Stations on the Map
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy released an interactive map displaying thousands of alternative fuel stations around the nation.
City Engagement Via Technology
Cities across the U.S. are increasingly looking to technology to improve the public participation process and increase the ways citizens can engage with the government. Chief technical officers are becoming more common.
Guggenheim City Laboratory Arrives in NYC
The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a traveling exhibition that will visit nine cities in the next six years, providing a public space to explore the challenges of today's cities.
The Fields' Efficiency: How Innovation Outshines the Sun
At a two-acre site located 80 miles west of Ann Arbor, an engineering major at the Univ. of Michigan installed the state's largest solar farm with movable trackers that increase the amount of energy captured by almost 10%.
54.5 MPG by 2025
In a remarkable show of cooperation between the auto industry and the administration, the two agreed upon the highest increase since the advent of fuel efficiency standards. Current standards require 35.5 mpg by 2016 - safeguards exist for problems.
Testing the Smart Grid
South Korea is making perhaps the biggest moves towards creating a vast "smart" electricity grid with a test grid of homes equipped with new meters and applications that communicate with each other and the grid.
Considering A Car-Free L.A.
New ideas are emerging to address the mobility issues faced by cities. One specific project focuses on the epicenter of congested America: Los Angeles.
A Little More Complete – Making Way for Neighborhood Electric Vehicles
Wave of the future, or glorified golf cart? Lisa Nisenson says that dismissing neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) is a mistake, and planners can use NEV planning to make more walkable urban centers.
The Tortoise vs. Solar Power
Gov. Brown, a former AG who filed many lawsuits to protect the environment, sided with a renewable energy producer in a lawsuit to stop a huge solar thermal power project in the Mojave Desert on behalf of the threatened desert tortoise.
High Tech Approach To Decongesting Midtown Manhattan
Using remote sensing, GPS technology and other high-tech strategies, city traffic planners aim to clear Midtown's infamous traffic problems - from Queens. The $1.6 million investment will tackle a problem costing the city about $13 billion a year.
Designing the Built Environment With Information Technology
A new project at the National Building Museum is collecting information to better understand the built environment. Next American City talks with the program's curator, Susan Piedmont-Palladino.
Mapping Location Information from Flickr and Twitter
Programmer and designer Eric Fischer has created a series of images that map the location of geo-coded images on Flickr and places where people are using Twitter.
Public Parks Online
As the desire for wireless internet increases, some public parks are finding that Wi-Fi networks are becoming a new and important amenity.
Fantastical Concept City Moves in Circles
Animator Roy Prol seems serious about his proposed "Clockwork City", which is made up of a series of concentric rings that keep the city always moving and supposedly making transit unnecessary.
MIT Develops New Fuel, Dubbed "Cambridge Crude"
A post at The Polis Blog asks the question, "how might Cambridge Crude change cities?"
How Do US Cities Measure Up in Broadband Accessibility?
According to this piece from CivSource, US cities have fallen considerably behind other developed world cities when it comes to broadband accessibility. The influence of private sector "incumbents" is to blame, writes the author.
Fast Web and Local Food Key to Chattanooga's Revival
Through a combination of local food initiatives and the installation of a new high-speed fiber optic network, the city of Chattanooga is hoping to continue its trend of recovering from years of industrial decline.
Making Cities Smarter By Making Urban Data Digestible
Making urban data available is important, but not as important as presenting that data in a digestible way, according to this piece from Change Observer.
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
