Technology
Will Your Bank Card and Bus Pass Become One?
MarketWatch reports on the rise of contactless smart cards in public transit and banking, and speculates that the time is ripe to put the two uses on the same card.
Are Automated Public Toilets A Fiasco?
Seattle is closing the lid on a disappointing experiment with public toilets after spending $5 million dollars to install them. Cities from Boston to San Francisco have had mixed results with automated toilets, The New York Times reports.
Electricity and Rail Can Solve Our Energy Woes
Writer Benjamin J. Turon argues that we aren't in an energy crisis as much as a transportation crisis, and that we already have all the technology we need.
FasTrak Toll Hacking: Dangerous Or Ridiculous?
A "Black Hat security researcher" claims he has discovered security flaws in the FasTrak toll transponder used by drivers in California and Colorado. However, the story is quickly dismantled as "baloney" by a toll road industry insider.
Networked Parking System Alerts Drivers to Free Spots
New technologies promise to revolutionize the hunt for a parking spot in big cities like San Francisco. Donald Shoup is along for the ride.
It's Not That Easy Greening Your Fleet
Austin and a number of other cities are working to reduce the carbon footprint left by their fleets of city vehicles. Austin officials are looking for ways to offset their remaining emissions.
GIS Solves Crimes
Cops in Toronto catch a criminal through GIS plotting, and reporter Sara Barbour takes us on a tour of other unusual new applications of GIS.
The Green City of the Future
This multimedia presentation from Popular Science offers a vision of future green cities and the technologies that will sustain them.
People Mover
This article from Next American City looks at escalators -- the expensive, energy-intensive, and often under-used transportation mode.
Reviving the Lowly Clothesline
A grassroots group is working to remove barriers to erecting clotheslines, which are commonly banned by apartments buildings as a blight. The group is pitching their work as an energy conservation effort.
On the Verge of Replacement, 'Geographical Community' Survives
The rise in virtual connections and Internet-based communities had many worried that traditional community interaction was dying out. Governing's Alan Ehrenhalt argues it hasn't yet, and probably won't.
Using Web Mapping For the Public Good
The use of geographic information systems for the public good is a rapidly growing field. The technology shows great promise for discovering unequal distribution of resources and environmental racism, writes Peter Manzo.
Google Maps, Keep Out
North Oaks, Minnesota is one of a handful of towns pushing back on Google, claiming that their Street View feature is a violation of privacy.
'Tele-Nurses' Save Precious Bucks on Ambulances
Instead of sending an ambulance every time someone calls 9-1-1, the Houston City Council voted to contract with a telephone nursing service for non-emergencies.
New Yorkers Can Now Find the Best Bike Routes Online
A new web site that generates directions for cyclists could supplant the New York City Bike Map.
June is Public Participation in Urban Planning Month
Urban planning commentator Robert Goodspeed declares June "Public Participation in Urban Planning Month" and offers a four part series examining how technology and public participation might be more closely linked.
Finding Ancient Cities Below the Surface
This slideshow form Popular Science takes a step-by-step look at how to detect and uncover ancient buried settlements from satellite imagery.
Turning Garbage into Power
A new technology called plasma gasification may make landfills a thing of the past, and make city garbage collection a profitable service.
Celebrating Buckminster Fuller
In expectation of a new exhibit opening at the Whitney Museum of Art, the New Yorker reflects on the curious life and career of Buckminster Fuller.
The Possibilities of 'Spime'
Noah Radford of Space Syntax gave an interesting presentation on the possible future of "spimes", objects like bricks that are given self-awareness in space and time (hence, spime) and what such objects might mean for future planning and design.
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.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association
