Technology
Is Tesla Ready for an Apple Moment?
A Quartz article describes the recent announcement of the Model 3, and the subsequent response by the market, as a "slow-motion disruption of the global auto industry."
Community Engagement Highlights from APA 2016
As I do every year at the APA National Conference, I did my best to catch as many community engagement sessions as possible. Here are highlights, takeaways, and the common threads I noticed this year.
Slot-Based Design Could Eliminate Traffic Lights
An MIT study determined that traffic lights, and their inefficiencies, could be eliminated if all vehicles were equipped to regulate their speed and "batch" together as they approach intersections.
Rebecca Solnit: Public Transit Is Greater Than Self-Driving Cars
Rebecca Solnit writes a pointed criticism of the wave of optimism attached to the self-driving car. Her preference: public transit.
New Apps for Discovering Street Food
Apps that improve city living and quality of life in cities are coming to the market seemingly every day. That's fine: it would be impossible to have too many apps for exploring options in street food.
Friday Ear Candy: Mapping the Sound of the City
Chatty Maps break down the sound profile of cities.
Why Some Smart Home Gadgets Are Dumb
An article in Quartz laments the underwhelming results of a generation of gadgets intended to make houses technologically enabled.
Upstart Uber Competitor Will Offer Equity to Drivers
Juno, a new transportation network company launching to a small group of testers in New York this month, is hoping to shake up the business model adopted by its predecessors in the field.
D.C. Metro Changes Arrival Estimation Technology
It's the details of transit apps that matter to users, so the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) just made a change of technology provider that will help make it easier to accurately predict bus arrival times.
Making Sense of Median Rent Statistics
Amid the ubiquitous, and inconsistent, reportage on rising rents and housing prices, a guide from City Observatory helps point readers toward the most accurate numbers.
Let's Talk About Civic Crowdfunding and Government Responsibility
A reply to skeptics about the democratic power and potential of civic crowdfunding platforms.
Scraping Social Media to Analyze Public Engagement
Planners are increasingly using social media for public engagement. How can you analyze what people are saying? NodeXL is an easy to use free tool for scraping and analyzing social media. I use this tool to report from the APA National Conference.
Study: Self-Driving Cars Likely to Restore 70% of Lost Faith in Humanity
A new study also finds reason to believe that self-driving cars will make everyone nicer and generally more affable that any point in human history since the advent of the car.
Open Data Tool Boosts TOD in Chicago
A "TOD Calculator" developed by a Chicago non-profit promises to deliver quantifiable, digestible data on the community impacts of transit-oriented development.
Saving Coastal Cities from Climate Change
A new whitepaper outlines solutions for improving the resiliency and sustainability of coastal cities around the world—using Red Hook, Brooklyn as a case study.
Op-Ed: Tech Can Enhance Parks
In the traditional view, nature and digital technology clash. But for many people, tech can offer ways to better engage with parks.
Meet Flow: Google's Transportation Data Revolution
Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs is readying a product called Flow to help cities and counties make the most of transportation data. The news is another step along the path to a future version of transportation.
New York Subway Service Lags as Ridership Grows
Increasing ridership, coupled with decreasing service, means a very crowded subway system in New York City.
A Detroit Design School Seeks a Seat at the Table
Academic institutions can play a major role in enriching the communities they operate in. Amy Deines, interim dean of the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University in Detroit, discusses the city and school's trajectory.
No Business as Usual in an Autonomous Vehicle Future
Among the reasons to reconsider new investments in expanded roadway capacity: the impending revolution in transportation that will arrive when cars start driving themselves.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
Tyler Technologies
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
