Technology
Does Los Angeles Have What It Takes To Be a Leader for 21st Century Metropolises?
Brookings’ Bruce Katz explains how municipalities like Los Angeles can create thousands of jobs in advanced manufacturing through connecting planning, industry, innovation, and infrastructure efforts.
Ford Plans New Headquarters for a New Century
Following the example of much newer corporations in Silicon Valley, the Ford Motor Company is planning a $9 billion new campus in Dearborn, to be built over ten years.
DataUSA: An Intuitive Tool for Public Data
A collaboration between Deloitte, Datawheel, and MIT has produced an intuitive aesthetically-pleasing gathering point for public data in the United States. Specific locations and industries boast easy-to-read profiles.
Four Steps to Enhanced Crowdsourcing
The second "Empowered Design, By 'the Crowd'" article offers insight into making the most out of new crowdsourcing resources.
The Pop Culture Verdict: Transit Is Hip
Several decades ago, public transit was a distinctly low-quality way of getting around. Now, if we can believe TV and movies depicting the near future, all that has changed. Transit has become aspirational.
Self-Driving Cars Have Their Own Lobby Now
A coalition of the automated, if you will, as Ford, Volvo, Google, Uber, and Lyft have formed the new Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets to lobby for the causes of the nascent self-driving car industry.
Auditing D.C. Metro's New Bus Prediction Technology
Regular bus riders know how integral an accurate real-time bus arrival system can be to the experience of bus transit. D.C. Metro just made a switch in technology, and Greater Greater Washington evaluated the results (so far).
When Will the Trucking Industry Electrify?
Tesla's success with the Model 3 begs the question: When will the trucking industry electrify?
Contest: Create a Game Based on the Life and Times of Robert Moses
The so-called Robert Moses Cup invites the gaming- and planning-inclined to design a game capturing the essence of Robert Moses.
Expected Budget Cuts Hurt Port Modernization Prospects in Anchorage
The Alaska Legislature snubbed the Port of Anchorage due to a huge state budget shortfall. The port handles 90 percent of the state's freight and is a vital national security facility.
Primaries vs. Caucuses from a Planner's Perspective
In the middle of presidential primary season, the debate about the caucus vs. primary processes is hot with criticisms being leveled on both sides. What can planners learn about this debate to help improve community engagement for planning?
Inside the Planetizen Redesign
Planetizen Managing Editor James Brasuell describes some of the recent changes to the Planetizen site.
New Tool Scores Transit Access and Service
A new tool called AllTransit offers a new way of scoring transit access and service available for any corner of the United States.
Sidewalk Labs Launches Urban Technology Blog
Alphabet's Sidewalk Labs announced the launch of Sidewalk Talk — a blog and forum for urbanists and technologists to converse and collaborate.
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.
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
