United States
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.
Our River, Ourselves
The moribund state of the Los Angeles River reflects the zeitgeist of the city that it runs through, says The Economist. A mile wide but an inch deep, revitalization proposals are too conceptual at best and too feeble at worst.
Bicycle Usage Jumps 14% in NYC
According to Mayor Bloomberg's latest press release, nearly 19,000 cyclists populate the streets of NYC on a daily basis - that's 2,300 more than last spring. The growing popularity makes the soon to be unveiled bike-sharing system looks promising.
Boston's Transit Achieves New Balance with Bike-Sharing Program
Mayor Thomas Menino declared that "the car is no longer king in Boston" as the Hubway bike-sharing system made its debut this week, putting the city abreast with Washington D.C.
The $94 Billion Annual Funding Gap in Transportation
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a report this week that offers a bleak outlook at the nation's surface transportation infrastructure - just in time for the imminent Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling.
Fruitful Legal Battles Over Water Supply
In Kern County, Calif., trendy fruits like pomegranate are at the center of a number of contentious lawsuits over water resource management.
Changing Cities Reflect New Suburban Values Of White Migrants
LA Times Columnist Gregory Rodriguez notes that cities from LA to D.C. and even Atlanta are losing black and even Latino and Asian populations to more affluent whites migrating from the suburbs, who take their values with them.
Transportation and Civil Rights
Transportation is increasingly a major civil rights issue, according to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which argues that federal funding disproportionally serves car drivers.
Ed Glaeser Refutes Jane Jacobs
Glaeser argues that Jane Jacobs was attempting to preserve affordability with her historic preservation efforts, which he says is wrong-headed.
Olmsted the Environmentalist
A new biography of Frederick Law Olmsted pulls together letters and collections from five separate archives to paint him as a pioneering environmentalist and landscape architect.
Nissan Leaf, You Had Me at Hello
In the opening monologue of The Colbert Report, late-night comic Stephen Colbert mocks what appears to be another installment of "The Value of Zero" campaign for the all-electric, zero-emissions Nissan Leaf.
South Florida's High-Rises Enter Real Estate Nirvana
Home sales in the Miami metropolitan area surged 16% during the first six months of this year. Not only does the figure represent the highest jump since 2007, two-third of the transactions were paid in cash.
Shifting the U.S. to a Production Economy
Economic recovery depends on shifting the U.S. from a consumption economy to a production economy, according to this article. A good way to do it: build infrastructure.
Gas Guzzled to Differing Degrees in U.S. Cities
Cities are filled with gas-guzzlers, but some guzzle more than others. This infographic from Mint looks at which U.S. cities spend the most and least on gas.
Andres Duany Promotes "Agrarian Urbanism"
A new book by New Urbanist architect Andres Duany offers a blueprint for adding agriculture at all levels of development.
Housing Occupancy Down Across U.S.
Unoccupied housing is on the rise in many parts of the country, according to an analysis of U.S. Postal Service data.
American Youth Go Suburban
The youth of America will ditch its cities in favor of the suburbs, according to this op-ed from Joel Kotkin.
Obesity: Can Planners Stem The Epidemic?
The Active Living approach, promoting activity by changing physical space, is not enough to combat the obesity epidemic, Laura Tolkoff writes. Though the urban planner's role in reducing obesity is unclear, Tolkoff presents some possibilities.
The Makings of a "Just City"
At the Ford foundations 75th anniversary, Citiwire’s Neal Peirce reports how “ground urban strategies in inclusion and equity” is the secret to a “Just City.”
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
JM Goldson LLC
Custer County Colorado
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Jefferson Parish Government
Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Claremont
