United States
Stadiums Get Sustainable
Many sport agencies are realizing the benefits of going green. John McHale Jr., executive vice president at M.L.B. said “just because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you can’t do something.” Many others are doing their part to help as well.
Facebook Building Server Farm in Sweden for Passive Cooling
Internet server farms suck up enormous amounts of energy keeping all those mainframes cool. So Facebook has announced it will build in Northern Sweden and use only the natural air to chill their facility.
Seniors Equate Mobility with Life
"Carjacked" author Anne Lutz Fernandez says Time's tearful coverage of the traffic deaths of a 72-year-married Iowa couple fails to recognize the true problem: that Americans are persuaded that driving = living.
Bane of the Middle Class: Rising Gas Prices
In this Washington Post blog, Brad Plumer writes on a New American Foundation report on rising gas prices and their disproportionate impact on the poor and middle class. Public policies intended to reduce fuel consumption, however, benefit the rich.
Subway Vent Benches Kill Two Birds With One Stone
Hurricane Irene brought flooding to the M and R subway lines in Queens, prompting the MTA to seek innovative ways to prevent it from happening again. Rogers Marvel Architects developed an innovative solution that also creates a bench above.
Despair and Hope in Occupied Rust Belt Cities
As part of an "Occupy America" tour, Arun Gupta visits Occupy protests in three rust belt cities, and finds that the economic forces that unleashed the global recession long ago stripped these cities of their economic and social fabric.
How to Build a Better Park
New Urbanist Peter Katz presents his guidelines for creating a popular urban park. First published in 1995, Katz's ideas still hold up.
The Growing Food Truck Industrial Complex
The food truck phenomenon is here to stay and stimulating tangential industries that include truck outfitters, permit expediters, lawyers lobbyists, website designers, and marketing professionals.
Homelessness and the Occupy Wall Street Movement
The logistics involved in maintaining the Occupy Wall Street protests turn out to be some of the very activities that homeless people have been banned from doing in most cities for years.
Diesel Cars and Trucks Will Flood U.S. Market in 2014
Eric Loveday of AutoBlogGreen explains why we'll be seeing a lot more diesels in the U.S.: increased federal emission standards will only be met by increasing the number of diesel cars on the market.
Touring the Suburban Environment
Jason Griffiths and Alex Gino set out in 2002 to document the unremarkable character of the American suburbs. 22,382 miles and 2,593 photographs later, they concluded that suburbia "is difficult to define."
No Excuses For Not Charging For Parking
Transportation consultant Jeff Tumlin admits that it's no easy job to convince people (let alone political leaders) that it's in their best interest, and that of their community, that parking should not be free. New technology may be the ticket.
Increasingly, Infrastructure Offloaded to Private Sector
Unable to pay for transportation infrastructure and unlikely to get help at the federal level, cities and states are looking to private entities to build and invest in their infrastructure projects.
The Second Coming of Marked-Down Detroit
The 2010 Census reveals that Detroit's population is approaching the 1910's level. Of the City's 714,000 residents, 83% are black and nearly 40% live in poverty. With virtually every statistic going against its favor, can Motown make a comeback?
Housing Crisis Making Americans Ill
A new survey from the American Journal of Public Health found that people who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments are more likely to be suffering from depression.
Does Affordable Housing Have to Look Bad?
Allison Arieff explodes the unspoken myth that public housing must look cheap and unattractive, citing some stellar examples of affordable design.
Could Gentrification Sometimes Be A Good Thing?
Kaid Benfield bravely tackles the topic of gentrification, suggesting that while all attempts should be made to avoid displacing current residents, revitalizing neighborhoods is still a good thing.
Will There Be More Electric Charging Stations Than Cars To Plug-In?
Charging stations for electric cars are multiplying much faster than the plug-in vehicles that can use them for many reasons. While the federal subsidies help, some in the business community believe that the chargers will attract new customers.
Mad U.S.: Top 10 Angriest Cities
Denver was the angriest city in the nation with 12,018 protesters per million, 5000 attending the April 15,2009 Tea Party Protest, and 2000 for the the October 15 Occupy Wall Street protest.
Public Space Ordinances Used to Target Occupy Wall Street
Across the country, local authorities are turning to existing public space ordinances -- many of them oriented to criminalizing homelessness -- to clamp down on the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
Pagination
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