United States
Shantytowns, USA
The economic crisis is leading to a surge in homelessness and the growth of tent cities in many U.S. cities.
Reinventing Infrastructure with Tech
According to Kazys Varnelis, architects should spend less time worrying about the little funding that the stimulus allots to highways and rail, and spending more time focusing on new technologies that supplement typical infrastructure.
Amory Lovins and the 2,000 Watt Society
WorldChanging interviews Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, discussing the 2,000 watt lifestyle proposed by the Swiss and his recent letter to Secretary Steven Chu.
Sustaining the New Urbanism
New urbanists ponder how they can adapt to the new economic climate and avoid the fate of their predecessors.
2010 Census Outreach to Target the Foreclosed and Immigrants
Increased ethnic and language diversity, combined with widespread housing abandonment will make data gathering for the 2010 Census especially challenging.
Signs of Spring for Smart Growth
The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that President Obama signed on Feb. 17 left advocates of compact and transit-oriented development practically biting their tongues.
Rectilinear Grids Make a Comeback
In these austere times, some urbanists are advocating greater use of the traditional rectilinear grid — an efficient, less expensive, but also challenging pattern.
O'Toole Says Trains Are For Tourists
Randall O'Toole- in a curiously non-audio opinion piece from NPR- says that trains around the world are fun but are otherwise overly expensive transportation systems used mainly by the elite.
Governor: Toughest Job in America?
Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer says that as a result of outmoded industrial and funding models, state governments are facing grave financial problems.
Suburban Voices Needed At White House
This piece from Robert E. Lang and Lawrence Levy calls for President Barack Obama to include suburban voices in his administration's policy discussions about urban issues.
Second Homes Flood Rental Market
Owners of second homes are leaning harder on these properties to bring in income, but are finding the market for vacation rentals more complicated than it used to be.
Smart Grid Needs State Cooperation
Smart rates that reflect the variability of energy demand will be an essential aspect of smart electricity grid, according to experts. To get there, states will have to make some changes.
Tough Road For Office of Urban Affairs
Neal Peirce looks at the daunting challenges facing the new White House Office of Urban Affairs.
A New Era of National Planning?
Planetizen blogger Rob Goodspeed looks back to America's past to find examples of effective national planning that could be applied today.
Recycling Programs Hurt by Recession
The market for recyclables has taken a sharp nosedive in recent months, challenging cities' ability to provide recycling services.
Kunstler Predicts Extinction of City Planning
In a discussion about how graveyards fit into new forms of urbanism, James Howard Kunstler predicts that city planning departments are not long for this world.
Protecting Renters from the Foreclosure Crisis
Renters are the hidden victims of the foreclosure crisis: they are usually the last to know about foreclosure, have few resources to assist them and are being overlooked by federal interventions. But community organizers are fighting back.
Clean Coal Stimulus Funds Put To Work In Indiana
Duke Energy hopes to tap $3.4 billion of stimulus funds to build the nation's first clean coal plant, burning the coal in a gaseous form and storing the CO2 emissions. It already has received federal funds to build the $2.35 coal power plant in IN.
The News Hour Reports On Public Transit In Peril
"Blueprint America" looks at declining public transit subsidies and resulting transit service cuts. The video and report follows two East Bay commuters on suburban bus, BART; the transit agency meeting where bus service is reduced; MUNI LRT footage.
Playing Catch-Up with Rail
Have high-speed rail stimulus funds put us any closer to technology like mag-lev? A long record of underfunding makes many of such projects shovel-unready, but hopes are still high.
Pagination
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