Chris Stines is Planetizen's former Editor and the founder of Urban Insight, a leading digital agency. Chris has 25 years of experience in technology consulting and urban planning and has served as a consultant to public sector state, county, and local agencies, Fortune 500 private firms, educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations.
Exploring Web 2.0 in Urban Planning
<p> Last year I had the opportunity to teach a graduate course on "Web 2.0 for Policy and Planning" at the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning & Development. </p> <p> Although I am co-teaching a different class this year, I have updated my <a href="http://ppd599.wordpress.com/">course website</a> with a revised course syllabus and extensive <a href="http://ppd599.wordpress.com/reading/">reading list</a> on Web 2.0 and planning, based on what I learned from teaching the course in Spring, 2009. </p>
Top 10 Free Web Applications for Planning
<p> <br /> I had the opportuntity, at the 2009 national <a href="http://www.planning.org/nationalconference/">planning conference</a> in Minneapolis, to present (together with my colleague <a href="/blog/11">Christian Peralta Madera</a>) ten free web applications that can be used to support planning. <br /> <br /> Approximately 350 participants attended the session. Since the presentation, I've received over 100 emails congratulating us on the practical nature of the presentation, and requesting links to the websites we presented. Since our presentation was a hands-on demonstration, this blog entry outlines the ten technologies, and provides links to examples of the technology in practice and resources so you can experiment with the technologies. <br />
Obama, Web 2.0 and Planning
<p> <br /> What can we as planners learn from president-elect Barak Obama's use of technology? <br /> <br /> President-elect Obama has been an early adopter of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE">Web 2.0</a> technologies both in his campaign and the transition to the White House. It is likely that the Obama administration will continue to use Web 2.0 technologies to both engage the public in determining policies and to make government operations more transparent.<br /> <br /> As planners, there are a lot of great tools and techniques that we can use in the planning processes. Here are some of the tools that the Obama team have used that could be used in planning.<br />
27 Towns for Working Artists
Art Calendar magazine presents its list of towns, cities and districts offering incentives or other benefits for artists living there.
In Japan, a Billboard That Watches You
Two digital cameras atop a billboard at a Tokyo rail station will scan passersby. One will record who is looking at the billboard, the other will count the number of people passing by.