World

Global issues, U.N., etc.

First West Coast LNG Export Facility Gets Critical Federal OK

On Sept. 30, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the final environmental impact statement for a contentious $7.5 billion Liquefied Natural Gas export facility, pipeline, and power plant in Coos Bay, Ore. More approvals are still needed.

October 6, 2015 - Portland Business Journal

Coding for Character: Doing Away With the Zoned Out Nature of Cities

What's keeping the historic parts of your city or town from staying up-to-date and well-loved? Usually, the laws.

October 6, 2015 - PlaceShakers

Bike Commuting

How Commutes Influence Happiness, Health

More evidence is piling up that commuting by anything but private automobile can increase happiness, social capital, and health.

October 5, 2015 - Gizmodo

Ocean Grove Sidewalk

Sidewalk Cafes—Silver Bullets of Walkable Places

No single tool builds "walk appeal" as powerfully as sidewalk cafes, which are both a cause and an effect of places we love to walk.

September 29, 2015 - The Original Green Blog

Energy Factory II

A Real-Time Map of Global Air Pollution

A quick look at a real-time map of air pollution around the world shows how much healthier the air in the United States is than in China.

September 27, 2015 - CityLab

Office Building

Why We're Not Meant to Live in Boring Cities

Features like blank street facades literally turn us off, decreasing mental stimulation and bringing on restlessness and stress. Research points to worrying consequences for people who find their city, well, boring.

September 22, 2015 - Aeon

Mercedes-Benz Developing Self-Driving Limousines

Manifesting predictions that many self-driving vehicles will serve as a new form of taxi service, Mercedes-Benz recently revealed some of its plans to develop a fleet of on-demand limousines.

September 21, 2015 - Quartz

Tin Pan Alley in London

Small Clubs Make Creative Hubs: the Importance of Live Music Venues

Cities like London are losing their creative edge because the small music venues that foster it are being pushed out.

September 17, 2015 - The Guardian

On the 'Tree Wealth' of the World's Countries

A closer look at the data of a study revealing the number of trees on the planet shows several ways to compare and contrast the relative resources, in the form of trees, of countries around the world.

September 17, 2015 - The Washington Post

New York Skyline Fisheye

Happy City, Boring City? Why Liveability Does Not Equate With Greatness

A funny thing about the cities that top liveability indexes all over the world: they tend to also lack a few characteristics sought after in more challenging cities.

September 14, 2015 - Financial Times

Congestion versus mobility

Carbon-Saving Urban Development Makes Economic Sense

A new report stresses the importance of international cooperation on low-carbon development.

September 14, 2015 - The Guardian

Transit Ridership

Comparing the World's Transit Systems

How does New York stack up compared to London, Tokyo, or even Moscow?

September 7, 2015 - Business Insider

Tracking the 'Bikeshare Boom'

The latest in CityLab's chronological explorations of multi-modal infrastructure examines the rise of bikeshare into a global and ubiquitous phenomenon.

September 6, 2015 - CityLab

Toyota Places $50 Million Bet on Driverless Car Research

Toyota is racing to keep up with Google and Uber on driverless car technology.

September 6, 2015 - AP via The Australian

From Net Zero Energy to Net Zero Water: A New Frontier in Sustainability

The Net Zero Water Toolkit helps individuals and organizations make water resource planning decisions based on local conditions rather than targeting historical demand and allowing water quality impacts to flow downstream.

September 4, 2015 - Brendle Group

Technology Enables a New Understanding of the World's 3.04 Trillion Trees

A news study, combining satellite imagery and field study, dramatically increases the estimated trees in the world. What has not changed: how quickly humans are killing those trees off.

September 4, 2015 - The Washington Post

How the 'Internet of Things' Is Changing City Operations

The potential of "Smart Cities" is still very much under negotiation. Data-Smart City Solutions at Harvard University surveyed what cities are doing so far to take advantage of the Internet of things.

September 3, 2015 - Data-Smart City Solutions

Klyde Warren Park

The Google Street View Perspective on Public Space Transformations

A recent trend in returning the use of streets and other public space to the use of humans and other modes of transportation other than the car is more striking with some historical perspective.

September 2, 2015 - Tech Insider

The Road Safety Upgrade the World Desperately Needs: Self-Driving Cars

The headline chosen here summarizes the argument put forward by Vox's Joseph Stromberg, who believes that self-driving cars will be a serious upgrade over the average human driver.

September 2, 2015 - Vox

Bus Rapid Transit Hits Global Milestone

There are now 402 bus rapid transit (BRT) lines operating around the world, according to data from BRTData.org.

September 1, 2015 - The City Fix

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.