Exclusives

BLOG POST

Living in Mrs. Jacobs' Neighborhood

A decade or so ago, after reading some of Jane Jacobs’ work, I became aware of the distinction between mixed-use and single-use neighborhoods. In those days, I imagined that in a well-functioning urban neighborhood, every non-polluting use would be mixed together, and the lion of housing would lay down with the lamb of commerce.

February 10 - Michael Lewyn

BLOG POST

Planning for the Vancouver Olympics

The Winter Olympics will begin later this week in Vancouver, British Columbia. Like other hosts of such large-scale sporting events, the city has been getting ready for the international spotlight for many years. To hear more about what's been going on in the city in terms of urban planning, I interviewed Vancouver Planning Director Brent Toderian, and you can <a href="http://places.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=12693" title="Places - The Olympics and the City">read a transcript of that Q&A on Places</a>.

February 10 - Nate Berg

BLOG POST

Carfree Design Manual

As planners, one of our roles is to help stretch the scope of what is considered possible. For example, between 1950 and 2000 most development was highly automobile-dependent, based on the assumption that almost all travel would be by personal automobile and other modes were relatively unimportant. This pattern is so well established that many people have difficulty imagining anything different. It is useful to help people understand the full range of options available, from automobile dependency to carfree communities.

February 8 - Todd Litman

FEATURE

Where Will We All Park? A Slightly Premature Case Study of Hoboken, New Jersey

Hoboken, New Jersey's Department of Transportation and Parking Director Ian Sacs offers this profile of his city and discusses how the dense but car-enamored city is trying to tackle the contemporary urban parking problem.

February 8 - Ian Sacs

BLOG POST

New Books Depict Car Culture at a Turning Point

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crash-Course-American-Automobile-Industrys/dp/1400068630/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641815&sr=1-1">Crash Course: </a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crash-Course-American-Automobile-Industrys/dp/1400068630/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641815&sr=1-1">The American Automobile Industry's Road from Glory to Disaster</a> By Paul Ingrassia Random House, 306 pages, $32 <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carjacked-Culture-Automobile-Effect-Lives/dp/0230618138/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641921&sr=1-1">Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile </a><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Carjacked-Culture-Automobile-Effect-Lives/dp/0230618138/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265641921&sr=1-1">and its Effect on Our Lives</a> By Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez Palgrave, 272 pages, $34 Automobiles dominate our economies, our cities and our popular culture. As these new titles make abundantly apparent, they also tend to imbue their makers and owners with either delusions or arrogance that can lead to dangerously misguided decision-making, both behind the wheel and in corporate boardrooms.

February 8 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

Why not rail?

When faced with the costs and logistics of rail, planners and city officials increasingly seem to favor Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a trend likely to continue through the current recession. But even with the many persuasive arguments for BRT, the nagging question remains: why not rail?

February 7 - Diana DeRubertis

BLOG POST

In Olympic year, Vancouver chooses LEED™ Gold for private buildings!

Followers of Vancouver city planning will remember that in 2008, as part of the approval of the EcoDensity Initiative, our Council approved what remains (we think) the highest green standard for private sector building design in North America. The 2008 policy requires that buildings that go through rezonings (representing most buildings built in Vancouver) must establish that their design, at approval, is capable of achieving LEED™ Silver. We actually nick-named it "Silver Plus", because we mandated that there be a minimum of 3 energy points, 1 water point, and 1 storm water point, emphasizing the things that matter most to us.

February 5 - Brent Toderian

FEATURE

The Right Interventions to Restore Confidence in Weak Markets

Housing affordability is too often seen as the way to stabilize and revitalize weak markets. Neighborhood planning consultants Charles Buki and Elizabeth Humphrey Schilling argue that interventions in weak markets must encourage investment by improving market confidence.

February 4 - Charles Buki

BLOG POST

Taming the Office Park

Most attempts to regulate suburban development have focused on containing the growth of suburban housing. But such regulation, by restricting the supply of buildable land, risks incresing housing prices. And from a more libertarian perspective, an individual's interest in choosing to "drive to qualify" may seem quite appealing. Attempts to regulate commercial suburban development do not involve the same sentimental considerations as limits on residential development, but do risk increasing prices for commercial land, thus increasing prices for everything else.

February 3 - Michael Lewyn

BLOG POST

Images for Planners: More Resources

Some time ago I noted a number of terrific<a href="/node/34290" target="_blank"> image resources</a> for urban planners. This blog highlights some additional sources.

February 1 - Ann Forsyth

FEATURE

Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives

Planetizen talks with Anne Lutz Fernandez, author of the new book Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives, about how Americans feel about their cars, the Starbucks Effect, and the built environment.

February 1 - Tim Halbur

BLOG POST

Accessibility, Mobility and Automobile Dependency

Let me wade into an ongoing debate among fellow Planetizen bloggers <a href="/node/42367">Samuel Staley</a> and <a href="/node/42323">Michael Lewyn</a> concerning the meanings of accessibility and mobility, and their implications for transportation and land use policy.

February 1 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Box?

As a young kid, skirting aimlessly throughout my suburban municipality from one car-optimized shopping center to the next on my bicycle in search of stimulation (and perhaps trouble), I vividly recall - though I likely didn't describe it as - the internal conflict between interesting commercial destinations on the inside, and the banal, cruel approach to these places on the outside. Although the primitive human desires of my psyche subconsciously longed for a central place to congregate with other lost children of the suburbs, I never had a downtown; I never had a community center. In this vacuum, I compensated with all that was available.

January 31 - Ian Sacs

FEATURE

Notes on Structural Change: Redefining the Problem of Weak Markets

The foreclosure crisis spreading across America has burdened cities and neighborhoods with value-draining vacancies and abandoned properties. To counteract the economic havoc they've caused, planners and policymakers must focus on restoring confidence in the market, according to neighborhood planning consultants Charles Buki and Elizabeth Humphrey Schilling.

January 28 - Charles Buki

BLOG POST

Planning for "Dickensian Gloom"? Refuting Critics of Smart Growth (Again)

It is well-known in planning circles that Smart Growth has come under attack by (mostly libertarian) think tanks and pundits hostile to any form of urban planning that doesn’t leave land use decisions up to the “magic” of the free market. While their reports may get a lot of press, a close reading of most of their rhetoric reveals that it is largely based on a selective use of data, fallacious argumentation and hyperbole.

January 27 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

Thinking Through the Right Transportation in the Right Place at the Right Time

In an earlier post, <a href="/node/42367">I discussed the difference between mobility, accessibility, and transportation technology</a>. In today’s post, I want to discuss what I think is the next step in this taxonomy in terms of the implications for the built environment and urban planning. More specifically, we need to move beyond the idea that certain transportation technologies—whether it is a car, a bus, a train, or our feet—are substitutes.

January 27 - Samuel Staley

FEATURE

Moving the Tipping Point for Creative Places

Human-scaled, creative development isn't getting built because most of the money in real estate comes from institutional investors that prefer predictable, large scale projects like subdivisions and strip malls, says Neil Takemoto of CoolTown Beta Communities.

January 25 - Neil Takemoto

FEATURE

On Top of the World: Looking Down from Dubai's Burj Khalifa

The world's tallest building is now open in Dubai. Christopher Corbett takes you up to the 124th floor.

January 21 - Christopher Corbett

BLOG POST

The Country's Best Urban Bike Commute?

More than two years years ago I chronicled my <a href="/node/26876">daily bicycle commute in Miami</a>. The 8-mile trip was as representative of Miami's built and socio-cultural landscape as it was harrowing. While that city has surely made progress in the pas two years, I'd be lying if I didn't disclose that I partially moved to New York City because of the progress being made in designing livable streets infrastructure. Quite simply, it feels good to be in a city that "gets it."

January 18 - Mike Lydon

FEATURE

Watching Urban Change Via Satellite

Recent earthquake response efforts in Haiti showed how comparing satellite imagery could help to identify physical changes in the damaged country and assist rescue workers. That same sort of imagery could play a similar role for urban planners.

January 18 - Nate Berg