Infrastructure
A Paradigm Shift in Urban Runoff
Christine MacDonald looks at efforts by everyone from home gardeners to municipal water authorities to rethink and rebuild the infrastructure to handle urban runoff.
Understanding the Water-Energy Nexus
In a long read published in Places, Austin Troy delves into the complicated nexus between the need to increase water resources and decrease energy use, which are both exacerbated by, and exacerbate, climate change.
Boulder Officials Consider Per-Household Transportation Tax
The extra $24 a year, tacked onto existing utility bills, would go toward covering a $3 million transportation budget gap and highway and bridge repair. This is the transportation officials' second try in convincing the City Council.
Parsing the State of the Union Address for Planners
Three pieces on last night's State of the Union address by President Obama focused largely on what wasn't said, than what was, concerning Energy, Infrastructure, and Urbanism.
Zappos Founder "Trades Shoes for Urban Planning"
Zappos founder Tony Hsieh and his team went from designing a new campus to an entirely new collaborative city in downtown Las Vegas for Zappos employees and other emerging members of the creative class.
Google Fiber Work Hung Up In Kansas City
With much fanfare, Kansas City was selected in 2011 as the launching site for Google's experimental fast fiber-optic network. Now, a dispute about how and where to run fiber optic lines on poles in the city is causing significant delays.
Revealing Parking's Hidden Costs
Dave Gardetta highlights the work of Donald Shoup and others whose mission is to eradicate the parking minimum in Los Angeles.
Denver Debates Closing the Beltway
The 102-mile circle that would become the Denver beltway sees no sign of completion as one city--one of Colorado's oldest--vociferously opposes it. But, at a regional level, it may be too late to curb decentralization and sprawl.
An Efficient LA in Chris Burden's Mini-City
Metropolis II, on display now at the LA County Museum of Art, features a futuristic model of Los Angeles in which cars and trains zip around super-efficiently (and, reportedly, loudly).
Enough Supertrains--China Needs To Fix The System
Super-fast, beautifully-designed trains are the all the rage again in China, but safety, pricing, and technology concerns now need to be bumped to country's rail priority list to make it work.
The Burj Khalifa, 'Hummer of Skyscrapers'?
There might be something to the analogy, opines Blair Kamin, when comparing the building's star status to its contribution to the urban setting.
Super Bowl Bid Results In Community Revitalization
The Super Bowl bid in Indianapolis has had a ripple effect in the community, leading to significant revitalization efforts and a "mini-building boom in anticipation of the big game."
End of the Road for Influential Publication
For those who missed it, Friday brought the end to the influential infrastructure focused blog -- The Infrastructurist
Renewable Energy Projects Completed in California Sit Idle
Dozens of renewable energy projects completed in California's national parks and forests have yet to be utilized due to a years-long squabble with Southern California Edison, wasting tens of thousands of dollars in potential savings.
Highway Removals to Become More Difficult
Following highly publicized urban highway removal success stories like Boston's Big Dig and San Francisco's Embarcadero, Anthony Flint asks whether similar successes will be easy to duplicate.
Philadelphia's Ultra Exurb
The Philadelphia Inquirer's architecture critic sets out to find the outer edge of the Philadelphia suburbs, and finds a "zombie subdivision."
Indonesia's Growth Overwhelming its Public Infrastructure
Indonesia's economy is growing but the crumbling infrastructure is costing residents.
Las Vegas Monorail Bondholder Sues for Fraud
Citigroup is being sued for knowingly overstating ridership and advertising revenue projections for the Las Vegas monorail while soliciting investors for the system.
Airport-BART Connection Materializing Amid Cost Disputes
Nearly 10 years in the works, a connector between Oakland International Airport and the BART transit system is taking shape.
Taking Parking Lots Seriously, as Public Spaces
With perhaps as many as 2 billion parking spaces in the US, planners and architects should "take seriously" the parking lot as an actual, useful public space.
Pagination
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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