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.

January 30, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

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.

January 29, 2012 - Places

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.

January 28, 2012 - Boulder Daily Camera

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.

January 25, 2012 - the transport politic

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.

January 23, 2012 - CNN Money - Fortune Tech

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.

January 21, 2012 - The Kansas City Star

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.

January 20, 2012 - Los Angeles Magazine

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.

January 17, 2012 - The New York Times

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).

January 14, 2012 - Curbed LA

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.

January 13, 2012 - The Economist

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.

January 12, 2012 - Chicago Tribune

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."

January 11, 2012 - The New York Times

End of the Road for Influential Publication

For those who missed it, Friday brought the end to the influential infrastructure focused blog -- The Infrastructurist

January 11, 2012 - 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.

January 11, 2012 - Los Angeles Times

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.

January 10, 2012 - The Atlantic Cities

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."

January 9, 2012 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Indonesia's Growth Overwhelming its Public Infrastructure

Indonesia's economy is growing but the crumbling infrastructure is costing residents.

January 9, 2012 - NPR

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.

January 9, 2012 - Nevada Journal

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.

January 8, 2012 - The Contra Costa Times

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.

January 7, 2012 - The New York Times

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.

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.