The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
A Lesson in Translating Archibabble
Much of the language used by globetrotting architects and academics to describe their projects and concepts is indecipherable to those not up to speed on biomorphology or french philosophy. BD offers a helpful guide for speaking architect.
Developers Bet that Micro Apartments Will Work in Smaller Cities
The relatively low cost of micro apartments in high rent cities such as N.Y. and San Francisco makes them a feasible alternative for singles, but will they attract millennials in smaller, lower-rent cities like Providence, Cleveland and Worcester?
Popular Federal Tool for Investing in Distressed Areas Again Under Threat
A year after it was rescued from elimination, the federal New Market Tax Credit program is again facing extinction. Congress must act before the end of the year to save the popular tool for subsidizing investment in underserved communities.
Christmas Funny: Snowmen Protest Global Warming
On this winter holiday, it's important to remind each other of the overlooked victims of global warming: the world's snowmen and snowwomen. Read this classic, but no less relevant, story from the satirical newspaper The Onion.
Where to Find the World's Largest Christmas Light Show
Australia probably isn't the first place that comes to mind when thinking of sleigh rides, reindeer, and winter wonderlands. But according to Guinness World Records, no place can beat one couple's Canberra home for holiday revelry.
Holiday Spirit Invades Paris Metro
During the holiday season, cities go to great lengths to turn their streets, homes and businesses into festive places. But underneath the streets, subways tend to look to same day in and day out. French artists have brought the holidays underground.
Colombia's Carbon Neutral Christmas Wonderland
Medellín's spectacular holiday lights display draws thousands of tourists to Colombia's second-largest city every year. Few visitors are likely to realize that the energy intensive displays are carbon neutral.
Icelandic "Elf Lobby" Tries to Halt Highway Project
Concerned that a proposed highway from the Alftanes peninsula to the Reykjavik suburbs will disturb Icelandic elf habitat, an elf lobbying group is joining forces with environmentalists to try to stop the project.
Possibly Coming to a City Near You: Bike Boxes, Bike Traffic Signals
Bike boxes and bike traffic signals can greatly assist cyclists in navigating through intersections where the majority of bike-motor vehicle collisions occur. A key advisory committee may recommend official acceptance, which would green-light them.
The Smart Home Has Arrived
Though smart cities and smart phones have tended to dominate professional discussions of late, the smart home has been a gleam in the eye of futurists for decades. Experts predict home automation will accelerate over the next few years.
Public Art on the Cheap: Providence's Custom Metal Trashcans
In Providence, Rhode Island, local craftsmen are turning trashcans into art. The metal bins are custom-worked with designs celebrating local businesses and more general themes.
Lawsuit Aims to Chop Down Proposed Minneapolis Park
A park planned to accompany Minneapolis' new football stadium has raised controversy because of the amount of proposed subsidies. While the details are worked out, planners consider the elements that will ensure its success.
BLOG POST
An Urbanist's 12 Days of Christmas!
As we get ready to celebrate Christmas, let's remember all the "gifts" that our cities give us. Our cities deserve a Christmas Carol! Here is an Urbanist's "12 Days of Christmas."
Should New York Better Police Its Skyline?
As a Billionaires' Row of sky-high residences rises along 57th Street, towering above Central Park, Michael Kimmelman wonders if it's time to tame the "leggy, cloud-piercing, sliver-thin residential towers".
BLOG POST
How Important is Your Graduate Planning Specialty or Concentration?
As students plan their spring semester courses and make early plans for the summer, they often wonder how to choose a planning specialization or concentration. They ask how important the concentration is for their future career as a planner.
Is Suburban Exploitation to Blame for Camden's Decline?
Are failing cities like Camden, New Jersey, to blame for their own downfall? Or are they the victims of a regional exploitation in which the suburbs foist their problems onto the nearest urban center?
"Catastrophic" Ice Storm Freezes Toronto, Mayor
A severe ice storm struck southern Ontario and the northern U.S. over the weekend, delivering prolonged power outages and disrupting holiday travel. Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was allegedly unreachable after the storm.
Will L.A.'s "Less is More" Approach to Station Design be a Bore?
After 25 years of scattershot station design, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is bringing rationality and consistency to the design of three new rail projects. A "kit of parts" has been designed by Johnson Fain.
When Driving Wanes, Local Economies Gain
Want to boost your local economy and produce significant environmental dividends at the same time? Just drive one mile less per day says a new report from CEOs for Cities.
Whole Foods as Gentrification Bellwether
Whole Foods' newest store in Gowanus, Brooklyn is causing local vendors and artists to tread "a fine line" between reaching new customers and supporting what they think of as new, "big" development.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Ada County Highway District
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
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.
