The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
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Mobility: Shanghai and the Car of the Future
It's increasingly clear that the future of the car in Asia, and possibly Africa and the Middle East as well, is going to be shaped as much by what happens in the Shanghai region as Western cities were by Detroit in the 20th century.<br /><br /><blockquote>Last week General Motors (GM) unveiled a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered version of its Chevrolet Volt concept, a family of electric cars that get a portion of their energy from being plugged into the electrical grid. The first version, announced in January, married plug-in electric drive to a gasoline or ethanol generator that can recharge the battery.<br />
Moving For Your Health
<p>With mounting evidence that the lifestyle promoted by car-oriented suburbia can lead to increased risk of obesity, the idea of people consciously moving to a healthy-oriented, walkable neighborhood isn't so far-fetched.</p>
Is Detroit's Rebound Around The Corner?
<p>Professor Robert Fishman, author of "The Fifth Migration", argues that Americans' rediscovery of inner cities will give even troubled cities like Detroit a major boost.</p>
New Planning Rules For LA?
<p>A new set of principles and findings to guide future planning in the city has reportedly been giving to planning staff and decision makers.</p>
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It's Been a Great Week for City Planning Here on the East Coast
<p>It's been a great week for city planning here on the East Coast. The American Planning Association's 99th National Conference held in Philadelphia drew more than 6,000 attendees, a fact noticed by <em>Philadelphia Inquirer </em>writer Inga Saffron in her April 13th column titled "Welcome, Welcome City Planners," where she took the opportunity to draw local and national lessons from the event. The APA opened with Robert Kennedy's address on environmental planning and closed with an exploration of the legacy of Edmund Bacon (Philadelphia's director of city planning from 1949-1970), but more about that later. </p>
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When will Earth Day come for the APA?
Typically I have fallen into the “every day is earth day” camp. But this year, April 22nd offered a moment for reflection, although of a more professional than personal nature.<br /><br />Green is everywhere these days – from Vanity Fair to the Wall Street Journal. The decades long debate about the validity of climate change appears to be over – as the discussion seems to be quickly shifting to either: a) how do we make it less dramatic, or b) how we prepare for the inevitable.<br />
The Next Generation of Sustainable Development
<p>National award winning "green development" is getting attention in Salem, Oregon.</p>
Utah's Light Rail Encourages TOD
<p>The expanding light rail system in metropolitan Salt Lake City, Utah, is giving many developers opportunities to build transit-oriented housing and retail projects, especially in the suburbs.</p>
Designing To Fill The Gaps In Philadelphia
<p>Designers and community development corporations collaborate on concepts for infill development along Philadelphia's commercial corridors.</p>
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Planning Lessons from an Olympic Beauty Contest
<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Last week, my home city, Los Angeles, lost out to Chicago for the right to represent the United States in the international competition to host the 2016 Olympics.<span> </span>Since an Olympic city selection represents the ultimate inter-urban beauty contest – dare I say, a kind of urban “International Idol” – what did this process tell us about the state of urban planning in two of America’s largest cities?</font><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font> </p>
Raising The Roof On America's Malls
<p>The tide in mall development is changing to incorporate elements of nostalgia for 'Americana' and a hometown feel, complete with story lines, but concerns over traffic congestion and over-development persist.</p>
Republicans Warm Up To Fighting Climate Change
<p>Conservative lawmakers are using climate change as a political issue. Environmentalists are not happy.</p>
Searching For Moscow's Secret Suburb
<p>Russia's super-rich live in a secret suburb hidden in a forest outside Moscow.</p>
$900 Billion Insurance Risk From Global Warming
<p>Congressional investigators calculate the insurance risk of crop damage and flooding due to climate change.</p>
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The Market for Transit Oriented Development: Niche or Mainstream?
<span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial"><p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial">In 1996, my professor at the University of Colorado introduced a new concept – Transit Oriented Development (TOD).<span> </span>An emerging group of professionals that included New Urbanists were advocating the idea, but few on-the-ground examples existed.<span> </span>The debate within the planning field during those years focused on the marketability of a mixed-use product.<span> </span>TODs would have to overcome large obstacles.<span> </span>Banks were hesitant to finance an “unproven” product.<span> </span>Developers wondered if they could pass on higher construction costs to buyers, retailers questioned if there would be enough customers to fill their stores, and planners questioned if TODs would lead to changes in travel behavior.<span> </span>A decade later, many continue to ask the same questions about TOD although the difference today is that there are many successful examples to showcase and study.<span> </span>TOD is gaining popularity and widespread appeal but an important unanswered question remains – will TOD remain a niche product or will it become a mainstream development concept? </span></p>
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Beauty and Function? We Should Expect Both
<p>On the Sunday that the April Nor’easter dumped the second highest rainfall ever recorded in Central Park, I waded to the New York Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Center. I wasn’t there to see the mighty floor show of preening cars inside the convention center, I went to see the Taxi ’07 exhibition outside on the wind and rain swept lower roadway. For anyone who has tried to hail a taxi in a Manhattan rainstorm, visiting the exhibition on that Sunday raised a familiar feeling: nearly a dozen yellow taxis in sight, not one of which was going to pick me up and whisk me away to dry land.<br />
FEATURE
Landscape Architecture Student Profiles
In honor of Landscape Architecture Month, Planetizen profiles four students who are studying this influential discipline.
Little Saigon Threatened By Retail Chains
<p>Seattle residents are protesting a 600,000 square foot retail development set to move into the city's historic Little Saigon neighborhood. They fear that the character of the neighborhood will be erased by the major chain retailers on tap to move in.</p>
New Greenhouse Gas Rules For Massachusetts Developers
<p>New rules have come into effect in Massachusetts that will require developers of large-scale projects to estimate and reduce their greenhouse gas production.</p>
County Sued Because General Plan Doesn't Consider Global Warming
<p>In the first suit of its kind in the state, if not the country, a Southern California county was sued by environmental groups because their general plan doesn't consider the effects of global warming. The state attorney general has joined the suit.</p>
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.
