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Cheap transport and cheap housing: is there a tradeoff?
<p> A few months ago, I updated a city rating system (available at http://lewyn.tripod.com/livable09) that evaluated cities' "livability" by rating crime rates, transit-friendliness, and cost of housing. </p> <p> Plenty of cities did very well on the first two criteria. For example, New York is now safer than most big cities, and of course is by far the best city in the U.S. for public transit. But its housing costs are dreadfully high. The same was true of Boston and San Francisco (which, if only crime and transit were considered, would rank second and third for livability). </p>
'Smart' Cities, Urban Innovation and Fuller
Before there were "smart cities", there was R. Buckminster Fuller.
Inside London's Olympic Park
London Evening Standard columnist Kieran Long takes a tour through London's Olympic Park and finds a new public space that will likely show its importance long after the games are over.
Architectural Fiction and a Variety of Imagined Futures
This essay from <em>Places</em> looks at the history of "architectural fiction", and how imagined spaces and uses of land enrich understanding of the built environment.
NIMBYs, For Better or Worse
NIMBYism served a purpose once, says Scott Doyon, preventing all sorts of heinous projects from being built. But eventually, it became about stopping ALL change. Doyon has some recommendations for changing course.
Boston's Transit Achieves New Balance with Bike-Sharing Program
Mayor Thomas Menino declared that "the car is no longer king in Boston" as the Hubway bike-sharing system made its debut this week, putting the city abreast with Washington D.C.
Friday Funny: America's Declining Infrastructure Repels Al Queda
An Al Queda spokesperson says that they refuse to attack any U.S. bridges or any part of the transportation system because they're already in such a poor state no one will notice.
The $94 Billion Annual Funding Gap in Transportation
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released a report this week that offers a bleak outlook at the nation's surface transportation infrastructure - just in time for the imminent Aug. 2 deadline to raise the debt ceiling.
Fruitful Legal Battles Over Water Supply
In Kern County, Calif., trendy fruits like pomegranate are at the center of a number of contentious lawsuits over water resource management.
Changing Cities Reflect New Suburban Values Of White Migrants
LA Times Columnist Gregory Rodriguez notes that cities from LA to D.C. and even Atlanta are losing black and even Latino and Asian populations to more affluent whites migrating from the suburbs, who take their values with them.
Transportation and Civil Rights
Transportation is increasingly a major civil rights issue, according to The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, which argues that federal funding disproportionally serves car drivers.
Ed Glaeser Refutes Jane Jacobs
Glaeser argues that Jane Jacobs was attempting to preserve affordability with her historic preservation efforts, which he says is wrong-headed.
Olmsted the Environmentalist
A new biography of Frederick Law Olmsted pulls together letters and collections from five separate archives to paint him as a pioneering environmentalist and landscape architect.
How a Small Town Absorbs 80,000 Concertgoers
Every summer, tiny Manchester, Tennessee, becomes a metropolis of rockers and concertgoers as the Bonnaroo music festival comes to a nearby farm. This piece from <em>Governing</em> looks at how the town adapts to the surge.
Nissan Leaf, You Had Me at Hello
In the opening monologue of The Colbert Report, late-night comic Stephen Colbert mocks what appears to be another installment of "The Value of Zero" campaign for the all-electric, zero-emissions Nissan Leaf.
South Florida's High-Rises Enter Real Estate Nirvana
Home sales in the Miami metropolitan area surged 16% during the first six months of this year. Not only does the figure represent the highest jump since 2007, two-third of the transactions were paid in cash.
Varying Levels of Distress and Service in Detroit
In a newly announced effort, different parts of Detroit will receive different levels of public services based on projections of whether or not they're expected to grow in the future.
Shifting the U.S. to a Production Economy
Economic recovery depends on shifting the U.S. from a consumption economy to a production economy, according to this article. A good way to do it: build infrastructure.
San Francisco Plan Had Vision, But Also Missed Targets
A downtown plan created a vision for development in San Francisco, but couldn't guide the social and cultural changes the city would see over the past 25 years.
Theme Parks Booming in Asia
More and more theme parks are being planned across Asia, which is creating new opportunities for designers.
Ada County Highway District
Clanton & Associates, Inc.
Jessamine County Fiscal Court
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.
