Technology such as Google Earth is dramatically transforming how the public perceives architecture and how architects design buildings.
"....consider one of the most dramatic shifts to hit the architecture world in decades: the growing prominence of the roof - and, perhaps more important, the top-down perspective that exposes it to view - in the design of buildings, neighborhoods and even whole cities.
Thanks in part to the surging popularity of Google Earth and other Web-based programs, which give the public a bracingly new, if detached, way to interact with the built environment, rooftops are shedding their reputation as forgotten, wind-swept corners of the urban landscape and moving toward the center of architectural practice...Environmentally minded firms are making dramatic use of green roofs....Using satellite images and aerial photographs [Google Earth and its competitors] have enabled a new kind of architectural tourism..."
Architects say the influence of the bird's-eye view seems to grow by the week. Clients arrive for preliminary meetings having studied overhead views of their building sites on the Internet. And if you sit in on thesis reviews at an architecture school these days, chances are quite good that a student presentation will begin with an image from Google Earth or another online source.
Google Earth...may tempt architects to play to their growing virtual audience at the expense of a building's day-to-day users, creating new architectural icons designed to look striking not from the sidewalk but from above, on a computer screen."
FULL STORY: Architects change their view of the lowly roof

Manufactured Crisis: Losing the Nation’s Largest Source of Unsubsidized Affordable Housing
Manufactured housing communities have long been an affordable housing option for millions of people living in the U.S., but that affordability is disappearing rapidly. How did we get here?

Americans May Be Stuck — But Why?
Americans are moving a lot less than they once did, and that is a problem. While Yoni Applebaum, in his highly-publicized article Stuck, gets the reasons badly wrong, it's still important to ask: why are we moving so much less than before?

Using Old Oil and Gas Wells for Green Energy Storage
Penn State researchers have found that repurposing abandoned oil and gas wells for geothermal-assisted compressed-air energy storage can boost efficiency, reduce environmental risks, and support clean energy and job transitions.

Updating LA’s Tree Rules Could Bring More Shade to Underserved Neighborhoods
A new USC study finds that relaxing Los Angeles’ outdated tree planting guidelines could significantly expand urban tree canopy and reduce shade disparities in lower-income neighborhoods, though infrastructure investments are also needed.

California's Canal Solar Projects Aim to Conserve Resources and Expand Clean Energy
California’s Project Nexus has begun generating electricity from solar panels installed over irrigation canals, with researchers and state agencies exploring statewide expansion to conserve water and boost clean energy production.

HHS Staff Cuts Gut Energy Assistance Program
The full staff of a federal program that distributes heating and cooling assistance for low-income families was laid off, jeopardizing the program’s operations.
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.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
City of Moreno Valley
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Salt Lake City
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
City of Cambridge, Maryland