A Canadian real estate startup has created striking animated 3-D visualizations of the evolution of the skylines in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.
"Combining commercial real estate data with Google Earth, [Cube Cities] has been generating videos of North American cities prickling with skyscrapers and industrial development over the past century," writes Sydney Brownstone.
"'Cube Cities is the new kind of 3-D pushpin for the next generation of 3-D maps,' Cube Cities’ website tells us. The company also developed a platform called Verticode that lights up individual windows in a building to show off to clients. 'Cube Cities clients can fly over the city like Superman, and scope out all the new condo’s [sic] for sale in New York, confirm the ocean view of a hotel room before they book, or zero in on exactly the right office space in Hong Kong with a view of the harbor,' according to the site."
FULL STORY: Watch North American City Skylines Sprout In 3-D Video, From 1850 To Today
Report: Transit Oriented Development Leads the Market in Major Metros
A report released last week by Cushman & Wakefield has won a lot of attention from media outlets covering large-scale development market trends. Among the report's findings: growing cities need to better support transit-oriented development.
What Today's Cities Will Look Like in the Future
Imagining cities of the future can bring about some pretty wild predictions. But when they're visions of existing cities, these futuristic predictions can be almost realistic.
What ‘The Brutalist’ Teaches Us About Modern Cities
How architecture and urban landscapes reflect the trauma and dysfunction of the post-war experience.
‘Complete Streets’ Webpage Deleted in Federal Purge
Basic resources and information on building bike lanes and sidewalks, formerly housed on the government’s Complete Streets website, are now gone.
The VW Bus is Back — Now as an Electric Minivan
Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz reimagines its iconic Bus as a fully electric minivan, blending retro design with modern technology, a 231-mile range, and practical versatility to offer a stylish yet functional EV for the future.
Healing Through Parks: Altadena’s Path to Recovery After the Eaton Fire
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena is uniting to restore Loma Alta Park, creating a renewed space for recreation, community gathering, and resilience.
San Diego to Rescind Multi-Unit ADU Rule
The city wants to close a loophole that allowed developers to build apartment buildings on single-family lots as ADUs.
Electric Vehicles for All? Study Finds Disparities in Access and Incentives
A new UCLA study finds that while California has made progress in electric vehicle adoption, disadvantaged communities remain underserved in EV incentives, ownership, and charging access, requiring targeted policy changes to advance equity.
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.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research