North America
Form-Based Zoning on Main Street
National Trust Main Street Center Program Officer Nick Kalogersis, AICP gives a primer on form-based zoning and its relavance to traditional commercial district revitalization.
Put up a Park in the Lot
Ruben Anderson suggests that if automobile parking could be kept to properties, that could free up the former on-street parking to become Garden Streets, so that cities could grow much more of their own produce.
Livin' La Vida Localism
In this article from Metropolis, dystopian author and urban critic James Howard Kunstler riffs on localism.
BRT Spreads Across North America
This report from Metro Magazine outlines 25 North American cities currently planning bus rapid transit lines.
Suburbia Isn't To Blame For Obesity
New research suggests that urban sprawl doesn't cause weight gain in residents, though it does attract people who are inclined to be heavy and prefer to move around by car.
The Ambiguity and Resilience of the Urbanity Myth
Thomas Wüst’s semiotic work on urbanity reviews literary contributions on the topic of urbanity, coming to the harsh conclusion that urbanity is, after all, nothing but a myth, and therefore likely to be instrumentalized by "symbolic politics".
Lawn Greens
If 'peak oil' makes oil-intensive industrial agriculture economically unfeasible, will suburbanites need to turn their lawns into farming plots?
Urban Planning and Musical Categories: Exploring the Notion of Improvisation
This paper shows how urban development may be considered in terms of musical categories, and associates spontaneous and informal urban actions with their analog in musical discourse: improvisation.
No Community Is An Island: Tributary and the Young & the Restless
A new approach to urbanism in suburban Atlanta, the Tributary community is based on a mixed-use master plan integrating and interconnecting a range of residential neighborhoods, a village center, a town center, and more.
We Built This City on Rock and Roll
Richard Florida's latest research shows that vibrant music "scenes" -- or a city's "audio identity" -- are good indicators of urban vitality.
The Life And Death Of The Shopping Mall
Once thriving, America's indoor shopping malls are on the decline, and many predict their death may finally come within the next few years.
Is New Urbanism The Way To A Green Future?
This article from Time discusses the burden development places on the environment and how New Urbanism seeks to mitigate this burden.
Architects as Developers: Five Portraits
From smaller residential projects to vast mixed-use developments, more and more architects are crossing over into development work, bringing a fresh perspective to the process.
Suburban Tent City?
As foreclosure rates rise across the country, former homeowners are seeking shelter in suburban "tent cities" while municipalities struggle to cope with extra costs and declining tax revenues.
How The North American Superhighway Will Hurt The Environment
Plans for a North American Superhighway will have major environmental effects, argues this article from The Valley Advocate of Connecticut.
Historic Preservation Should Consider Soundscapes, Not Just Cityscapes
In an interview with Preservation Online, author Anne Matthews explains the growing movement to preserve historic sounds.
Green to the Core
"Back-to-the-loft environmentalism" promotes the notion that living sustainably can happen in the middle of a city, rather than fleeing to the country.
The Continent of Garbage
A vortex of winds has concentrated garbage and plastic flotsam into a huge island of garbage in the middle of the Pacific Ocean -- an unintentionally man-made mass that is growing at a rapid pace.
Retail Incubation Growing In Downtowns
'Retail incubation' is finding footing in New Jersey and nationally as a downtown revitalization tool.
Is Desalination The Solution To Water Shortages?
Advances in reverse osmosis membrane technology are convincing more and more cities to invest in cleaning their own used water instead of piping it in from far-off reservoirs.
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
