Density
The Density Game - On YouTube
Dan Zack, downtown development coordinator for Redwood City, CA, gave a 50-minute presentation on Delightful Density to a Palo Alto audience on Nov. 5. This 12-minute excerpt is composed of 17 buildings - get out your pencils and guess their density.
Despite Praise, Portland Has Room for Improvement
Portland, Oregon, is held high on a pedestal for innovative urban planning and development. But the city has its drawbacks and needs to face them, writes Aaron M. Renn.
Vancouverism in the Global Spotlight
Vancouver is preparing to take the global stage when it hosts the Winter Olympic next month. With all the sports-related pomp, the city's unique approach to sustainability will also fall under the spotlight.
Air Quality Rules May Hinder Densification
New air quality guidelines aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of new housing developments may turn out to hinder the approval of dense projects in California.
Alternative Fuels Won't Change the Expense of Driving
One of the conclusions of a new study in the San Francisco Bay Area is that switching to electric and alternative fuel cars won't reduce the burden on households because ownership is the most significant expense. Thus, density is the only way out.
Unanimity Over Density in Vancouver
The Vancouver City Council voted unanimously to approve the creation of a new high-density, mixed-use community on land left over from Expo 86.
Learning from TTI
This week, I finally got around to looking at the latest (2009) Texas Transportation Institute study on traffic congestion. (1) Two facts struck me as interesting. First, the great congestion surge of the past decade or two is over. In most large metropolitan areas, congestion (measured as hours lost to congestion per traveler) peaked around 2005, and actually declined in 2005-07. For example, in Atlanta, hours lost to congestion peaked at 61, and decreased to 57 by 2007. Congestion increased in only three of the fourteen largest regions (Washington, Detroit and Houston)- and in each of these by only one hour per traveler.
Starchitecture and Sustainability: Hope, Creativity, and Futility Collide in Contemporary Architecture
Can today's contemporary architects, schooled in modernism and invention, in fact incorporate the sort of green building materials and techniques that make a real difference? And does design really matter? Josh Stephens takes a look.
Urban Residents Are Accidental Environmentalists
Margaret Wente is surprised to learn from reading David Owen's Green Metropolis that her new city lifestyle is super-green, thanks to the advantages of density.
New Ideas for Small Spaces
At a recent conference, international architects explained their ideas for designing and planning compact, shared, and flexible housing to meet the needs of today's households.
Manhattan is the Greenest City
A review of GREEN METROPOLIS: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability by David Owen, expanding on his groundbreaking essay in the New Yorker in 2004 on why New York is the greenest city around.
Inside David Byrne's Livable City
Using a mishmash of highlights from cities around the world, musician and artist David Byrne talks about his personal vision of a perfect, livable city.
New Study on the Benefits of Density
A new report from the National Research Council seeks to establish the scientific basis for the relationships among development patterns, VMT, and energy consumption. So what did they find?
Changing Tune on Density
Back in 1971, Alvin Duskin mounted an all-out campaign to limit buildings in San Francisco to 72 feet. Today, he is one of many Bay Area activists reconsidering density.
Redefining Residential
The late columnist Emmett Watson set the tone in Seattle for keeping the small bungalow, suburban character of the city. Today, New Urbanists and others are working to redefine Seattle's landscape post-Watson with denser, affordable buildings.
Next Steps for Shrinking Cities: Results of the Planetizen Brainstorm
Bulldoze? Densify? Walk away? There are many ways cities can react to shrinking populations and abandoned neighborhoods. Planetizen readers decide which ways are the best.
Fear of Density in Houston
As Houston considers extending its urban boundaries, planners and locals struggle with the proper techniques for ensuring good development without zoning.
Granny Flats and Carriage Houses for Denver
Grass Root Efforts to Help Bring Back a Much-Loved Building Form
Back-To-Nature Plans Stall Innovation
According to this op-ed, allowing cities to de-densify undermines the importance of the city's role in society at large--namely, as a breeding ground for technological and cultural innovation.
Finding Public Space Wherever They Can in Cairo
Dense Cairo has few sanctioned public spaces. So residents make do wherever they can.
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.
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
