New York City

NYC Building $80 M Recycling Center

The city recently broke ground on a new facility designed to collect all of the city's metal, glass, and plastic recyclables and reduce collection trucking by 260,000 miles each year.

November 1, 2010 - Inhabitat

Roosevelt Island Parking Sensors Will Point the Way to Smart Parking

By providing real-time data about what actually happens in on-street spaces, the sensors can help enforce parking laws, move toward smart and flexible curbside pricing, and prevent cruising and traffic congestion.

November 1, 2010 - Streetsblog

MTA Head Jay Walder: One Year Later

Walder’s arrival from London, where he transformed a flagging bus and subway system, brought high hopes for New York’s transit system, says Michael Grynbaum. But is he meeting the expectations of riders and officials?

October 26, 2010 - The New York Times

Innovative Bike Share System Promises Lower Costs

Cities around the world are eager to launch bike share programs, but many are deterred by high start-up costs. A new system may offer a cheaper alternative.

October 22, 2010 - Next American City

Rapid-Transit Buses Make Manhattan Debut

The new system is designed to reduce travel time along a heavily congested north-south route on the city's East Side. However, unfamiliar ticketing protocols led to passenger confusion on the first day of operation.

October 12, 2010 - The New York Times

Sky Trams to Reopen in New York

Aerial trams connecting New York City to Roosevelt Island are going to be back in operation next month. But will enough people want to ride these "sky bubbles" over the East River?

October 11, 2010 - The New York Times

Traffic Restraint As Alternative to Congestion Pricing

Yonah Freemark reports that there are more politically palatable ways to ease traffic congestion than congestion pricing.

October 10, 2010 - the transport politic

A Tale of Two Tall Towers

Josh Leon reports on his time "around two instructive pieces of vertical architecture that could presumably be competitors in a transoceanic race between the US and China for economic hegemony."

October 10, 2010 - Next American City

Jean Nouvel Tower Cut Down To Size

Nicolai Ouroussoff, The New York Times' architecture critic, argues that philistine planning decisions such as the one that restricted the height of Jean Nouvel's proposed tower last month, "risk transforming a living city into an urban mausoleum."

October 9, 2010 - The New York Times

Reviews and Reflections on the Best New Urban Parks

The New Republic offers a look and review of some of the nation's best new urban parks.

October 9, 2010 - The New Republic

Transit, Not Traffic Reduction, Helps NYC Hit Greenhouse Gas Targets

Is New York City's green transportation revolution overhyped? It turns out that emissions from private cars actually increased between 2007 and 2009, and that almost none of the city's greenhouse gas reductions came from the transportation sector.

October 5, 2010 - Streetsblog

New York City Given Power to Clean Up Brownfields

New York City has garnered new powers to institute cleanups on moderately contaminated sites, which could help revive hundreds of spots in the city that have sat empty or unused for years.

October 5, 2010 - The Architect's Newspaper

Counting Foot Traffic in Times Square

The BBC talks with some of the people involved with counting pedestrians in New York City's Times Square. Since being closed off to cars, foot traffic has greatly increased.

October 1, 2010 - BBC

Brooklyn Bridge Park's Evolving Role

As a new park near the Brooklyn Bridge gradually opens in New York, the role it plays in public life in the city is already evolving.

September 30, 2010 - Urban Omnibus

After Urban Renewal, Learning From New York City

Mary Newsom reviews a new book on New York City by Roberta Brandez Gratz, and finds lessons that cross borders even into her very different city of Charlotte.

September 20, 2010 - The Charlotte Observer

Future of $8.7B New Jersey ARC Project is Uncertain

Governor Chris Christie's moratorium on new contracts may signal trouble even though construction is underway.

September 20, 2010 - the transport politic

The Top 10 Most Global Cities

Emily Peck counts down the top ten most global cities now that more than half the world's population is urbanized. The 21st century will be dominated by the city, writes Parag Khanna. “The age of nations is over. The new urban age has begun.”

September 19, 2010 - The Wall Street Journal

Historic Streetcars Planned To Fill A Transit Gap In Brooklyn

New York City plans a new route to fill a void in rail coverage through south Brooklyn. But will the alignment of the tracks and the ancient cars planned to run on them maximise capacity?

September 17, 2010 - the transport politic

No Progress in Program to Convert Luxury Condos to Affordable Housing

A year-old program in New York City intended to convert stalled condo projects into completed affordable housing has yet to make any progress.

September 17, 2010 - The New York Observer

Making the Transit-Land Value Connection

When the link between transit operators and real estate developers was severed in the early 20th century, transit became both unprofitable and unresponsive to market demand, and land value-lowering MTA cuts are just one example, says Stephen Smith.

September 14, 2010 - Market Urbanism

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.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.