Urban Design
Skybridges Kill Streetlife
A graduate planning student at the University of Utah has compiled a report on the effect of skybridges as part of her efforts to combat the proposed skybridge for downtown Salt Lake City.
Slicing and Dicing Superblocks
If 'superblocks' are so bad, why are we still building more of them?
Will The Atlantic Yards Project Go Bust?
The slowing economy is causing Forest Ratner to re-think buildout plans for their controversial Atlantic Yards development. New York City history tells us it won't be the first time a large scale project goes the way of the economy.
Chicago Eyes an Elevated Bike Trail
The Friends of the Bloomingdale Trail want to convert a three-mile section of abandoned elevated rail line into a bike trail. It could take a decade, but the idea already has the backing of some of the city's power players.
Planning the Long Tail
One of the more powerful concepts to come out of the information and services economy is the Long Tail.
Island Urbanism: Teasing Out the Unique
Whether kissed by trade winds in Hawaii, home to dozens of unique cultures in the Caribbean, or scoured by Nor’easter’s off the coast of Maine, islands are magnetic to burnt-out urbanites but tend to be tough places for natives. I was a guest not long ago of Fernando Menis, an architect who has built an international reputation from Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. It’s not easy to be true to a unique place – as he aspires to be – when what works locally doesn’t always “translate” in the globalized and image-driven world of architecture.
Underwriting Fun
“We underwrite fun,” says Naomi McCleary, Manager of arts for the Waitakere City Council, one of the municipalities that make up the Auckland (New Zealand) metropolitan region. She is referring to the practice of involving artists in the thinking and creation of public places, buildings, streets, bridges; they take an equal seat at the table from conception to completion. According to Ms. McCleary, the results are remarkable. Fun is a partner of beauty and happiness, it is a means toward the creation of objects and places that are beautifully usable. Around the world it is possible to find municipalities that are underwriting this kind of fun, but for every found opportunity, we have several more that are lost.
The Importance of Beauty: A Personal and Professional Perspective
The countless issues and debates about the nature of city-building need powerful voices within the broader public.
Planning Lessons from an Olympic Beauty Contest
Last week, my home city, Los Angeles, lost out to Chicago for the right to represent the United States in the international competition to host the 2016 Olympics. Since an Olympic city selection represents the ultimate inter-urban beauty contest – dare I say, a kind of urban “International Idol” – what did this process tell us about the state of urban planning in two of America’s largest cities?
Where were the planners?
This post is a few weeks after the fact but the recent APA conference only solidified my resolution to say something. In early April Teddy Cruz gave a lecture here in Philly at the School of Design. For those of you not familiar with his work, he has a unique and thoughtful perspective on the relationships between culture, planning and design.
Is Vancouver Still a City by Design?
Vancouver has earned many titles and nick-names on its way to becoming an international model of urban livability. One used frequently is the title “city by design”. The language of the title is deliberately specific, particularly the choice of the word “by”. A city by design is one that has taken public or civic responsibility for its physical development. A city that has embraced the value of design, both in the broad strokes and in the details, in the achievement of its public goals, be they livability, sustainability, civic beauty or economic success.
Where Do I Live and Where Do I Park?
As one of my favorite colleagues says, all anyone ever cares about at any public meeting is “where do I live and where do I park?” Public process, in short, asks people to accept changes to their homes and lives. And people generally do not like change.
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
