Urban Sustainability
Resilience Matters: Collective Action For Healthier Communities
The Island Press Urban Resilience Project (URP) has published a new, free "Resilience Matters" e-book that contains fascinating articles, op-eds, and interviews that provide practical guidance for collective action to build a fairer, greener future.
American Suburbia Transplanted to Beijing
Chinese and Indian cities have been quick to welcome housing developments modeled on North American suburbs, including "Orange County" and "Vancouver Forest" in Beijing. This globalized sprawl perpetuates all the ills of our own.
Is Vienna the Quintessential Smart City?
Adie Tomer looks at how Vienna contributes to Europe's smart city movement through innovations in sustainability, place-making, and data utilization.
Making Regulatory Reform Work in Seattle
Although Seattle's downtown redevelopment may be receiving plaudits, Chuck Wolfe describes efforts underway to rethink land use regulations on a broader level in the city, with jobs in mind.
Using Adaptive Reuse to Scale the Urban Future
Chuck Wolfe uses the urban scale adaptive reuse of the Roman Emperor Diocletian's retirement palace in Split, Croatia to argue for blending the past and future on a broader scale.
LA City Council Moves Closer To River Centric Development
The Los Angeles City Council last week approved an update to the Los Angeles River Implementation Overlay to encourage good quality river centric development and begin removing some of the concrete that covers the river and its banks.
Urbanism Without Effort
Chuck Wolfe says that urbanism that can readily occur in urban neighborhoods "without really trying" as people naturally come together in impromptu ways.
"No Net Loss" for Third Places?
Amid the dissolution of Borders bookstores in urban centers, Chuck Wolfe urges policymakers and the private market to assure "no let loss" in the spirit of natural resource protection to assure third places remain available in American cities.
Fusion Businesses as Indicators of Urban Change
Chuck Wolfe explains how the fusion of laundromats and dining are evidence of the evolving city and the ongoing need for regulatory reform.
Most Successful Bus Rapid Transit Stalls Out
Bogota, Columbia's TransMilenio bus rapid transit system has been widely praised and imitated around the world. However, many consider the successful bus system to be suffering from its own success.
Sustainable Practices Find a Home in the Americas
Whether in Cupertino, Calif. or Curitiba, Brazil, cities are starting an aggressive move toward sustainability in the Americas. In this evolution, technology, citizen involvement and innovation will play a role transforming cities, Leon Kaye writes.
Should Retrofitting Our Suburbs Take Center Stage?
In this opinion piece from The Huffington Post, Alex Becker argues that retrofitting suburban landscapes with denser development trumps all other sustainability agendas as the single most important path to a more sustainable future.
Mass Transit on Track in Tehran
Over the past 30 years, the overgrown Iranian capital has arrived at unhealthy levels of air pollution and traffic congestion, but with the installation of a metro, BRT system, and bike rental program seems to be heading in a new direction.
How Cities Will Survive Global Warming
Climate change has become a focal point of urban planning in the U.S. and abroad as cities grapple with so-called sustainability. I’ve been a critic of many attempts to implement sustainability plans, not so much because I disagree with the intent as much as I believe the tools used to achieve sustainability are not particularly effective.
What is Green Urbanism?
The term Green Urbanism keeps showing up unexpectedly in newspaper articles, conference session titles, blog posts, and casual conversation. While there is an innate, intuitive sense of the meaning, green urbanism may also seem as elusive as it is evocative. Having given this topic a fair amount of thought over the past several years, I, and my colleague and collaborator Ted Bardacke, arrived at the following working definition: green urbanism: the practice of creating communities mutually beneficial to humans and the environment
West Baltimore's 'Highway to Nowhere' Coming Down
This past Friday, demolition began on a segment of Baltimore's infamous "Highway to Nowhere" to expand parking for the local commuter rail service (MARC). A side benefit: reuniting communities separated since the 1970s.
For Lack of a Better Term
Chuck Wolfe discusses the challenge of finding a more marketable term to encompass all of the prevailing theories of "transit-oriented development", "walkability", and "liveability." His suggestion? Urbandwidth.
Breaking Down the Walls in Jerusalem
Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur of Jerusalem is proposing that the city must 'emerge from its [many] walls', and connect and enhance its vibrant public spaces.
Ghetto-ization: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Density
At first glance, the historic Ghetto streetscene in Venice is an appealing new urbanist community. In another place at another time, the virtues of compact, walkable and dense were the very isolation we now abhor.
Grants Signal Shift in Federal Urban Planning Policy
HUD announced this week the formation of a new Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, along with $100 million in grants for regional integrated planning initiatives.
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
