Urbanism
Community-Supported Businesses on the Rise
Stacy Mitchell reports on the growing trend of micro-financing, where small business people turn to the local community to get the funding they need to open restaurants or small shops.
Houston, A Model City for the U.S.
Houston is often the butt of many urban planners' jokes. With no formal zoning, wide roads and huge houses, it's often what urban planners are trying to move American cities away from. Joel Kotkin argues Houston is a model city for the U.S.
DIY Urbanism: One Block, One Shipping Pallet at a Time
Jim Kunstler once said that if the 20th Century was about getting around, the 21st Century is about staying in places worth staying in.
Support Builds For Highway Removal in Saint Louis
St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board formally endorses the removal of elevated and depressed lanes of current I-70 ROW to reconnect city and arch grounds.
The Importance of Being Urban
If we are "urbanists," does that mean we're anti-suburban? Or do choice and economics define our choices? Architect Fanis Grammenos reflects on his own history of shelter and the ideology of urbanism.
A City To Live In
The tide is turning from the last half century, with population trends heading inward and urban from the sundered seas of suburbia.
The New 'Urban Community' On The Las Vegas Strip
Hey, Las Vegas. Good to see you! Tough break about all those foreclosures... But, hey, I hear you've got a new mega project opening up. That's cool! I bet those other broke cities are super jealous. Yeah, this new project's gonna bring you back to glory, eh? Oh, what's that? What did you just call it? CityCenter? The Capital of the New World? An urban community? Let me stop you right there.
The Fourth Urbanism
Columnist Frank Gruber seeks to define an urbanism separate from New Urbanism, Post-Urbanism, and 'Everyday' Urbanism: what he calls "Cityism."
Judaism and Urbanism
After visiting Denver for the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) conference, I began to meditate on the relationship between Judaism and urbanism, and on how few cities accommodate both. In particular, I was impressed by how well-populated downtown Denver was compared to the southern cities where I have spent the past three years (Jacksonville) and this summer (Little Rock) - but I stll couldn’t imagine myself living in downtown Denver all that comfortably.
The Death, Then Life, of Great American Cities
On Tuesday, over a million Americans made it to Washington, D.C. to attend President Obama's inauguration. Christopher Hawthorne relates the nation's refreshed optimism to an impending revival of urbanism and public space.
Is Urbanism Enough to Curb Global Warming?
Witold Rybczynski reports on a recent conference at the University of Pennsylvania at which planners emphasized technology. He thinks that there is more to it than that.
Thanksgiving
Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I thought I would ask myself: what I am thankful for that is related to urbanism?
On 'Black Urbanism'
Architects and researchers are looking into the influences of African and African-American culture on urbanism.
Crime and urban design: Oscar Newman 36 years later
I recently read Oscar Newman’s 1970s book on crime prevention, “Defensible Space.” In this book, Newman addressed the question of why some public housing projects are insanely dangerous, and others only moderately so. Although Newman’s analysis is mostly confined to low-income housing, commentators of all stripes have relied on his work: new urbanist commentator Laurence Aurbach asserts that Newman’s work supports new urbanists’ emphasis on heavily trafficked, walkable streets (1) while Randall O’Toole considers Newman to be a defender of single-use, cul-de-sac sprawl (2).
End of Suburbia? Kotkin Says No Way
Joel Kotkin once again leaps to the defense of the suburbs as a choice, and says that urbanists who are hoping that Americans will rush back into the cities are sadly mistaken.
Is Urbanism to Blame For Social Alienation?
This commentary from ArchNewsNow wonders whether urbanism is really the cause of social alienation, not the cure.
The Possibilities of 'Spime'
Noah Radford of Space Syntax gave an interesting presentation on the possible future of "spimes", objects like bricks that are given self-awareness in space and time (hence, spime) and what such objects might mean for future planning and design.
Israel Weighs Smart Growth
The Movement for Israeli Urbanism makes the case that Israel's current planning policies are not sustainable.
On Pride
Cities are sized-up, measured and analyzed in countless ways. The Economist uses statistics to indicate how New York’s financial sector is faring against its London counterpart. Richard Florida measures the extant of the creative class. Allan Jacobs carefully records intersection densities and Jan Gehl simply counts pedestrians. Some, like Peter Calthorpe, go beyond the city line and take stock of the whole region.
Dublin Disappearing?
Anne Street, Dublin City Center: A mixture of uses prevail in this pedestrian friendly, human-scaled street.
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
