Technology

A Neighborhood of Stairs

The La Independencia neighborhood in Medellin, Colombia sprawls up a hillside, leaving the inhabitants to walk up to 10 flights of stairs every day. An ambitious development program is considering building an outdoor network of escalators.

June 22, 2011 - TheCityFix.com

A Reality Check for Driverless Cars

For autonomous vehicles to roam the freeway, infrastructure and the law will need to accelerate and catch up with innovation, experts say.

June 21, 2011 - The Infrastructurist

A Shopping Merry-Go-Round

Modern Mechanics Magazine featured a strange idea for circulating people throughout a shopping mall called the "Revolator" that moved people up and around in glass boxes so they could see into stores.

June 21, 2011 - Modern Mechanix

U.S. Cities in the Twitterverse

Milwacky? Hustletown? These are just a couple of the most popular nicknames that Twitterati use when referring to their hometowns, as culled by Inbox Q, a company that harvests info from Twitter for private companies.

June 19, 2011 - Mashable

A Pool in the River

This Kickstarter campaign is hoping to raise money to build a floating pool in the waters around New York City that use and filter river water to provide a public swimming facility.

June 18, 2011 - Kickstarter

Cooperation and the Evolutionary Biology of the City as Organism

Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson is trying to understand how natural selection works at various levels. His new lab: the city of Binghamton, New York.

June 17, 2011 - Nature

Learning From Sweden: Green Cars Don't Reduce Emissions

Despite having the world's most energy efficient, least polluting auto fleet, greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector continue to rise in Sweden.

June 14, 2011 - Common Dreams

The Temporary Stadium

As London prepares to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, plans for a temporary basketball stadium that can be removed after the event are offering a new way to look at the event and its potential for creating venues with no long-term usability.

June 14, 2011 - Guardian

How Taxi Data Can Help Solve Public Transit Problems

Data on taxi pick-up and drop-off points can be a useful tool to better understand urban mobility, and how taxis can function as an aspect of public transportation, according to this post.

June 11, 2011 - Urbanophile

New Electric Fuel Behaves Like Gasoline

Researchers at MIT have developed a radical new approach to electric vehicles: a liquid fuel carrying electrically-charged particles that could refuel cars just like gasoline.

June 9, 2011 - Grist

Steve Jobs Pitches New Apple Campus

Last night Apple CEO Steve Jobs pitched plans for a new campus development to the Cupertino city council.

June 9, 2011 - Huffington Post

Turning to the Crowd for Ideas

Alexandra Lange highlights a crowd-sourced urban design that actually worked.

June 7, 2011 - Design Observer

Economic Development in Orlando Linked to Defense

A combination of favorable factors have made Orlando the site of a growing high-tech military research/simulation center. Pentagon spending already employs 9,000 more Floridians than the state's hallowed agriculture industry, writes Richard Reep.

June 5, 2011 - New Geography

New Google App: "Mapnificent"

A new google app, dubbed Mapnificent, allows you to choose a starting location and then see all the places that you can reach by public transportation within a specified amount of time.

June 4, 2011 - GOOD Magazine

L.A. Metro Tracks Buses With New Tool

Los Angeles' public transit authority has joined those of other major U.S. cities in providing a real-time tool for checking to see how soon buses will arrive at specific stops.

June 1, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

Fanciful Bike Storage Mounts on Tall Buildings

Design firm Manifesto Architecture is proposing a unique vertical bike storage system that can take advantage of underused, slim spaces like alleys. Another neat aspect: the rack is powered by a stationery bike.

May 28, 2011 - TheCityFix.com

Smart Grid Industry Booms in North Carolina's Triangle

The Triangle (The Raleigh-Durham area) has managed to attract a cluster of nearly 60 companies working on smart grid technology and infrastructure.

May 25, 2011 - News & Observer

Lots Of Oil Remaining, But It's Heavy & Expensive

Half the oil in the Persian Gulf has been pumped out of the ground - so has 'peak oil' been reached? Notably, that term doesn't even appear in the article. Instead, it discusses the difference between light and heavy oil, and the role of technology

May 25, 2011 - The Wall Street Journal - Business

Digital Democracy in the Big Apple

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NY's "Chief Digital Officer" Rachel Sterne presented plans to use enhance technology that connects citizens with their government.

May 24, 2011 - SeeClickFix Blog

Chicago Plans for a Warmer Future

Climate scientists have warned Chicago's planners that the City will be significantly warmer and wetter by the end of theentury. And from street trees to building standards, that message is infiltrating Chicago's planning and design.

May 23, 2011 - A City Prepares for a Warm Long-Term Forecast

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.