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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Steve Jobs Pitches New Apple Campus
Last night Apple CEO Steve Jobs pitched plans for a new campus development to the Cupertino city council.
Turning to the Crowd for Ideas
Alexandra Lange highlights a crowd-sourced urban design that actually worked.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Pagination
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.
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Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
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