Technology

LA Bus Fleet Now Cleanest In The Nation

The city still known for its smog will not have its buses to blame - the last of its diesel-fueled ones retired Jan. 12 in a celebration. All but 7 of the 2,221 buses will be compressed-natural-gas powered; electric and gas-electric the remainder.

January 13, 2011 - Los Angeles Times: Environment

Questioning a Floating City for Haiti

A floating city has been proposed to help ease some of the problems being faced by earthquake-damaged Haiti. But is this the answer the struggling country needs?

January 9, 2011 - The City Fix

The World's Smartest Cities

Fast Company runs down a list of the "smartest" cities in the world. First place goes to Songdo City, in South Korea.

January 8, 2011 - Fast Company

Innovative Redesigns for the Simple Traffic Light

The common traffic light isn't normally thought of as a problem. But what if you were colorblind? That's just one aspect of these eight proposals for a rethinking of the traffic light, gathered by WebUrbanist.

January 3, 2011 - WebUrbanist

Traffic Management, Disney Style

At Disney World, getting millions of visitors through the lines of their desired attractions faster is a huge logistical challenge. The theme park is taking a high-tech approach to the problem.

December 29, 2010 - The New York Times

New Tool Adds Transportation to the Green Building Equation

A new free online tool, developed by the Center for Neighborhood Technology for the US Green Building Council, adds the effect of transportation and indirect emissions to the sustainable building equation.

December 28, 2010 - Chicago Tribune

Rio's New Citywide Control Room

IBM is partnering with the city of Rio de Janeiro to build a massive "citywide control room" to monitor and respond to emergencies.

December 28, 2010 - Fast Company

Gov 2.0 Grows

Gov 2.0 is on the rise, and an increasing amount of cities and groups are getting behind efforts to improve the way cities function by better processing their data.

December 23, 2010 - Fast Company

Postal Service as Mobile Urban Data Collector

The U.S. Postal Service operates a massive fleet of trucks and vans throughout the country. Michael Ravnitzky argues that this fleet could be easily modified to collect data about the places the vehicles go.

December 22, 2010 - The New York Times

Mapping Seattle's Bikeability

Comparing Seattle to Portland, transportation planner Adam Parast used GIS data to show the most bikeable parts of the city.

December 22, 2010 - Ballard New Tribune

The Music of Planning

A website called "Isle of Tune" lets you build streets SimCity-style, with a twist- the houses and streetlights become musical elements in the sequence that you make.

December 20, 2010 - TechCrunch

Five Technologies That Matter For Cities

Mobile broadband, government-sponsored cloud computing, smart devices - these are a few of the technologies that cities should be thinking about for the future, says the Institute for the Future in a new report.

December 17, 2010 - Fast Company

Opening Government Easier Said Than Done

Federal government entities are supposed to be "opening" their data, publishing it online for any and all to see. While the goal is good, the reality of meeting the requirement is creating problems.

December 9, 2010 - Next American City

S.F. Attracting Tech Industry from Silicon Valley

More tech workers are choosing the city over the suburbs. Now companies themselves are beginning to follow suit, reports Jon Swartz.

December 9, 2010 - USA Today

Satellite Crash Jeopardizes Russian GPS Program

Russia has been developing a $2 billion alternative to the American GPS system. This week, a programming error sent 3 critical satellites crashing into the Pacific Ocean.

December 7, 2010 - The Christian Science Monitor

Can Web-Aggregated Data Improve Society?

In an experiment in social data gathering, Slate's Michael Agger suggests that there is a host of ways we could be contributing our personal data to help make better policy decisions.

December 6, 2010 - Slate

7 Reasons Why Big Cities Matter

Writing for City Journal, Mario Polese argues that big cities are more important than ever, and backs up his argument with seven reasons they're luring people, from economies of scale to falling transportation and communication costs.

December 3, 2010 - City Journal

Listening for Landslides

Researchers have developed a new technology to sense the acoustic conditions that indicate oncoming landslides.

December 1, 2010 - IEEE Spectrum

D.C. Takes Long-Range Transit Planning Online

Washington D.C.'s Metro is expecting a major increase in ridership over the next 30 years. To try to meet that demand, they're recruiting ideas from the public with a new outreach effort.

December 1, 2010 - The City Fix

Could China Set New Standards for Coal Mining?

The Atlantic's James Fallows and Alexis Madrigal fly over Virginia & Kentucky to see first hand how mining effects the land, both in the U.S. and more importantly in China, where they're developing greener techniques for mining.

November 27, 2010 - The Atlantic Magazine

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.