Technology
Smart Parking With A Political Twist
Sausalito, just across the Bay from SF, has replaced attendants with pay stations in four parking lots. While embedded sensors monitor vehicle activity in the lots, residents are given a tag to hang in their vehicles providing 3 hours free parking.
Transit Discovers Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are becoming standard components of transit agencies' strategies for outreach and keeping riders informed.
Depaving Rural American Roads-Literally
Rather than being part of a car liberation or permeable pavement movement, poorly maintained county roads are having their asphalt ground into gravel as a cost-cutting measure to avoid costly road reconstruction. Lack of funding is the cause.
Air Conditioning and Community
A new book looks at the environmental, energy, and social consequences of keeping cool by using air conditioners. In this 4-minute public radio interview, author Stan Cox explains how to keep cool, just in time for the East Coast heat wave.
Many Ways to Reimagine Suburbia
The "Build a Better Burb" contest from Long Island Index has chosen 23 finalists with a variety of interesting ideas for redesigning the suburbs for the next century - in this case, Long Island.
Take A Floating Hotel Across the Ocean
Designer Nick Talbot, who worked on Virgin Galactic projects, is proposing a floating hotel he's calling "Aircruise" which would take a leisurely 37 hour journey between London and New York.
Tracking City Issues Through Read/Write Urbanism
Adam Greenfield looks at issue tracking systems for cities, and suggests that they can be taken a step farther by adding unique identifiers to urban infrastructure that automatically notifies city systems when problems arise.
Neighbors Connected
Face-to-face interactions between neighbors may be declining in some cities, but, increasingly, neighbors are connecting with each other online.
London's Eyes on Citywide Wi-Fi
London Mayor Boris Johnson wants his entire city wired with wi-fi networks -- even the tube.
Paris Plans for Power From Hydroliennes Beneath The Seine
This week, Paris City Hall is launching an appeal to find power companies able to install eight 'hydroliennes' underneath the Seine's celebrated bridges. French power company EDF has already declared the plan interesting.
Standardizing and Sharing City Data
New York City is moving forward with a plan to create a singular clearinghouse of public agency information -- an effort to help improve the way city departments work together.
City Data Visualization Tool Wins Journalism Prize
A visual city data mapping tool called CityTracking is one of the winners of this year's Knight News Challenge, a journalism competition that seeks out innovative communication ideas for the changing news media.
Radar Uncovers Ancient Egyptian City
Radar imaging has revealed the layout of a now-underground ancient Egyptian city named Avaris.
Locals vs Tourists Mapped Through Photography
Eric Fischer uses Flickr geodata to visualize where photos are taken in cities, and by whom. The result is a colorful divide between tourists and locals in a variety of cities around the world.
Green Energy Economy Debate: Hot Air Or Feasible Goal?
In this Newshour video (with transcript), spokesmen from a liberal and conservation think tank debate each other on the feasibility of transitioning to clean, green energy from the current fossil fuel powered economy in light of the Gulf disaster.
Too Many Traffic Lights
Architect Arrol Gellner says that traffic engineers use traffic lights far too often when a simple stop sign works better and is much less expensive.
The Sorry State Of Indian Rail
The sorry state of India's government-owned railways, both rail and freight, are hampering India's progress. Unlike China's authoritarian approach, politics in the world's largest democracy appears to be a major obstacle to modernization.
Augmenting Sense of Place
In the first of a two-part series on augmented reality, Mitchell Schwarzer discusses how this new form of information affects our sense of place.
How Cities Can Take Advantange of Their Data
Public data can be more than information for cities. Some have even used it to help generate revenue.
Creating a 3D Record of Africa's Heritage Sites
Fast Company points to a project at the University of Cape Town which seeks to create 3-D renderings of Africa's endangered monuments and heritage sites.
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
