Technology
Virtual Explorers Of Google Earth
Enthusiasts are using Google Earth and Microsoft Live Search Maps for unexpected purposes.
Innovation Where The Sun Don't Shine
An Italian village that once spent almost three months of each year in the shadows of a nearby mountain has turned to technology to provide sunlight during its annual spell of darkness. A huge sun-tracking mirror now reflects light onto the village.
Central Florida Asked To Vote On Growth Vision
A unique regional organization is inviting thousands of today's Central Floridians to determine the future living pattern of 3.5 million new residents projected for the area by 2050.
Planning Schools For A Changing Future
The design of schools should account for advances in technology and consider how those changes will affect the way students learn, according to learning advocates who discuss the future of school design in this article from the BBC.
Technology Offers Solutions For Parking Headaches
High-tech garages and online applications promise to help ease motorists' parking frustrations.
Does Planning Matter In A Virtual World?
Even in virtual environments, it turns out, good planning matters. The virtual environment, Second Life, offers a view into the future of how planning may evolve in virtual worlds, and how planners might use virtual environments to plan.
Building A Better, Cheaper Home
Mass production and prefabrication have revolutionized the manufacturing of cars, planes and ships -- now a number of pioneering builders and architects are applying these technologies to the housing industry.
Can Google Change One Small Town's Fortunes?
State and local officials are offering $100 million dollars in tax breaks to the Internet company should it locate a new facility in Lenoir, North Carolina. Yet some wonder if the generosity will pay off for the town.
Elevator Technology Rises To New Heights
This audio report from NPR describes "smart elevator" technology that is slowly moving its way into the U.S. in places like elevator-dependent New York City. These new elevators group passengers into different elevators based on their destination.
A Real Life 'Italian Job'?
Two City of Los Angeles senior traffic engineers are charged with breaking into traffic control computers and disabling traffic signals at busy Los Angeles intersections.
Small Bay Area Commuter Train Hopes To Revolutionize Passenger Rail
Caltrain, the nation's oldest commuter rail system west of the Mississippi, unveiled a plan to electrify the line that operates 96 daily trains from San Francisco to San Jose using technology that requires changes in federal and state regulations.
Baltimore Installs Solar-Powered Parking Meters
The new high tech meters allow drivers to take their unused time to another parking spot in the city.
Gehry's See-Through Symphony
Architect Frank Gehry's design for a new concert hall in Miami Beach blends openness with the next-generation Internet.
Using The Internet To Find A Parking Space
A new Internet start-up hopes to become the eBay for parking spaces by allowing people to find and trade parking online.
Milwaukee Launches Innovative Economic Development Website
The new site, the latest in a growing number of online tools used to cultivate investment, allows companies to research demographics, find vacant parcels, and identify business assistance programs.
The Technology Behind Planetizen
An article featured in Linux Journal chronicles the process for updating the infrastructure of a high-traffic website like Planetizen to the Drupal content management platform.
A Building That Eats Smog
A new church outside Rome designed by architect Richard Meier has been built with a self cleaning exterior that also destroys pollutants in the air.
VirtualCity Delivers First Person Views Of The Urban Landscape
A new Canadian company has matched GPS-coordinated street-level camcorder shots of Toronto with mapping software to enable a real-life horizontal view of any coordinate, allowing users to preview a destination before visiting.
Cities Try Online Fix For Parking Crunch
The City of Santa Monica, California, provides real-time parking availability information on the Internet in hopes of relieving traffic problems from motorists circling for a parking space.
Paris Wants To Woo The 'Creative Class'
Once a magnet for writers, painters and other artistic types, Paris' Mayor wants the city to attract the laptop toting young bohemians that represent the new 'creative class'.
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.
Caltrans
Smith Gee Studio
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
