Technology
Minor Tweaks and Major Advancements Suggested for L.A.'s Parking System
Responding to aggravated parkers in Los Angeles, a citizen's advisory committee has come up with a raft of recommendations to make parking fines fairer and to add technological innovation for finding a parking space and avoiding tickets.
Rating the Effectiveness of Eight Approaches to Civic Engagement
Code for America has released an Engagement Standard that provides concepts for measuring the quality of new engagement platform technology—not a bad tool to have in the perpetual quest to increase the quality of engagement processes.
An App for Navigating While Walking
A new app called Walc makes navigating while walking easier to do. Even more ambitiously, Walc aims to make it easier to make the choice to walk, rather than drive.
Friday Eye Candy: Take a Virtual Stroll Around the World
The Mapillary app allows users to upload their street-level photos into a geo-tagged sequence.
Shut It and Gut It: Anchorage Takes Hard Look at Transit Center
After 500 hours of analyzing its downtown transit center, Anchorage officials have come to one conclusion: The only way to fix this building is to shut it and gut it. The transit center, over three decades, has become a blight on Downtown.
The Most Popular Planetizen Posts of 2015
The results of a year's worth of writing, reading, sharing, and commenting are in. These are the most popular Planetizen posts from the year 2015.
A New Atlas of American History
A new online mapping project called American Panorama earned rave reviews this week from CityLab and Gizmodo.
First There Were Electric Vehicles—Will Electric Roads Be Next?
Two Texas universities received a federal grant to embed sensors in road asphalt to create renewable electricity from the wind created by passing vehicles to power roadside lights and traffic signals.
The Quest for Accuracy in Predicting Bus Arrivals Has a New Friend
With better predictions, an app may help alleviate the urban annoyance of waiting for the bus that was supposed to arrive 10 minutes ago.
The Perils of Walking While Under the Influence of Your Phone
Everyone seems to do it, in fact you may be doing it right now, but beware the injuries that await from distracted walking.
Cities Are Putting Off Plans for Self-Driving Cars
A recent report casts light on a lack of preparation by cities for the future of transportation.
Historic Hong Kong: Visualizing a Changed City
Created with input from historian Mark Footer, this tool overlays street views of modern Hong Kong with historical photos from the colonial era through the 20th century.
Water Resilience in Dry Climates
How can cities in dry climates become self-sufficient in terms of water? California based Dry Lands Institute is creating a digital design tool called Hazel that aims to address just that.
More Than Money: Civic Crowdfunding for Participatory Community Development
Crowdfunding platforms have attracted attention for their capacity to bring together likeminded people from far-flung corners of the world. Worth building on, however, is the ability of some platforms to bring together neighborhoods and communities.
Anchorage Changes Policies for Cell Towers in Neighborhoods
Draft regulations under consideration in Anchorage "would prohibit building large cellphone towers next to homes in dense urban settings."
King County Metro Looks to the App to Solve the First Mile Problem
An app is helping to bring transit riders from their home to the nearest park-and-ride in King County, Washington.
Dallas Has Nation's First Hybrid Streetcar
At critical points, Dallas' streetcar system runs without overhead cables. Two batteries underneath the car store enough power to propel the train across a mile-long bridge.
When Discussing Median Rents, Let's Make Sure We Have All the Data
Reports about the median rents rising or falling in a community garner a lot of attention, but it's a good idea to understand where the data is coming from.
Using Instagram to Create a Blight Inventory
The Innovation Team in Mobile shows that sometimes innovation can be delivered through commonplace technology.
Friday Eye Candy: How USGS Surveys Helped Build Pixar's New Dream World
Jody Avirgan shares insight into a new podcast with the creators of the new Pixar movie The Good Dinosaur, which reads like more of an advertisement for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
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
