Technology

World Leaders Shouldn't Underestimate the Climate-Saving Potential of Bicycles

Writing in The Guardian's Bike Blog, Peter Walker has an important message for the 40,000 delegates from 195 nations gathered in Paris for the COP21 talks: Don't discount the carbon-reducing, planet-saving potential of the bicycle.

December 4, 2015 - The Guardian

To Solve Sao Paulo's Water Crisis, Collaboration Is Key

Brazil is rethinking it's approach to water infrastructure. Brazilian think-tank Arq Futuro and Arup's Pablo Lazo give their take on the state of South America's most populous country.

December 4, 2015 - Doggerel

Self-Driving Car

New Research: Planning for Cars That Drive Themselves

Erick Guerra of U Penn guest blogs about his new article in Journal of Planning Education and Research, which explores why regional plans have overlooked the future of autonomous vehicles.

December 2, 2015 - JPER

Planners Feeling Tension Between Disruption And Convention

Cultural changes and 'disruptions' created by the 'sharing' economy are challenging planners just as they're challenging their own competitors. Bill Fulton assesses the brave new world that might liberate planners—or befuddle them.

December 2, 2015 - California Planning & Development Report

Crowd

It Is Now Next to Impossible to Reside Anonymously in a Big City

It is now next to impossible to reside anonymously in a modern city. Why? Because data anonymization itself is almost impossible without using advanced cryptography. Our every transaction leaves a digital marker that can be mined by anyone...

December 1, 2015 - Cities of the Future

A Quick Guide to the COP21 Climate Talks

World leaders are meeting in Paris this week for the United Nation's COP21 talks. But what exactly are the main topics of discussion?

November 30, 2015 - Doggerel

Possible Competition for Bay Area Bike Share

With Bay Area Bike Share serving nearby Redwood City in San Mateo County, it might seem odd that the city of San Mateo would look elsewhere for starting a bike share program. However, the city of almost 103,000 did not want a "hub-based" model.

November 28, 2015 - Silicon Valley Business Journal

Like Amazon, but for Gas

Never go to a gas station again. We're not talking about transit—we're talking about an app that sends people to your car to fill it up with gas with no service charge.

November 25, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Google Self-Driving Car

Time to Take the Self-Driving Car Seriously?

So far, only a small minority of major cities have considered self-driving cars in their long-range transportation plans. The question is, should policymakers embrace them or stand in their way?

November 24, 2015 - TechCrunch

Mobility

Three Ways Mobile Transit Payments Will Change How We Move in Cities

One idea for how to make transit better is rolling out in cities across the country: mobile payment of fares on smartphones.

November 23, 2015 - Regina R. Clewlow

Vision from the Future: A 'Dating App' for Deciding Where to Live

One of the earliest researchers at Skype makes a compelling case for one of the potential applications of artificial intelligence: helping humans decide where and how to migrate.

November 23, 2015 - Medium

A Planner's Perspective on Brazil's Water Crisis

With water shortages in São Paulo making headlines around the world, Brazil is rethinking its approach to water infrastructure. Arup's Pablo Lazo gives his perspective on the various entities that are acting for change.

November 23, 2015 - Doggerel

Early Reviews Are In: Chicago's New Transit App Makes it Easy to Pay the Fare

The Ventra app hits the streets—or the tracks, perhaps—this week. Steven Vance of Streetsblog Chicago has already tested the new tool.

November 20, 2015 - Chi.Streetsblog

How to Prevent Hackers from Infiltrating the 'Internet of Cars'?

Which should we trust to insulate connected cars from the threat of hackers: private companies or government regulation?

November 20, 2015 - Atlanta Business Chronicle

Melting Pots and Shrinking Islands

Brooklyn-based artist Ekene Ijeoma newest piece shows what parts of New York City are affordable to different people across the spectrum of salaries in the form of crystalline islands called "wage islands."

November 17, 2015 - Doggerel

Microsoft, City of Bellevue Developing Tech to Predict—and Prevent—Bike Crashes

If it's successful, a public-private partnership between Microsoft and the city of Bellevue, Washington could produce Minority Report-style predicative capabilities to prevent bike crashes.

November 16, 2015 - GeekWire

The Time the Google Self-Driving Car Got Pulled Over for Driving Too Slowly

Google's response to its self-driving car getting pulled over by police in California: " "Driving too slowly? Bet humans don't get pulled over for that too often."

November 15, 2015 - San Jose Mercury News

Santa Monica Bikes

Santa Monica Debuts GPS-Enabled Bikeshare

Serving beach-side Santa Monica and nearby Venice, Breeze Bikeshare equips its bikes with GPS tracking. The program claims to be more advanced than an L.A. Metro system set to debut in early 2016.

November 14, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Uber Driver

The Ride-Share Revolution

"If the 20th century was devoted to building the infrastructure to service the personal automobile, then perhaps the 21st century will be devoted to undoing most of it."

November 12, 2015 - TechCrunch

Ultimate Tech Guide to Boston

Whether you're a lifelong resident of Boston, just moving there, or simply passing through, this guide has 18 apps and services for navigating and enjoying the city life to its fullest.

November 9, 2015 - Netted

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.