Technology

Regulation Not Keeping Pace with the Popularity of Drones

The use drones for planning and its related fields has obvious and immediate potential. So far, however, the use of drones lacks a coherent regulatory framework.

May 11, 2015 - ZwillGen

New App Shares Connected Car Data to Government, Businesses

This is what "smart cities" technology looks like: A new product called Inrix Insights offers planners and businesses a platform by which to access the data created by the use of connected cars.

May 10, 2015 - ITProPortal

Meet the World's First Self-Driving Big Rig

The world now includes a technology that raises the stakes of the collective interest in self-driving cars to a whole new weight class: a self-driving big rig.

May 8, 2015 - The Verge

NASA Looking for Help Planning the Built Environment—On Mars

You've got big ideas about how to make life better for lots of people. But are your ideas big enough for a home on Mars?

May 8, 2015 - Network World

The New L.A. Story: Waze Partners with City; Neighbors Get Upset

A partnership between Waze and the city of Los Angeles has prompted a cry of "not on the street in front of my frontyard!" from residential neighborhoods around the city.

May 5, 2015 - Los Angeles Times

Gangnam, Seoul, Korea

Cities Try to Turn on the Dark

Of all the inventions of the modern world, few have been so embraced as artificial light. But constant light, like that which floods city streets and illuminates buildings, is not necessarily healthy or safe. Some cities are trying to go dark.

May 3, 2015 - The Architect's Newspaper

Uber Driver

Uber Now Employs 20,000 in the Bay Area

With over 162,000 full- or part-time "driver partners" nationwide, Uber is an employment giant. The company's 20,000 Bay Area workers place it among the top five regional employers.

April 29, 2015 - SFGate

Wave of the Future? Tapping Wave Energy for Desalination

The future has arrived in Western Australia thanks to new technology created and implemented by Carnegie Wave Energy. The CETO project marries renewable power with desalination—a timely marriage when droughts and climate change take center stage.

April 27, 2015 - The New York Times - Energy & Environment

New App Alerts Drivers Before Traffic Lights Turn Green

A suburban city in the East Bay Area will allow commuters to use a new app that links their smartphones to traffic lights.

April 24, 2015 - San Jose Mercury News

Foresight and the Built Environment

In the ever changing global landscape, organizations need to anticipate and adapt to shifting circumstances to survive. AJ Artemel spoke to Dr. Gereon Uerz of the Arup Foresight + Innovation team to discuss how this can be realized.

April 21, 2015 - Arup Connect

Planning Better Bike Infrastructure with Wikimaps

Fairfax County, Virginia is taking an innovative approach to crowdsourcing feedback on how to improve bicycle infrastructure around transit stations.

April 16, 2015 - Greater Greater Washington

Now Available on DART's Mobile Ticketing App: Uber

Transit planners who see transportation network companies as a potential benefit to public transit will want to pay attention to Uber's new partnership in Dallas.

April 16, 2015 - Mass Transit

Lyft

How Cities Are Regulating the Sharing Economy

Compiled from interviews conducted with city officials, this National League of Cities report gives us a regulator's-eye-view of the sharing economy. Among the topics discussed are equity, taxation, and data transparency.

April 15, 2015 - National League Of Cities

Details about ParkDC—Washington, D.C.'s Performance Parking Program

As the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) quickly approaches the May target for the launch of ParkDC, Greater Greater Washington takes a closer look at what the performance parking program will entail.

April 15, 2015 - Greater Greater Washington

Smartphone car

Boston Parking Meters to Get Smart

Over the next two years, Boston will replace its old parking meters with new ones connected to the internet. With this groundwork in place, pay-by-phone parking is the next step.

April 14, 2015 - BetaBoston

Los Angeles Harbor Freeway

Farewell to the Trusty Map Book

From the years roughly spanning the invention of the automobile to the invention of the smartphone, every driver in Los Angeles traveled with a Thomas Bros. map book. Those days are gone, but nostalgia for physical maps remains.

April 13, 2015 - New York Times Magazine

Management, Not Technology, Will Solve California's Drought

It should come as no surprise that Eduardo Porter, who writes the Economic Scene column for The New York Times, is not enamoured by technological silver bullets like desalination as ways for California to survive it's four-year plus drought.

April 9, 2015 - The New York Times - Economy

Strava Proposal

Fitness Apps Are the New Planning Tool

Many smartphone users have a fitness app that they use to track their routes and progress on fitness goals. The data in these apps is a gold mine for planners, helping lead to better infrastructure investments.

April 3, 2015 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

Data, Communications, and the Future of Urban Mobility

Qualcomm and Arup recently published a report on their vision for the future of connected cities. We spoke to Chris Luebkeman, Arup Fellow and Global Director of Foresight, Research and Innovation, and Qualcomm's Kiva Allgood to learn more.

March 31, 2015 - Arup Connect

Introducing the Latest City-Building Simulation Game

The "Cities: Skylines" city-building simulation game enters the scene long dominated by SimCity.

March 30, 2015 - Greater Greater Washington

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.