World

Global issues, U.N., etc.

The Charter City of Guantánamo Bay?

Economist Paul Romer proposes the creation of new "charter cities", taking uninhabited areas and creating new innovative charters for cities that avoid the burden of national regulations. Guantánamo Bay is an ideal location, he says. (VIDEO)

August 5, 2009 - TED

Free Parking

At a digital security conference in Las Vegas, a presenter showed that newer "smart" parking meters can be hacked, giving the hacker free parking wherever they go.

August 5, 2009 - Boing Boing

Oil Crunch Coming

Peak oil will happen at least 10 years earlier than most governments are expecting, and an oil crunch will occur in the next 5 years, says Dr Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency.

August 4, 2009 - The Independent (UK)

The Effects of the Background Noise of City Life

Urban sounds can have an effect on people -- both physically and mentally. This sonic tour through New York City examines how sounds affect urbanites.

August 3, 2009 - Discover

'Disaster City' Trains Rescuers for Real-Life Catastrophes

Disasters happen. Being prepared is almost always the ideal, but rarely the reality. A disaster training facility in Texas is trying to change that.

August 3, 2009 - Popular Science

Building for the Multicultural

Builder Fernando Pagés Ruiz discovered by accident that the multicultural groups in his community had special needs that weren't being met.

August 3, 2009 - Fernando Pagés Ruiz

Cities Without Cars

This slideshow form Mother Nature Network shows seven globa cities that are completely free of cars.

August 2, 2009 - Mother Nature Network

Sewer Robot Frees Up Streets

The Urban Mole is a proposed package delivery robot that uses existing sewer tunnels to deliver packages underground, taking delivery trucks off of the streets.

July 31, 2009 - Wired

Visualizing and Analyzing Plans with CityCAD

Planning technology expert Charles A. Donley reviews a new piece of software that combines the worlds of Computer-Aided Design and Geographic Information Systems to help site planners visualize and analyze their plans.

July 30, 2009 - Charles A. Donley, AICP

Rybczynski on the History of Airport Architecture

Witold Rybczynski provides an illustrated history of airport architecture on Slate [Slideshow].

July 24, 2009 - Slate.com

Geoengineering the Problem of Climate Change

This piece from The Atlantic looks at the emerging concept of "geoengineering" -- a set ideas that seek solutions to climate change by manipulating the environment.

July 23, 2009 - The Atlantic

Connecting the Museum With the Community

Museums are transitioning from niche cultural sites to community hubs, and expanding their engagement with their cities.

July 23, 2009 - Christian Science Monitor

Wayfinding in the City

A review of The Wayfinding Handbook: Information Design for Public Places by David Gibson finds it rich with great ideas for designing new systems, but lacking in ideas for fixing old ones.

July 17, 2009 - re:place Magazine

A Bus-Powering, Rider-Paying Bike Share System

A new city bike sharing design concept not only gives people access to bikes, but also provides power for the local bus system and even pays riders to do it.

July 16, 2009 - The Christian Science Monitor

Combining Trails and Transit

Cities can expand transit service areas by providing convenient access by bike.

July 15, 2009 - City Parks Blog

Regions of Water's Future Uncertainty

This interactive map from Good's Water issue highlight seven regions in the world that are likely to experience conflict over water shortages.

July 14, 2009 - Good

Getting Resilient

A paper published earlier this year by a team of professors argues that cities need to learn to become more resilient as resources become more scarce.

July 14, 2009 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

The Fourth Urbanism

Columnist Frank Gruber seeks to define an urbanism separate from New Urbanism, Post-Urbanism, and 'Everyday' Urbanism: what he calls "Cityism."

July 11, 2009 - The Huffington Post

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.