Florida is a state of dichotomies. Even after a decade of explosive population growth, much of the Sunshine State remains very rural. Coastal cities like Miami are home to the international super-rich, while just blocks away you can find families struggling to make ends meet. And, maybe most surprisingly, Florida – a state known in [...]
A park that was supposed to be a parking area celebrated on Sunday, 14 of April its 4th year of existence. A small self-organized park in the heart of Athens, Greece has set a very important precedent in the latest urban history of self-managed open spaces for all Greek Cities. The Navarinou Park is located [...]
With the recent news and onset of the Residential Demolition Program in Detroit, Michigan, or as termed by Jeff Byles, “demolition central,” the question and significance of historically significant demolition projects came to mind. In order to get to the bottom of this subject matter, one must pose an important question of whether the industry [...]
When you lead a nation in green space, what opportunities do you possess? How do those opprotunities impact small and emerging businesses, and the surrounding communities? At what point do you convert underutilized green space into a sprawling piece of revenue-producing land? In the United Kingdom, Nottingham currently boasts the Kingdom’s top green space ranking. [...]
It is really disappointing that every time we think of schools, a rigid, concrete structure comes to mind. Even in kindergarten, some of us remember playing inside the building, rather than enjoying a large green playground. Hopefully, this won’t have to be the case for our children. A few months ago, the municipality of Thessaloniki, Greece, [...]
Roaring crowds, bright lights, and elaborate shows are all part of the visceral human feeling we have at stadiums. For a long time, people have been fascinated by the experience of large performances. These concerts and sporting events, as well as their buildings, are essential components of the human experience. Looking at one of our [...]
Window shopping is a popular pastime – but have you ever noticed that some storefronts are simply better for on-foot shopping than others? While conventional retail has given higher priority to faster-moving automobile visibility, the traditional fundamentals of human-based storefront design are often overlooked. The success of local businesses, and the walkability well-designed storefronts promote, [...]
Global Site Plans (GSP) and The Grid would like to extend an opportunity to your business or organization to advertise on our website. As GSP and The Grid have grown immensely since their founding, less than three years ago, we are actively seeking companies congruent with our own philosophy who will benefit from advertising to [...]
A big Global Site Plans welcome to our newest blogger, Robert Poole from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Robert Poole recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Anthropology and a minor in City and Regional Planning. He grew up in San Diego but now resides in Berkeley, where he has become intrigued [...]
With an estimated 35,000 abandoned properties, blight is a prevalent problem in New Orleans, exacerbated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A new website, launched by the City of New Orleans and the nonprofit group Code For America, aims to provide citizens with information regarding blighted properties in their area. Blighted properties are a visual eyesore [...]
After nearly 40 years of discussion and planning, the connection between BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and the Oakland Airport is finally nearing completion. Like most transportation infrastructure projects (especially those in the Bay Area) this 3.2-mile, $484.1 million connector faced numerous obstacles, delays, and controversy even after construction broke ground in October 2011. Those [...]
A big Global Site Plans welcome to our newest Program Support Intern, Bryan Schmid, from Rock Island, Illinois. Bryan Schmid holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography and German from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois and a Master’s of Urban Planning and Policy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Since graduation in May 2012, [...]
This is the first post in a three-part series reviewing and summarizing the CNU21 suggested reading list. CNU21 is this year’s annual Congress for the New Urbanism conference and will be held at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, Utah May 29th through June 1st, 2013. “Cities of the American West: A History [...]
Michael Sorkin is opinionated to the point, and passionate about protecting architecture from the politics that too often smother innovation. A well-known architectural critic, author of several hundred articles, professor, and principal of the Michael Sorkin Studio, Sorkin lives, eats — “architectural flesh has always proved tasty to me”, and breathes architecture and urban [...]
Built Environment professionals, myself included, tend to focus on the latest trends concerning sustainability, smart growth, and recent technologies for construction. Many times we end up relegating historical preservation and everything concerning Built Heritage Conservation as a métier only for experienced professionals, who embark on these projects as a way of closing their careers, as [...]
Montreal is transformed by the seasons. During our hot summers, bars and terraces overflow with people, festivals bring crowds to the streets, and public spaces brim with locals and tourists. Winter is a different story. Large public spaces that are vibrant in the warmer months, like Place-des-Arts and Place Jacques-Cartier, are virtually abandoned when the [...]
The amount of wind power in the world is increasing quickly. The background for this development is improved technology, decreased costs for the units, and increased concern regarding environmental problems of competing technologies such as fossil fuels. The amount of wind power is not spread equally over the world, so in some areas, there is [...]
All too often, urban planners spend months, even years, doing all of the work necessary to complete a comprehensive plan, only to see that plan sit on the shelf after it is completed. The problem is that we often direct the vast majority of our energy towards the research, writing, and community outreach portions of [...]
Previously, we discussed urban parks and how cities can mitigate issues created by time and light circumstances. Then, we discussed passive and active community depreciation in rural parks. The differences, struggles, and advantages of and between rural and urban parks are obviously significant. Rural parks departments don’t have the large tax base large city parks [...]
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.” – Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher Danish architect, Jan Gehl’s, latest book, Cities for People (Island Press, 2010), explores the better designs of cities through designs for the people to live and work simultaneously. In this follow-up to Life Between Buildings (1971), Gehl explores the shifting [...]
