As a part of its plans to invest in sustainable transportation, Montreal has built several bicycle lanes over the years. However, traffic signals for bicycles have yet to follow in many neighbourhoods. Although there are traffic lights directed towards drivers and pedestrians, traffic signals on many streets do not “speak” to cyclists. While traditionally cyclists [...]
The University of Michigan is a world-class university with its main campus in the idyllic small-town Ann Arbor, Michigan. Students and Ann Arbor natives often refer to their little slice of heaven as “28 square miles surrounded by reality.” The reality coming to mind now is the high poverty, crime, and population decline plaguing Detroit, [...]
New York City, above others, has defined itself through an evolving scholarship connected to its rapidly changing street life. This broad conception of street life has been widely debated and discussed from the standpoint of urban theorists and activists such as Jane Jacobs and William H. Whyte, whose respective works, The Death and Life of [...]
Bertrand Goldberg’s iconic Marina City project has been a fixture of Chicago’s skyline for decades. The unique, futuristic, corncob-shaped towers, constructed using innovative concrete pouring techniques, represented a bold expression of design in the late 1950’s. As remarkable as Marina City is from a design perspective, a retrospective on Goldberg’s work at the Art Institute [...]
It’s been over 12 years since Athens International Airport moved from the Elliniko area, a significant coastal area of Attica, to its new home in Spata. Since then, there is an ongoing debate between the State, private investors, social movements and institutions, like the National Technical University of Athens with its Urban Environment Laboratory, on propositions [...]
The Universal Expo is coming to Milan in 2015, and construction is already underway for the major six-month event. The Universal Expo occurs only every five years, and encompasses a “universal” theme that is global in nature. This convention’s theme is “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life,” in which sustainable development regarding food supply and [...]
Everyday, urban residents around the world use energy without giving much thought as to where it comes from, how it is produced, and how safe it is to produce it. But on January 31, 2013, a series of explosions at the Richmond Chevron Refinery in Richmond, California raised important urban planning questions regarding the location [...]
If you have ever been to Lake Tahoe, California, I’m sure you can agree with me that it is one of the most breathtaking spots in the U.S. Situated between Nevada and California, with seventy-two miles of shoreline and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range as its backdrop, this alpine lake is known for both its [...]
On the surface, the iconic 200-year-old urban grid of New York City’s Manhattan Island towers over the surrounding hinterland. John Randel Jr., who surveyed & engineered the future of NYC urban growth from 1818-1820, used hand drawn maps that effectively mapped out today’s modern metropolis. But New York City, like all cities, also carries a [...]
In 2006, city officials announced plans for a “triple crown” for downtown Orlando. The idea called for the largest public building project the region had ever seen: three new and updated venues that would liven up Central Florida’s culture and sports epicenter. Almost seven years later, the vision has almost become reality. The Amway Center As home [...]
On the evening of January 29, 2013, roughly 150 people gathered in SPUR’s Urban Center to listen to San Francisco’s Planning Director speak about the city’s present state and future initiatives in an event contentiously titled “The Meanies and the War Mongers: Recent Planning Lessons from SF.” John Rahaim spoke in a direct manner that [...]
State, citizens and private investors have been vindicating the area of Eleonas in Athens for the last six years. The area of 9,000 square meters extends in the south-west boroughs of Peristeri, Egaleo, St. John Renti, Tavros and Athens and form the area of Eleonas. Eleonas is regarded as another “back yard” of Athens, in [...]
What is sustainability? Without using Google, that may be hard to answer, even for experts. Surely achieving something that one barely understands could prove to be evasive in success. Regardless of this, a multitude of world class cities set out to achieve the unknown. Nottingham, like many British towns, finds itself locked in the pursuit of [...]
“The more successfully a city mingles everyday diversity of uses and users in its everyday streets, the more successfully, casually (and economically) its people thereby enliven and support well-located parks that can thus give back grace and delight to their neighborhoods instead of vacuity.” ― Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities [...]
Increasing renewable energy generation is fundamental for sustainable development. Over the last 10 years, interest has grown in the potential for communities to take a more active role in renewable energy development. Community renewable energy is associated with sustainable rural development and more locally appropriate projects. There is currently much interest in the scope for [...]
As Greece faces an economic recession, the country’s creditors have asked the government to move ahead with the privatization of major companies. It is believed that this process will offer the country economic sustainability. OSE, the Greek company in charge of railway transport, is one of these major companies. The solution suggested by the Greek government, [...]
Months of inspiration for government officials and urban planners are coming to a head in Detroit with the recent introduction of the Future City initiative. Next on the city council’s agenda is a decision on the proposal to sell the Belle Isle park to entrepreneurs for $1 billion. Real estate developer Rodney Lockwood has pitched [...]
Urban planning officials in Tempe, Arizona are striving to keep pace with cyclists in town. According to a report by the League of American Bicyclists, an advocacy group that grants communities the title of Bicycle Friendly Community, the city is trailing behind neighboring Scottsdale in bicycle friendliness. Tempe is home to Arizona State University, and as a [...]
Will a district characterized by its piers and warehouses become the vibrant “live-work-play urban neighborhood” imagined by the Hawaiian Community Development Authority? The HCDA selected Forest City Hawaii to design, develop, and manage 690 Pohukaina; a Hawaiian contemporary, mixed-use complex meant be the hallmark of the new Kaka’ako. Forest City Hawaii is a subsidiary of [...]
“Where you live is probably a bigger determinant of your health than whether you have health insurance,” as quoted in a Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII) report from 2008. In West Oakland, where 45% of the residents make under $25,000 a year, according to statistics from Mandela Market Place, liquor stores outnumber food [...]
