Nowadays, skateparks seem to be the new form of the traditional town squares we all remember visiting during our childhood and adolescence years. It’s not surprising that more and more people gather in this type of park to meet with their friends, spend their evening and, of course, practice sports like skating, roller-skating, and BMX [...]
We all have to make tough decisions. When it comes to city planning, there’s no tougher decision to make than the modernization or preservation of historic culture. European cities, like Berlin, have mustered up the courage to dismantle their historic gas-powered lamps in an attempt to reduce energy output for their modernization efforts. On the [...]
Milan is rich in industrial history. A nearby site includes the former Innocenti factory, most notable for producing Lambretta Scooters in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The present service-oriented economy means that many old factory sites are claiming vast swaths of land, acting as holes in the urban fabric. Overcoming such obstacles is a contemporary theme [...]
Miami has found its magic again. With the approval of Miami 21 in 2009, it accomplished an unprecedented feat and became the first major city to adopt a form-based code. With the motto, Your city, Your plan, Miami’s experiment is a solitary example of the importance of public support through outreach and marketing. Thanks to Miami [...]
How do you achieve social equity and inclusiveness through urban planning? In order to answer this question, we must first define these terms. PolicyLink defines equity as such, “Just and fair inclusion. An equitable society is one in which all can participate and prosper. The goal of equity must be to create conditions that allow [...]
This post summarizes the CNU21 Preview Podcast, “Thinking Globally, Building Locally.” 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. For this podcast preview, John Norquist, the current President of the Congress for [...]
Global energy demand continues to grow and tidal wave energy generation devices can provide a significant source of renewable energy. Technological developments in offshore engineering, and the rising cost of traditional energy, means that offshore energy resources will be economic in the next few years. Tidal wave energy is a form of hydropower that converts the energy [...]
Maybe one of the biggest surprises you’ll find in Detroit is the presence of a great bike culture. This is surprising for two main reasons: Detroit is the Motor City: a major part of your associations with Detroit deal with the auto industry here, and the impacts of the industry’s elite on transportation and infrastructure [...]
American Legacy Tours – located at 1218 Vine Street in Cincinnati’s historic Over the Rhine (OTR) – has continued to gain popularity, media attention and distinction since their opening in 2008. The company, founded by a small group of friends, offers a diverse range of engaging walking tours through Cincinnati Heritage, legend and folklore. These [...]
An Australian’s house provides major evidence to his claim of living a lifestyle that resembles the majority of the country. A quarter acre block with a backyard spacious enough for a BBQ and patio is synonymous with many Australians’ lifestyle. However, this lifestyle has become harder to attain for the current generation of Australians. From the [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Brighton – a small, tightly woven community of artists and art galleries, is located Northwest of Over the Rhine and downtown Cincinnati. It retains a ghostly atmosphere – a quiet neighborhood, where age-old nineteenth century Italianate buildings sit dormant against a backdrop of a modern city, now beginning to regain its former prominence. Walking these [...]
In recent years we have begun to feel the effects of climate change the world over. In America, hurricanes like Superstorm Sandy and Katrina brought urban areas to their knees, killing people, destroying communities, and causing untold billions in damage. In this context, urban analyst and historian James S. Russell’s book The Agile City calls [...]
Our mobility is bound by the linkages available to us and the built environment that surrounds us. But how does our transportation choices in our city affect our health and well being ? This is a question that is gaining prevalence as cities grow, densify and complicate the daily journey of urban dwellers. A report [...]
What was supposed to have been a perfect model of eco-design has come up rather short as plans for Dongtan, an eco-city on Chongming Island, have since disappeared. Located just 25km from Shanghai, the sustainably designed city was to have been partially completed by 2010, with the majority of the city finished by 2020. Instead, [...]
Technology, education, and sustainability are the driving forces behind Orlando’s upcoming Creative Village, a 68-acre infill project in downtown Orlando. Craig Ustler, 50 Most Powerful People in Orlando mainstay and co-developer of the site with the City of Orlando, sat down with me to talk about the carefully chosen, innovative urban planning practices he plans to [...]
Thessaloniki, Greece is a city with numerous beautiful spots, great architecture, and a long history. However, many current problems in the city have occurred due to modern style of life. For example, there is a significant lack of green spaces. The ideal average share of green space is estimated at 20 m²∕capita to 10 m²∕capita [...]
