May 23 2013
May 23rd, 2013Posted by Renée van Staveren
Global Site Plans, branding for environmental design, specializes in branding for small and medium-sized architecture, engineering, environmental non-profits, landscape architecture, and urban planning companies. Global Site Plans’ expertise lays in environmental design sector website design, branding, internet marketing, social media, social marketing, and content services, for all your online and print media needs. Every weekday [...]
May 23 2013
May 23rd, 2013Posted by Andrew Kinaci
In 2012, Chicago residents were asked to participate in the process of planning the city’s cultural future. The city has long been home to world-class cultural venues, such as the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as localized neighborhood cultural events and festivals. With the intention of expanding the tremendous cultural capital Chicago has, in [...]
May 23 2013
May 23rd, 2013Posted by James Gardner
Without the usual fashion cycles of period architecture, vernacular architecture remains, as always, “immutable, indeed, unimproveable, since it serves its purpose to perfection” – or so Bernard Rudofsky, author of Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture, believes. Rudofsky’s brief foray into non-pedigreed architecture takes us across time and space, highlighting some [...]
May 22 2013
May 22nd, 2013Posted by Steven Petsinis
As our cities grow, their transport needs become more complex. If we are lucky enough to live in established suburbs that have a legacy of schools, shops, and parks, our local communities and neighbourhoods may provide us with our basic needs and services, our social and work commitments. However, for most of us, meeting all [...]
May 22 2013
May 22nd, 2013Posted by Sophie Plottel
Over a decade ago, as the population of Shanghai soared, density was at an all time high and Chinese urban planners, realizing the city’s growth was unsustainable, they proposed a new solution to the problem: decentralization. The “1 city, 9 towns” project revealed in 2001 was proposed as a creative solution to the increasing urban [...]
May 21 2013
May 21st, 2013Posted by Robert Poole
Oakland continues to bring new development and innovation to its neighborhoods. Next up is the MacArthur Transit Village (MTV), an impressive urban planning initiative to be built in Temescal beside the MacArthur BART station. Much like Fruitvale Village, this transit-oriented-development (TOD) brings some much-needed land use planning to a space currently occupied by a massive [...]
May 21 2013
May 21st, 2013Posted by Alex Lenhoff
Tourists and residents flock to Florida’s metropolitan areas to enjoy bustling theme parks, cities that spill into the ocean, and shiny downtown high-rises. Still, just beyond the city limits, the Sunshine State remains much like it was only a few decades ago: ranches, rural communities, and endless acres of citrus groves. Like any other demographic, [...]
May 20 2013
May 20th, 2013Posted by Jasna Hadzic
“Great public spaces are where celebrations are held, social and economic exchanges take place, friends run into each other, and cultures mix. They are the “front porches” of our public institutions – libraries, field houses, neighborhood schools – where we interact with each other and government. When the spaces work well, they serve as a [...]
May 17 2013
May 17th, 2013Posted by Dafni Dimitriadi
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 [...]
May 17 2013
May 17th, 2013Posted by Michael Jenkins
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 [...]
May 16 2013
May 16th, 2013Posted by Maxwell Vidaver
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 [...]
May 16 2013
May 16th, 2013Posted by Jennifer Garcia
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 [...]
May 15 2013
May 15th, 2013Posted by Jessica Yoon
Neighborland was born out of a street art project by Candy Chang, where nametag-like stickers reading “I wish this were a __________” invited the passerby to imagine possibilities for empty storefronts. The project generated onsite civic input for improving abandoned properties in the Marigny neighborhood of New Orleans. Today, Neighborland has grown into a website [...]
May 15 2013
May 15th, 2013Posted by Robert Poole
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 [...]
May 15 2013
May 15th, 2013Posted by Aascot Holt
This is the third 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. The first review and summary discussed, “Cities [...]
May 15 2013
May 15th, 2013Posted by Aascot Holt
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 [...]
May 13 2013
May 13th, 2013Posted by Sean Glowacz
A tremendously ambitious book, A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein attempts to create a language that developers and urban planners can use to shape our environment. The author’s intent is to create a universal language that can be applied to all development projects, in an attempt to encourage the creation of [...]
May 13 2013
May 13th, 2013Posted by Katie Poppel
Buena Vista, Colorado has struggled in recent years with US Highway 24 – the primary transportation connection to other towns and cities. Highway 24 is one of the most well-known transportation corridors in south-central Colorado; it runs horizontally across Colorado connecting the western part of Interstate 70 to the eastern part, bypassing Denver to the [...]
May 13 2013
May 13th, 2013Posted by Aascot Holt
Combining infrastructure and public art is something I’m passionate about. It just seems so obvious, both aesthetically and financially, to combine the two harmoniously. Coeur d’Alene, Idaho has accomplished just that. Coeur d’Alene (“KOR-duh-LANE”) Idaho is about a forty-five-minute drive East on I-90 from Spokane, Washington. The two cities and their suburbs are considered the same metro area [...]
May 10 2013
May 10th, 2013Posted by Meg Mulhall
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 [...]
