A big Global Site Plans welcome to our newest blogger, Courtney McLaughlin from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Courtney McLaughlin is completing her undergraduate degree in Communication Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. An avid traveler, her interests are public space modification in Canadian cities and sustainable urban planning. As an aspiring landscape [...]

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On opposite sides of the country are two of Canada’s iconic cities: Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario. In this age of green building practices and sustainable development, both cities are pushing forward to be leaders in environmentally conscious city planning and design. Toronto has adopted a green roof strategy and passed bylaws to require [...]

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Cities are built for a variety of reasons, but are ultimately places for people to live, work, and play. As such, architects and urban planners need to keep in mind the concept of human scale, or designing buildings and spaces for human use. This impacts everything from the height of buildings to the size of [...]

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Food talk is hot these days. Urban planning councils and governments now implement sustainable food mandates, and city revitalization projects transform old buildings into gourmet mixed-use shopping centers. It’d be easy to assume that food producers have an easy time getting their products to city consumers. Yet even with a growing appetite for their goods, [...]

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Summer has arrived in Canada’s Okanagan valley, and with the warmer weather, people are venturing outside to enjoy the many parks in Kelowna. Among these is Mission Creek Regional Park and Greenway, arguably the most visited park in the city. It includes an educational centre, salmon spawning channel, picnic areas, and a playground. The greenway [...]

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Each year, New York City’s network of Business Improvements Districts (BIDs) invests approximately $100 million worth of programs and services across the five boroughs. This network of 64 BIDs constitutes the largest network of its kind nationwide.  Business owners, property owners, local merchant associations, elected officials, and urban planners have come to acknowledge the importance [...]

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Transit-oriented development (TOD) is the development of mixed-used development to optimize access and use of public transit. Transit stops serve as the center of the neighborhood. The concentration of shops and restaurants are highest around the center and gradually decline further away. TOD maximizes public transit use by making it easier for riders to walk [...]

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As mentioned earlier on this blog, the success of New York’s High Line and recent extension has brought in more attention, investment, and tourists to Manhattan’s Chelsea and Meatpacking neighborhoods. And while New York enjoys the fruits of its labor, other cities across North America are looking to achieve similar results through comparable projects. Using [...]

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The Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA), an organization comprised of nearly every higher learning landscape architecture program in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, will be holding its annual conference at the University of Illinois March 28 – 31, 2012. The 2012 CELA Conference will provide educators, professionals in the field, [...]

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Many of the bloggers at Global Site Plans continue to learn about urban planning and urban design long after they finish formal schooling. One of the most interesting ways to go beyond standard classroom education is by attending any of the multitudes of conferences that are presented by colleges, research facilities, and companies each year. [...]

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When it comes to developing more sustainable methods of transportation for Americans, there is nowhere to go, but up. Americans emit nearly 4,500 kilograms of carbon dioxide emissions per person, per year. This is nearly double that of any other country in the world; not to mention four times as many emissions as Europe and [...]

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THE GRID began in 2010 with Renée van Staveren, the Founder of Global Site Plans, blogging about branding, social media, content, and more – all related to environmental designers. Since its inception, the blog has grown to run weekly. Every weekday of the month The Grid is your destination for blogs related to architecture, engineering, environmental [...]

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While branding is a vital aspect to any architecture practice or firm, keeping abreast of changes within the industry are essential to developing distinction.  Below is a list of architecture conferences to be held between January 2011 and November 2012. This list includes both architecture and related fields of study. If you are interested in [...]

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