June 12 2013
June 12th, 2013Posted by Aascot Holt
James Alfandre, Kentlands Initiative James Alfandre, Executive Director at the Kentlands Initiative, opened the session by defining crowdsourcing. He thinks of crowdsourcing as an “open call to an undefined group of people.” It’s essentially Wikipedia’s open source model applied to urban revitalization and development. Alfandre said that there are two major steps to creating the [...]
April 14 2013
April 14th, 2013Posted by Renée van Staveren
Do you have a unique specialty in the field of environmental design? Do you currently live in a town or city that has not/or is currently not being covered by another blogger? Have you successfully managed social media platforms? Do you have a passion for writing and want to learn how to successfully blog? If [...]
April 05 2013
April 5th, 2013Posted by Dafni Dimitriadi
A few months ago, I was walking in Thessaloniki, Greece when I noticed some really eye-catching “Open House Thessaloniki” posters all over the city. I wasn’t familiar with this particular project, so as soon as I returned home, I started looking for more information about it. Ten minutes later, and I had already sent in [...]
February 18 2013
February 18th, 2013Posted by Athina Kyrgeorgiou
Carpooling became more popular in Athens, Greece due to frequent public transportation strikes in recent years. For example, on January 17, 2013 metro workers went on strike, which continued for over a week. On some of these days workers of other public transportation methods (bus, tram, etc.) also went on strike. Consequently, the only solution [...]
January 23 2013
January 23rd, 2013Posted by Steven Chang
After decades of disinvestment and decline, Mid-Market Street in downtown San Francisco seems to be finally headed toward revitalization. Plywood has come off vacant storefronts, sidewalks are filled with pedestrians headed to work, and loud sounds of construction serve as an unfamiliar soundtrack for the historically troubled neighborhood. How did this happen? It’s fairly clear [...]
November 28 2012
November 28th, 2012Posted by Renée van Staveren
There are a few questions to ask yourself before you run out and start a twitter chat of your own. After establishing your unique why, previously covered, you should consider what kind of commitment you are willing to make and how to implement it. Remember, part of establishing a successful twitter chat is creating a [...]
November 23 2012
November 23rd, 2012Posted by Jamaal Davis
In today’s technological society, Twitter has become a great way for professionals in architecture, landscape design, and urban planning to frequently communicate. As a result, more and more professionals today are using the online platform to discuss topics relating to community, environment, infrastructure, and more. Thus, twitter has become one of the best ways to [...]
October 26 2012
October 26th, 2012Posted by Jamaal Davis
The new wave in social media communication is quickly creating a method for discussing topics relating to urban planning, architecture, and community development. The social media site Twitter is leading the charge in this evolution by creating a way for people from around the world to gather in one centralized location to discuss and solve various [...]
September 19 2012
September 19th, 2012Posted by Kennith George
As President Barack Obama’s recent acceptance speech showed us, Twitter has become one of the largest social networking services in media today. His speech broke the twitter record with 52,756 tweets per minute and generated roughly 4 million tweets. In the realm of architecture, twitter can be used to promote, inform, and create dialogue with [...]
August 13 2012
August 13th, 2012Posted by Miriam Ansorena
Any person that is reading this post is most likely a frequent Internet user. The population of the world in December 2011 was estimated at 6 billion inhabitants, and the number of Internet users was 2 billion people. This means that a third part of the world can be considered as an Internet user. I [...]
July 26 2012
July 26th, 2012Posted by Matthew Traucht
Revitalization and renewal are such commonly used buzzwords that they’ve lost some of their impact. But the urban landscape is one that will always require fresh efforts of adaptation to shifting trends. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota have recently witnessed new attempts to accommodate changes in economy, transportation, and consumerism. One [...]
June 08 2012
June 8th, 2012Posted by Nazlı Ödevci
Did you ever imagine that, as planners (or architects), we would be able to make revisions on a 10 thousand sqf retail mixed-use project in Revit, on our smart touchpads, while discussing it with a colleague on What’s App, on our way home, in a public train? It’s happening. Today’s social media mobilizes planners’ and [...]
June 06 2012
June 6th, 2012Posted by Aascot Holt
Planning participation is a requirement in most American states, and many municipalities realize its power; a sense of ownership in the community for an initiative can be a determining factor in the success of any plan. To distribute and gather information to and from the community there are essentially three routes. Depending on the community [...]
June 05 2012
June 5th, 2012Posted by Patricia Kent
Planning should be participatory; however, it’s often very difficult to get stakeholders to contribute to planning processes. Mail-in survey return rates are low, and more often than not, residents don’t want to sit through a Saturday morning design charette. Marketing online and social media platforms give urban planners and architects a set of contemporary tools [...]
June 04 2012
June 4th, 2012Posted by Miriam Ansorena
Planning consultancies offer a wide range of advice on matters concerned with planning, development, and environmental issues which surround a building project. They are involved in a number of different types of projects, for example: Town centre improvements; Business parks; Airports; Smaller building works for companies. In all of these projects it is important that [...]
June 04 2012
June 4th, 2012Posted by Renée van Staveren
Wondering where urban planners around the world get their news, where they are spending their valuable time, and where you should be looking too? The Grid scoured the Internet, and using Alexa International Rankings, found the 2012 – Top 20 most popular urban planning-related websites. Whether they are non-profit, for-profit, or hobbyist sites, we found [...]
May 30 2012
May 30th, 2012Posted by Jeff P Jilek
There is no denying it, we are in the facebook era. With over 900 million users, the public has never been more exposed and globally connected. One reading this may agree, but likely conclude, that the banter on Facebook is similar to the banter on Wikipedia; it is inefficient, random, and full of opinions, often [...]
April 06 2012
April 6th, 2012Posted by Laura Paterson
An effective architecture company website can increase business and attract talented staff, which is why we’ve selected a few to illustrate how it SHOULD be done! We’ve selected these sites based on the following criteria: design, ease of use, copywriting, interactivity, use of technology, innovation and content. Rem Koolhaas, OMA Like any creative industry, architectural [...]
April 05 2012
April 5th, 2012Posted by Benjamin Ha
Setting up an e-mail marketing campaign won’t take years or many board meetings. It’s simple to do, especially if you receive direction from a professional web marketing company to provide insight on e-mail campaign designs and e-mail marketing campaign packages. For example, one company Global Site Plans gains expertise from is MailChimp, which is a [...]
March 27 2012
March 27th, 2012Posted by Patricia Kent
Email marketing campaigns allow small-to-medium sized architecture, engineering, and urban planning firms reach larger audiences for a fraction of what traditional direct mail marketing cost. Imagine informing thousands of individuals about upcoming events, new products and services, publications, and news with the click of a mouse. With a Global Site Plans email marketing campaign package, an [...]
