In Greece, during the last few years, a demand for transparency around food and a need to eliminate the intermediaries, mainly due to poor quality of products in combination to high prices, has resulted in a boom of collective action concerning the production and distribution of food. On the other hand, the proliferation of movements [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
In a city of over 20 million people, with about 3500 people living in each square kilometre, finding a space that provides an intimate sense of community may seem next to impossible. Within this urban maze, however, exists a number of places seeking to foster a greater sense of community and neighbourhood. Envisioned by Brearley [...]
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 [...]
Global Site Plans (GSP) and The Grid would like to extend an opportunity to your business or organization to advertise on our website. As GSP and The Grid have grown immensely since their founding, less than three years ago, we are actively seeking companies congruent with our own philosophy who will benefit from advertising to [...]
Montreal is transformed by the seasons. During our hot summers, bars and terraces overflow with people, festivals bring crowds to the streets, and public spaces brim with locals and tourists. Winter is a different story. Large public spaces that are vibrant in the warmer months, like Place-des-Arts and Place Jacques-Cartier, are virtually abandoned when the [...]
All too often, urban planners spend months, even years, doing all of the work necessary to complete a comprehensive plan, only to see that plan sit on the shelf after it is completed. The problem is that we often direct the vast majority of our energy towards the research, writing, and community outreach portions of [...]
“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk.” – Søren Aabye Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher Danish architect, Jan Gehl’s, latest book, Cities for People (Island Press, 2010), explores the better designs of cities through designs for the people to live and work simultaneously. In this follow-up to Life Between Buildings (1971), Gehl explores the shifting [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Seeking urban planning, geography, mapping, and/or transportation students who are interested in mapping dolmus and minibus data across Istanbul. There are sixteen available positions, eight for the European side and eight for the Asian side of Istanbul. Key responsibilities: Report to the Dolmus and Minibus Route Development Manager Interview dolmus and minibus coordinators to ensure [...]
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 [...]
What is the greatest invention of mankind? While some could argue, from the internet to the plane, an even more convincing argument can be made for the city. The human urban city fosters what many urban planners work tediously to build today, known as the “live work play community.” The city accommodates health facilities, housing [...]
