May 17 2013
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 other hand, cities like Edinburgh have creatively held onto both a modern and historically protected world without having either clash. Partnered with UNESCO, Scotland’s capital city showcases its urban planning marvels Old Tow[...]
May 16 2013
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 in urban planning, and local participation should be encouraged in order to produce the best possible outcomes for these areas.
The scene is familiar in Segrate, a small town just outside the eastern border of Milan. A new shopping mall from major retail developer Westfield Group is in the works for this industrial[...]
May 16 2013
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 21, the city is emerging from a crippling recession in a stronger position than before. May 20th marks three years since its implementation. Miami 21 has improved several aspects of our[...]
May 15 2013
In November 2012, San Francisco voters passed Proposition C, establishing a city-wide affordable housing fund on the enormous margin of 31%. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.
In February 2012, Governor Brown of California, in an effort to slash the state budget, ordered the dissolution of all California Redevelopment Agencies. From an urban planning perspective, this was extremely alarming. Losing the Redevelopment Agencies meant losing the primary leader and funder of urban redevelopment (such as infill projects) and affordable housing projects in all of California’s major cities.
With this news, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee partnered wi[...]
May 15 2013
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 that helps democratize communities by allowing residents to voice what improvements they want in their city and where.
The site’s basic premise is a prompt: “I want ______ in New Orleans.” Users suggest bike lanes, pocket parks, retail centers and new food truck laws[...]
May 15 2013
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 all to reach their full potential. In short, equity creates a path for change.”
In partnership with the New York-based Center for Social Inclusion, whose vision is to “translate America’s changing demographics into a new source of power and prosperity for a society where all people can participate in solutions that[...]
May 15 2013
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 of the American West: A History of Frontier Urban Planning,” by John W. Reps. The second review and summary covered, “Mormon Country” by Wallace Stegner.
First published in 1965 and last printed in 1980, “Town Planning in Frontier America” by John Reps discusses everything a typical college “Intro to Urban Planning” course would discus[...]
May 15 2013
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 the New Urbanism asked Bob Dean, the Deputy Executive Director for Local Planning with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), and Christie Oostema, Planning Director at Envision Utah, questions about how their cities are thinking globally but building locally.
If you hadn’t already gathered, Chicag[...]
May 15 2013
“There is growing concern for the issue of sustainability — whether the Earth's resources will be able to meet the demands of a growing human population that has rising aspirations for consumption and quality of life, while maintaining the rich diversity of the natural environment or biosphere.” – American Planning Association (APA)
Communities across the country continue to face the effects and challenges of a changing climate. As we move into the future, there is a pressing need to plan for these changes, and ensure that local, regional, and national efforts are coordinated. The need for community involvement in the planning process has never been greater. Comm[...]
May 14 2013
In 2010, Siemens and The Economist published the first reliable index ranking for green cities worldwide. Among many other indexes concerning this subject published in the past few years, this is the first one with a specific chapter for Latin America.
The result of this index showed a phenomenon that was clear to everyone but that had never been confirmed by a technical source. Cities in Latin America started to care more about sustainability, but the cities that didn't care are now in clear decline, development in this matter shifted towards Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, leaving once well-planned cities like Montevideo and Buenos Aires lagging in compariso[...]
May 14 2013
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 of tides into useful forms of power - mainly electricity. Although not yet widely used, tidal power has potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than wind energy and solar power, as there can be bigger variances in the amount and levels of sunlight and w[...]
May 14 2013
In December 2011, a former Grid blogger, Yosef Robinson, wrote a piece about the reconstruction of the Turcot Interchange, a major highway junction in Montreal, Canada. The original proposal came about as the aging infrastructure was beginning to crumble. The project faced fierce opposition, as it planned to widen the interchange (going against everything we know about dealing with congestion), and also proposed to take the interchange off of its pillars and down to street-level. This would result in the expropriation of a large number of homes in the St-Henri neighbourhood and building a giant wall, 5 stories high in some places, throughout St-Henri.
[...]
May 13 2013
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 more functional, magnificent places. Such an undertaking is colossal by its very nature, and while the authors haven’t written something that is flawless, they have succeeded in crafting a book that I believe will be a truly great resource for urban planners, designers, and developers alike.
A [...]
May 13 2013
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 by the Census Bureau, as of 2011.
Both share commuters, tourists, and bargain shoppers alike.
As a part of a midtown place-making project, the Coeur d’Alene Arts Commission sent out a Call to Arti[...]
May 10 2013
In 1903, landscape architect John Charles Olmsted wrote that "
Seattle possesses extraordinary landscape advantages in having a great abundance and variety of water views and views of wooded hills and distant mountains and snow-capped peaks. I do not know of any place where the natural advantages for parks are better than here. They can be made very attractive and will be, in time, be one of the things that will make Seattle known all over the world." That same year, city leaders hired John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (the sons of famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted) to develop a comprehensive plan for Seattle’s park system.
May 10 2013
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 in the city; streets in Detroit are built for a single use – travel by automobile, right?
Detroit is an extremely poor city, so poor the State of Michigan has placed it under Emergency Financial Management; Detroit can’t possibly be investing in bicycli[...]
May 10 2013
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 tours, which are facilitated from well-dressed and well-versed tour guides, indeed “make history engaging and entertaining for everyone,” as their mission statement proudly boasts.
Their newest attraction, the Queen City Ultimate Underground Tour, which opened April 27, 2013, plunges history enthusi[...]
May 09 2013
The city of Lincoln, Nebraska has strived to become a top green community within the Midwest region. One way that Lincoln has successfully shifted toward sustainable thinking is through its implementation of the Cleaner, Greener Lincoln Initiative.
The Cleaner, Greener Lincoln Initiative has encouraged “green” living within the city of Lincoln and has been implemented throughout the city from city department buildings, public schools, and even much of the community in general. The city has implemented several focus areas including:
Maintaining good air quality;
Water quality and c[...]
May 09 2013
The summer of 2012 saw a drastic uptick in the number of shootings and murders across the city of Chicago, Illinois. While many metropolitan areas, including New York City, have been experiencing historic lows in their homicide and violent crime rates, Chicago saw 532 murders last year, a number higher than troop killings in Afghanistan. And so naturally social theorists, community development officials and urban planners cast about for the root cause of all this violence, hoping to find some explanation for all these seemingly senseless acts.
A map of Chicago's homicides in 2012
Mostly by coincid[...]
May 09 2013
Phoenix, Arizona has earned a reputation as a city of endless stucco boxes, but what many don’t know is that it is actually a city filled with diverse and vibrant neighborhoods. There are dozens of historic neighborhoods in the city with beautiful bungalows possessing fantastic characteristics.
There are many groups working to highlight these historic neighborhoods and the value they offer to Phoenix. One of the most active groups is the group known as Modern Phoenix, a network of architecture and neighborhood enthusiasts who photograph, write about, and tour historic neighborhoods and buildings.
Most recently, their event Left of Central featured a series o[...]
