Europe
Ghetto-ization: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Density
At first glance, the historic Ghetto streetscene in Venice is an appealing new urbanist community. In another place at another time, the virtues of compact, walkable and dense were the very isolation we now abhor.
Friday Funny: Yield to Drunks
In the face of a recent surge in accidents, a small town in Romania has installed new traffic signs warning drivers about drunk pedestrians who may be laying in roadways.
China's Cross-Continental Rail Plan
China has announced plans to extend its high speed rail network Wetsward across the continent, connecting its eastern shores to Europe.
High Speed Rail Creates Social Cohesion
A European report shows that high-speed rail is creating social cohesion and accessibility for remote places. Could the same effect happen in the U.S.?
Multi-Family Housing to Cure Loneliness
The Swedish, apparently, long for community. Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture has proposed a redesign for an abandoned sanitarium, turning it into a green, multi-family community.
Public Trees: Landscaping, or Food Source?
An art group called Fallen Fruit promotes the idea of public fruit trees for general consumption by all. But on a trip to Madrid to plant trees, the government refused their intervention, saying that trees were architecture for the city, not food.
Sprawling Madrid
While Madrid's urban core is highly dense, the city has sprawled out over the last two decades much further than its growing population requires, says Madrid resident and planning consultant Marco Adelfio.
Dropping Bombs and Dropping Parking Lots
This post from The Overhead Wire looks at the impact of parking lot sprawl in American downtowns -- and finds a striking resemblance between those downtowns and bomb-ravaged cities from World War Two.
Reinventing Mobility in Detroit
PBS documents Detroit's attempts to overcome its history as "the Motor City" to create new ways of getting people around. Transit advocates play a big part in this preview, which includes renderings of projected transit options.
Complaints Grow Over Increasing "Ugliness" of Paris
A press conference was held in Paris to draw attention to the problem of "increasingly large and unsympathetic buildings" cropping up around the City of Lights.
Resort Planned in Russian Nature Preserve
Environmentalists in Russia are fuming over plans to construct a resort in the middle of a nature preserve near the 2014 Winter Olympics host city of Sochi.
Birth Rates Falling and Cities Failing
Birth rates are dropping across Europe, and some cities are on the verge of collapse because of it. Exhibit A: Hoyerswerda, Germany.
Will HSR Jobs Go Overseas?
Joan Lowy suggests that the Obama administration's claim that the high-speed rail initiative will create jobs overlooks the fact that the expertise is in Europe and Asia and foreign firms will likely be needed to develop HSR quickly.
The Density Game - On YouTube
Dan Zack, downtown development coordinator for Redwood City, CA, gave a 50-minute presentation on Delightful Density to a Palo Alto audience on Nov. 5. This 12-minute excerpt is composed of 17 buildings - get out your pencils and guess their density.
America's Spanish High Speed Rail Envy
Spain has rapidly developed high speed rail system, leaving many U.S. politicians -- including President Obama -- wondering how the U.S. can catch up. This article and video from PBS looks at the Spanish model.
Reopened Passenger Train Reconnects Balkans
A passenger train line across the Balkans had been closed for 18 years. As it reopens and reconnects the region to the rest of Europe, there are signs of improved relations in the war-torn region.
Hamburg's Manifesto Against the 'Creative Class'
A new manifesto is being circulated in Hamburg, Germany, where city officials have used the concept of the "creative class" to rebrand the city and lure in creative people. The resulting gentrification of the city has many locals upset.
French Carbon Tax Dead
France's highest court dealt an 'unexpected and embarrassing blow' to French President Nicolas Sarkozy by ruling his carbon tax, set to take effect on New Year's, unconstitutional on Dec. 30.
Tourism Flourishes Below Berlin
A group of historians and urban enthusiasts have developed a successful tourist organization that explores the underground structures and spaces of Berlin.
Russia's Population Growing for First Time Since 1995
The population of Russia is on the rise for the first time since 1995, according to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service
