Exclusives

BLOG POST

<p> PlaceMatters has partnered with the <a href="http://www.charretteinstitute.org" title="National Charrette Institute">National Charrette Institute</a> on a number of occasions, providing trainings and giving panel presentations at conferences. One of our common themes is &quot;High Touch, High Tech Charrettes.&quot; During the sessions we talk about the advantages of low tech and when it makes sense to bring in high tech. Below I have embedded a video that is a montage of clips filmed during a downtown revitalization Charrette in Wichita Kansas. In this project, PlaceMatters partnered with Goody Clancy to help residents go through a series of exercises including keypad polling and mapping exercises to brainstorm about the future of downtown Wichita. </p>

May 4 - Ken Snyder

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Courier; font-size: x-small">On Earth Day the US Department of Transportation released an important new, 605-page report, </span><a href="http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/32000/32700/32779/DOT_Climate_Change_Report_-_April_2010_-_Volume_1_and_2.pdf"><span style="font-family: Courier; font-size: x-small">Transportation&#39;s Role in Reducing U.S.

May 3 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">I’ve spent much of the last </span><a href="http://reason.org/news/show/china-mobility-project"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">three years working on transportation finance and planning issues in China</span></a><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">, and Reason Foundation now has transportation policy projects up and running in the cities of Chongqing, Xi’an, and Beijing.

May 3 - Samuel Staley

FEATURE

May 3 - Robert Jacobson

FEATURE

The neighborhood is the basic building block of human society, and successful efforts to make the world a better place often start right there, says Jay Walljasper.

April 29 - Jay Walljasper

BLOG POST

<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; font-family: Cambria"> <a href="http://www.kunstler.com">Jim Kunstler</a> once said that if the 20th Century was about getting around, the 21st Century is about staying in places worth staying in.

April 28 - Mike Lydon

BLOG POST

<p> I was reading Wendell Cox&#39;s recent attack on the Center for Neighborhood Technology&#39;s affordability calculations, and was struck by one thing he wrote:<em>“transportation costs will be reduced in the future by the far more fuel efficient vehicles being required by Washington.”* </em> </p> <p> In other words, don&#39;t worry about Americans being impoverished by the cost of a car for every man, woman, and 16-year old in the House: the technological miracle of fuel efficiency will save us.  </p>

April 26 - Michael Lewyn

FEATURE

Architect and urban innovator Andrés Duany has a new bone of contention: the usurping of the planning process by the public during the approval stage for new projects. Managing Editor Tim Halbur reports from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

April 26 - Tim Halbur

BLOG POST

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <![endif]-->Does the New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA) decision to tear down<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/nyregion/06demolish.html"> Prospect Plaza</a>, a high rise development in Brownsville Brooklyn, portend the demise of public housing in New York City as we know it?

April 25 - Lance Freeman

BLOG POST

<p> These days, I have more in common with my nephew Sam than just about anyone else. He just turned 3. </p> <p> Sam is a train fanatic. Sure, he loves the children’s classics—Thomas the Tank Engine, the Polar Express—but he can also tell you about the Eurostar and the Shinkansen. His recent first ride on Amtrak was like his locomotive bar mitzvah: <em>Today, I am a passenger.</em> </p> <p> I’ve spent all semester working on a studio project making the case for true high-speed rail in the Northeast megaregion. I picked the studio because, like Sam, I’m thrilled by trains, but an added perk is that every time I come with some new picture or factoid about the big, fast choo-choos, I move up a notch in the running for Uncle of the Year. </p>

April 24 - Jeffrey Barg

BLOG POST

<p> I&#39;m writing from Cambridge, where the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Harvard Graduate School of Design are hosting their annual shindig for a small crew of journalists crazy enough to have urban issues as their beat. </p>

April 23 - Tim Halbur

FEATURE

April 22 - Brian J. Connolly

BLOG POST

<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal">Let’s face it, we all get into planning ruts. A public meeting gone awry, a discontented client, a community that just doesn’t get it.<span>  </span>I like to call it planning fatigue, and up until a month ago, I was headed down that path. But a meeting of the minds which converged in my hometown, Miami, brought me a little closer to god, the planning god, that is. Joe Riley, the mild mannered and poignant mayor of Charleston brought me to planning euphoria. If you’ve heard him speak, then you know what I mean.<span>  </span>If you haven’t, well let me bring you up to speed.<span> </span></p>

April 20 - Melissa Hege

BLOG POST

April 19 - Michael Dudley

BLOG POST

<p> With the brilliant help of graduates from Hoboken&#39;s <a href="http://www.stevens.edu/">Stevens Institute of Technology</a>, our local community shuttle bus (a.k.a. The Hop, formerly known as The Downtown Crosstown Shuttle) can now be viewed <a href="http://www.hobokennj.org/departments/transportation-parking/the-hop/">live on the city&#39;s website</a> as it cruises along narrow Hoboken city streets from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM (EST), Monday through Friday.  If you&#39;re not near the internet, try texting “crosstown” to 41411 to get a return text with the location of the bus&#39; whereabouts whenever it&#39;s running, then run down to the corner before you miss it! </p>

April 19 - Ian Sacs

FEATURE

The theory that shrinking ailing cities is going to cure them is unproven and wrongheaded, says Roberta Brandes Gratz -- and is fueled by the same forces behind the urban renewal practices of the mid-20th century.

April 19 - Roberta Brandes Gratz

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">We live in a wonderful age! Scientists have proven that many simple, affordable, and often enjoyable activities make us healthier and happier: breath fresh air, avoid dangerous driving, be physically active, eat fresh fruits and vegetables, maintain friendships, play games, and avoid excessive stress. Even chocolate, red wine and sex are perscribed, in moderation, for health sake. </span> </p>

April 15 - Todd Litman

FEATURE

The popularity of the agora, or central marketplace, has waxed and waned throughout the centuries. Park designer Richard Light looks back at the history and meaning of the agora from Ancient Greece to today.

April 15 - Richard Light

FEATURE

Could this be the end? Two recent events signal a dramatic shift in American attitudes towards transportation and the proper role of transportation in making American cities, says Norman Garrick.

April 12 - Norman Garrick

BLOG POST

<p class="ecxMsoNormal"> A few weeks ago, Randall O’Toole  (a leading anti-anti-sprawl commentator) and Matthew Yglesias (a Washington-based pundit who primarily writes about politics, but occasionally veers off into planning issues) had an interesting discussion about the extent to which sprawl is a result of land use regulation.(1) </p>

April 11 - Michael Lewyn