Land Use
High Line Assessment District Dropped
Plans to create an assessment district near New York City's new High Line linear park have been dropped.
A Life Creating Community
A review of a new book Building Commons and Community by Karl Linn, a landscape architect and psychologist who worked to create vibrant community spaces in abandoned lots and boring institutional settings.
How Much Room Do You Need?
Dan Maginn proposes some exercises for visualizing how much room you actually need to live, starting with this equation: too big = not good. Small = good. Too small = suck.
Utopias in Miniature
As Germany's elections near, the makers of 'Miniature Wonderland' invite political parties to use their scale models to show the public what their utopia would look like.
A Biological Approach to City Building
Architecture and biomimicry are joining forces. A new city being planned in a flood-prone region of India is using the concept of mimicking nature to build a city that better responds to its environmental conditions.
The Importance of the Informal Playground
Unstructured play is a mainstay of childhood. But dense urban areas offer fewer opportunities for free-form playtime, writes Alex Marshall. Kids have to take what they can get, and often it's not much more than an empty parking lot.
Eco City Structure - From Land Uses Up
The future of architecture is in its expression as city structure, not just as buildings, and in its self-conscious ecological awareness, says architect Richard Register.
Transit-Oriented Asia
Dr. Ming Zhang of the University of Texas at Austin says that Asian cities, despite their density, have a lot to learn from Western transit-oriented development practices.
Shopping Mall Sprawl Hurting City Businesses in Israel
Historic downtowns in Israel are struggling against the growing tide of suburban American-style shopping malls that are developing on the outskirts of town.
Renewable Energy Goes Small and Wide
Small scale hydroelectricity projects are popping up all over the country, especially in remote and environmentally sensitive places.
Wal-Mart Proposed Near Civil War Site Angers Historians
A proposed Wal-Mart retail center near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia has preservationists up in arms.
Larger Apts., Less Density
New "Lifetime Homes" standards in the U.K., which are designed to accommodate people at all stages of life, will lead away from ultra-small flats to larger apartments, says Builder Magazine.
Has Dubai Jumped the Shark?
Some estimate that almost 50% of current projects in Dubai are on hold or canceled. Can Dubai recover from the financial crisis?
The Middle Ground Between Moses and Jacobs
This article from Triple Canopy looks at the unrealized urban planning ideas of former New York City Mayor John Lindsay, which were somewhere in between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses.
Denver Edging Towards Form-Based Code
Denver is seeking to revise its zoning, shifting to a form-based code that more precisely dictates what type of buildings go where and what they should look like.
Military Mapping the Threats and Advantages of Urban Areas
The U.S. Military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investing in a program that looks to create 3D imagery of urban areas and the common spaces and objects that could pose threats or provide advantages to military operations.
Landscape Architecture: Dealing With a 'Larger Scale'
In this Q&A, The Wall Street Journal talks with landscape architect Adriaan Geuze, whose work has had a big impact on the field, especially in its combination of landscape design, architecture and planning.
Creating EcoDensity
The City of Vancouver, B.C. is shifting its focus away from skyscrapers and condos and into more "hidden" and "invisible" ways of creating density like laneway housing.
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
