Technology
New Tool for Measuring Neighborhood Walkability
Watch out Walk Score, you've got some competition. Mapping company Maponics is measuring pedestrian-friendliness with a new tool called 'Walkability'. They measure several factors Walk Score doesn't, including crime, street type, and speed limit.
Planning for Obsolescence
As college becomes less affordable, alternatives to the traditional four-year model have been making inroads, leading some to question its lasting viability. If universities struggle, it will impact not only campuses, but cities, as well.
Editorial: Obama Should Assist States in Implementing VMT Fees
In this opinion piece on how to pay for roads, Noel Popwell gives 5 reasons for switching from gas tax to vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) fee revenue collection - even if the Highway Trust Fund wasn't facing insolvency next year. Obama is opposed to it.
Planners are Futurists With a Practical Bent
Planners are futurists, but with less pretension and jargon. Our work requires predicting how current trends are likely to affect future conditions and activities, and how communities should prepare. For example, let's predict self-driving cars.
More Hype on Hyperloop
LA Times' technology blogger Jon Healy takes a look at Elon Musk's Hyperloop, and after careful analysis, decides he'd bet on a proven, high-speed technology - the same one that inspired Musk to do an all-nighter to draft plans for an alternative.
Festival Makes Crowdfunding a Community-Building Affair
An innovative event held recently in Jacksonville, Florida used a festival as a means to bring crowdfunding to the people; providing a platform for community building and branding in the process. Could this be the future of financing public projects?
Newest Target for Hackers: Homes and Cars
As the 'Internet of Things' spreads its tentacles into more and more of our personal objects and public spaces, experts are warning of the serious, and potentially lethal, vulnerability of networked devices to hacking.
Streetmix Socializes Street Design
OK, so we missed this relaunch for our just-published list of the Top Websites. Another remarkable venture from the fellows at civic tech leader Code for America, Streeetmix is an impressively user-friendly and attractive tool for designing streets.
Hyperloop = Hyperlame?
Last week we looked at the dangers of focusing on transportation fantasies. But alas, entrepreneur Elon Musk's vision for a "fifth form" of transportation is here and we just can't help ourselves.
Top 10 Websites - 2013
Our annual list of the 10 best planning, design, and development websites represents some of the top online resources for news, information and research on the built environment.
London Recycling Bins Take a Page out of NSA Spy Book
The startup Renew has taken targeted advertising to a whole new level. Its Internet-connected recycling bins look for cell phones they recognize, then alter their video displays accordingly.
The Danger in Transportation Fantasizing
We hear a lot about the next leap forward in transportation, whether it be Elon Musk's Hyperloop or Tel Aviv's floating pods. But in focusing on the latest fantasy, are we harming our ability to address the problems of the present?
The Positive Energy Potential of Suburban Sprawl
What if most cars were electrics, most electricity was generated locally, and new development was required to have solar? Would this paradigm make sprawl more energy sustainable than compact growth? A new paper argues yes.
Can this Vending Machine Solve the Bike Share Helmet Harangue?
Mexico City, Melbourne, and Vancouver are just some of the cities that have struggled to get citywide bike-sharing systems off the ground due to local laws mandating the use of bike helmets. A new helmet vending machine could help break the impasse.
Driverless Cars Steer Us Away From a Carless Future
Discussions over the potential benefits and drawbacks of driverless cars seemingly overlook one important question, says Allison Arieff: "[W]hy continue to design and plan for a car-based society?"
How Can Techies and Planners Work Together to Create Better Cities?
As Director of Public Policy at Airbnb, Molly Turner has noticed she's the only planner in attendance at the Bay Area's myriad hackathons and conferences. As tech increasingly addresses urban issues, is it doomed to repeat planning's past mistakes?
MTA Studies Millennials to Meet Their Transit Needs
When it comes to meeting the transit needs of millennials, real time information about train arrivals is as important as the transit itself. This is one of the key findings of a New York MTA survey conducted to inform strategies for the future.
Should Electric Cars Get Free Parking?
Ideally, the best way to encourage sales of non-polluting electric vehicles would be to price carbon emissions. But if that isn't possible, why not reward EV owners with perks such as free parking; or would that be a distortionary incentive?
Mapping Slums to Shape Them
A mapping effort led by a group of cartographers called the Spatial Collective is helping to make visible what it's like to live in the Nairobi slum of Mathare. By giving form to the informal settlement, its problems are being made evident.
How Should Industry be Integrated Into the Urban Fabric?
Are we on the brink of a third industrial revolution? Guest 'PlaceShaker' Scott Bernstein thinks maybe, and looks to past successes for key patterns and ideas for injecting walkability into areas with industrial or 'special' uses.
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
