Technology
YouTube Exposing Cities' Traffic Problems
The video website YouTube is home to a growing number of clips that document traffic conditions in cities around the world.
Cars Don't Cause Traffic, Drivers Do
Some planners hope that driverless car technology can finally put an end to traffic jams.
Will Nissan Revive The Electric Car?
The automaker has announced plans for a fully-electric vehicle by 2010, and says it wants to lead the industry towards zero-emission vehicles.
Sweden Tops All Nations As Climate-Friendly
One country stands out in Europe in surpassing the greenhouse gas emission reductions required by the Kyoto Protocol - Sweden. While it used several environmental technologies to achieve those reductions, experts give credit to its carbon tax.
Is That A Bike In Your Pack?
A number of innovative new bicycle designs were on display at this year's International Bicycle Design Competition, including a bike that folds into its own backpack carrying case -- making it easy to take on public transit.
Landfill Gas To Fuel Garbage Trucks
In an incredible recycling operation that reduces global warming, a waste hauler is building a facility to produce Liquefied Natural Gas from methane emitted from its California landfill to fuel its garbage trucks.
Mission Possible?
Despite naysayers, Masdar City is moving forward. The goal: to be the world's first modern-day carbon-free city.
U.S. DOT Joins the Blogosphere
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters (or, more likely, her communications team) has taken up blogging, but the new PR outlet comes with a title that's not so friendly to all modes of transportation.
Feds Fund Chicago's Congestion Pricing Parking Plan
$153 million in congestion reduction funds that had been awarded to New York City will now go to Chicago to apply congestion pricing to street parking spaces. Funds will also go toward developing pilot Bus Rapid Transit routes on dedicated lanes.
Summer Heat May Thaw Frozen Winter Roads
Officials in the United Kingdom are looking at a new technique to deal with frozen winter roads -- by collecting and saving summer heat.
The Challenge of Vertical Construction
A 17-story condominium tower in Boise, Idaho is being built on a 32-foot-wide footprint. Workers talk about the challenges of constructing such a skinny building.
New Website Shows Impact Of Transportation On Housing Costs
A new interactive mapping website launched by the Center for Neighborhood Technology in partnership with The Brookings Institution shows how affordability changes from neighborhood to neighborhood based on housing and transportation.
City Silences Cell Phones On Transit
Responding to the growing backslash against cell phone chatter, the city of Graz, Austria has banned cell phone use on its public transit system.
The New Graffiti
Using laser technology, two artists have created a new type of "temporary graffiti" -- light shows that use public places as canvasses for their laser art.
San Francisco Aims To Give Parking A Technological Makeover
Variable parking rates and online parking availability are features of a pilot program meant to increase convenience and cut congestion on the road.
Let the Computer Do the Driving
Avoiding traffic congestion may soon be as easy as surfing the web, thanks to new web software that maps out congestion and calculates the best and most efficient driving routes.
The Real Problem With Transit: Lack Of Customer Service
Forget slogans and fancy trains. If transit agencies just focused on getting people where they need to go in a consistent, reliable (and preferably quicker) way, more people would abandon their cars.
Could Google Transit Become The Universal Trip Planner?
As the site adds more transit systems to its database, some hope that Google's transit route planner could become as useful as its car route mapping software.
Web 2.0 in Planning
Hot technologies like blogs, mashups, YouTube, Flickr, and social networking are among the most notable of new Internet technologies that are collectively known as Web 2.0. These technologies offer great possibilities for planners.
Enhancing Public Transit With Wi-Fi
Some transit agencies are hoping to woo riders by providing internet access on bus and rail vehicles, allowing commuters to check email and surf the web on the way to work.
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
