World
Global issues, U.N., etc.
Friday Funny: Street Signs Tell Tale Of Love
This video from Do The Green Thing tells the tale of Gusty and Ford -- a street-sign love story that only came to be because of a fortuitous decision one day to walk instead of drive.
Friday Funny: Building Industry Safety Blunders Hall Of Shame
The Building website invites readers to send in pictures of construction safety blunders.
To Military Planners, 'Cities are the Problem'
Nick Turse reports on the recent "Joint Urban Operations" conference, where participants discussed the highly advanced military technologies being contemplated for use in the slums of the global south.
A Discussion With Open Architecture Network Founder
In this short video, Wired's Adam Rogers talks with Cameron Sinclair of the Open Architecture Network.
Floating Ice, Sinking Cities?
The unexpectedly rapid melting of glacier ice in Greenland has scientists worried that it may be only years -- not centuries -- before rising sea levels begin to affect coastal cities like New York.
Why Biking Doesn't Mean Dying
This blog post from Grist looks at the often unjustifiable fear associated with biking. Author Alan Durning discusses injury rates and offers advice on how cyclists can pedal their way through cities without being killed.
Ten Principles for Sustainable City Governance
Scandinavian think tank Monday Morning interviews 50 global experts to develop a series of principles for creating a sustainable city.
More Lanes Mean More Emissions
As Seattle considers a plan to spend more than $17 billion on road and transit projects, the Sightline Institute looks at how the city's greenhouse-gas emissions would increase if a new land of highway is built.
Green School Designs Struggle For Acceptance
The emerging focus on sustainable design has moved into the realm of education, with architects and designers looking at the best ways to create green schools. But while the idea is popular, its implementation is meeting resistance.
Grandpa, What's A 'Pay Phone'?
Entrepreneur.com's list of the 10 types of businesses most likely to be extinct in 10 years suggest a very different kind of city.
The Building's Green, But What About The Commute?
This article from Environmental Building News looks at the energy required to get workers from home to work -- often a use of energy that far surpasses that of the workplace itself.
Location Is Important, But So Is Timing
This column from The Washington Post discusses the other most important criteria for development: timing.
Friday Funny: Pigeon Problems? Put 'Em On The Pill
Pigeon poop is driving officials crazy in towns across the world -- crazy enough to propose putting the birds on birth control to cut down their populations.
Carbon Control From The Sea
World-renowned environment experts have proposed a system of huge tubes placed in the world's oceans that would cycle nutrients to encourage booms in the population of algae -- organisms that naturally consume and sequester carbon.
Is LEED's Success Demeaning Its Value?
The U.S. Green Building Council's green building certification system LEED has become the industry standard in recent years, but is the system's intended goal of encouraging environmentally-friendly buildings being limited by its success?
Could Planning Decisions Form A New Climate Change Policy?
Land use, housing location, and the "everyday decisions" of planners are the backbone of a new way of looking at climate change policy, according to this article from the Los Angeles Times.
Looking For The Best City Sounds
Researchers in the UK are working to create a database of urban sounds -- both the good and the bad -- in an effort to help planners, designers, and architects create cities everyone wants to listen to.
Weighing BRT
This four-part blog from Wired gives a nuts-and-bolts look at bus rapid transit, using examples of planned systems, successful systems, and troubled systems.
Modernism In Fragments
Nathan Glazer's From a Cause to a Style: Modernist Architecture's Encounter with the American City reveals how this influential social movement's good intentions shaped the look of the 20th century.
The Business Behind Bike Rentals
Two outdoor advertising firms are the operators behind the scenes in most of the world's bicycle rental programs, including a recently launched system in Paris. The two firms continue to battle for control of future systems, and advertising rights.
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
