District energy systems/shutterstock

District energy planning embodies a paradigm shift in urban planning which includes utility services as a component of community development. As district energy is reimagined in the city planning process, new models of development, governance, and financing are being considered for these systems.[read more]

Dutch City Biking

On the 4th March 2013, Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor of London's Cycling Commissioner, stated that "it took 40 years to turn Amsterdam in to Amsterdam". But it will take even longer to turn London in to a cycling nirvana.[read more]

Home Design

Maybe painters see their living space as a canvas and actors picture it as a stage. The writer in me views home as a massive editing project.[read more]

Solar Home

A Reddit thread once asked what would humanity do if they had an unlimited source of renewable energy. With tongue only partly in cheek, I responded that such energy existed already.[read more]

Urban Wildlife

There are a lot of reasons that we should support urban biodiversity. On the utilitarian side, these organisms provide ecosystem services like photosynthesis, decomposition, control of pests, and the processing of air and water pollution.[read more]

Urbanism in Turkey

As events unfold in Istanbul and other Turkish cities, there is a tendency for the urban issues that sparked the uprising to fade into the background.[read more]

German Demographics

Germany is dying. Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. Concerning demographic decline, only Japan ranks worse. The population is shrinking. German companies need talent. Forty years of importing labor: the demographics have changed dramatically over that time span.[read more]

Traveling Slowly

June is the time of year we start thinking of Greece. It’s the month when the heat rising off DC’s streets slows us down a notch and we start craving a more European lifestyle and white wine in the afternoon.[read more]

Urban Aging Population

Think back to the last time you helped an elderly person cross the street. In most cases, you’ll remember making it up and over the opposite curb with just seconds to spare.[read more]

Cities and Forestry

 

In order to keep pace with the burgeoning demand for renewable energy, forest management policy in the U.S. must change to address environmental sustainability issues.[read more]

Urban Design Walkability

 

Walkers are practitioners of the city, for the city is made to be walked. A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities.[read more]

Nature in Cities

Why are streets with trees better received than those without? Why is dappled light through leaves more pleasant than sun beating against the pavement? What is our affiliation to rolling streams and bubbling brooks?[read more]