Urbanism posts, articles, and infographics | Sustainable Cities Collective

Does the Hilliness of San Francisco affect it’s Walkability?

May 16, 2012 by Adam Davies
with 63 views

San Francisco is famous for its steep hills, in fact they are part of what makes the city so distinctive and unique. There are over 50 hills within the city and while they provide some great views once your at the top, they can also be a real pain to walk up!But walkability isn’t just about hilliness or proximity to shops, its a... [read more]

How to Integrate Urbanism + Transit

May 16, 2012 by Erin Chantry
with 64 views

Jarrett Walker, author of Human Transit: How Clearer Thinking About Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives, told us he was at CNU20 to preach a little fire and brimstone: transportation planner to new urbanist. While I wouldn’t call it brimstone, he definitely spoke passionately about real issues that need to be... [read more]

Design Can’t Save Us, but We Can Save Through Design. A #CNU20 Reflection

May 15, 2012 by Kristen Jeffers
with 63 views

It’s been roughly 48 hours since the last session at CNU 20 and I’ve been home about 24 of those hours with a sore throat and bruised heels from all the great debates, ideas, dances, food and fellowship that I encountered at the Congress.There were so many diverse viewpoints this year that it has taken me to this point to be able to sit... [read more]

Looking Forward: New Urbanism and the New World.

May 13, 2012 by Erin Chantry
with 198 views

Photos courtesy of Seaside Institute

This morning when I walked into the West Palm Beach convention center, I was very excited to be able to meet and brainstorm with the thinkers at the forefront of my profession, or at least the people who share in the same urban design theology. I had heard rumblings about the culture of the Congress of New Urbanism and certainly... [read more]

Live from CNU 20: The Economic Benefits of Good Urbanism

May 11, 2012 by Henry Spethmann
with 232 views

PixAchi/Shutterstock

One of the best panels here at CNU today discussed quantifying the benefits of new urbanism and smart growth in a comprehensive manner. It featured Joseph Minicozzi, New Projects Director at Public Interest Projects, Galiena Tachieva, partner at DPZ, Michael Pagano, Dean of Urban Planning at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and... [read more]

The New World At CNU20: A Storified Post

May 10, 2012 by Henry Spethmann
with 114 views

[View the story "The New World At CNU20: A Storified Post" on Storify] [read more]

Social Media and the City

May 9, 2012 by Atul Sharma
with 241 views

To students of urbanism the familiar story has been told over and over: post-WWII flight from the cities to the suburbs altered how American’s lived - generally from living “outside” your home to a more secluded, private interior sanctuary. [read more]

Live from CNU 20: Tactical Urbanism at NextGen

May 9, 2012 by Henry Spethmann
with 95 views

We’re live from CNU 20 in West Palm Beach, Florida and one of the most intriguing presentations was by Mike Lydon, founder of the Streets Plans Collaborative, talking about tactical urbanism, essentially a method of planning that involves first step approaches that evolve into long-term implementable solutions. [read more]

Great city characteristics make us happier. Unless they don't.

May 8, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 65 views

I’ve been looking at some research reports, and confirming that some of the qualities associated with great urbanism – good public transit; easy access to cultural activities, recreation and shops; connectedness – are associated positively with human happiness. I first reported (“The Environmental Building Blocks of... [read more]

Russian Crowdsourcing Platforms aim to Solve Local Urban Problems

May 4, 2012 by This Big City
with 190 views

Tripp/flickr

Solving problems at the local level, the kind encountered by inhabitants of big cities and regional centers, is becoming more and more feasible thanks to projects based on crowdsourcing technology. Crowdsourcing is getting groups of people involved in the discussion and resolution of all sorts of different problems, ranging from... [read more]

Temporary Cities: The newest Urban Planning trend?

May 2, 2012 by Megan Dalton
with 550 views

Urban planning has traditionally operated on a very long time line. There is something to be said for this approach, which enabled grand visions to be enacted over the generations of a city’s life. However, when poor planning or limited foresight led to problems, the feedback mechanisms and flexibility required to address... [read more]

Urban Habitation in Theory and Practice

April 24, 2012 by polis blog
with 168 views

Detail from Romare Bearden's "The Block" (1978). Source: Harlem WorldIn "Ecology and Inclusion" I recently argued that ecology — as the study of relations between organisms and their environments — is limited in addressing today's most urgent problems because it rarely includes theory and methods designed to illuminate human... [read more]