An urban sustainability, green building, and alternative transportation community

I've gotten some pushback on my claim that adding two congestion-priced lanes to MoPac will increase capacity more than adding two free lanes. This is the Freeway Congestion Paradox: Chen and Varaiya, in their article entitled "The Freeway... [read more]

February 2, 2012

The Urbanization Of Tech Employment

by Jim Russell
with 158 views

F.I.R.E. Finance, insurance, and real estate. That's the kind of industry I expect to find in the downtown area of a big city. The wild speed and reach of financial capital defines contemporary globalization. At the heart of it all is New York and... [read more]

The environmental building blocks of urban happiness

February 2, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 134 views

As regular readers may remember, I am fascinated by the relationship of our cities, and the way they are configured, to our mental and emotional well-being. The relationship of urban form to physical health is finally getting some of... [read more]

California’s Population Problem?

January 31, 2012 by Patrick Lydon
with 140 views

Is reducing the population really the solution to solving the California's multiple crises? Patrick Lydon takes a look. [read more]

Affordable housing in a "gypsy wagon"

January 31, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 183 views

Where I come from, a lot of affordable housing – especially rural and semi-rural housing – takes the form of mobile homes. Nothing wrong with that. But I wouldn’t expect to find many in the city of Boston, and I certainly wouldn’... [read more]

Why the grid is a great asset to our cities

January 30, 2012 by Paul Knight
with 276 views

I have heard many criticisms about the grid plan–It’s boring, It’s unnatural, et cetera. Having happily visited and lived within gridded towns and cities I have wondered why these perceptions exist. What is so wrong with straight streets? Following, I address some common fallacies in a defense for the grid. [read more]

Capitalism, Interdependence and the Urbanization of Latin America

February 3, 2012 by This Big City
with 30 views

Urban growth is a worldwide phenomenon which can been linked directly to the growth of capitalism. Latin America, as we currently know it, was formed by capitalist countries, and is the most urbanized region in the world. Yet this process of urbanization, whilst attributable at least in part to its relationship with capitalism, is also... [read more]

Vienna, Austria Ranked As the Smartest City

February 3, 2012 by TheCityFix - produced by EMBARQ
with 177 views

We previously wrote about the most livable cities in the world and the most innovative solutions to make cities more livable. Now we bring you the smartest cities in the world, courtesy of Boyd Cohen of Co.EXIST. [read more]

14 Days and Counting . . .

February 3, 2012 by Robert Kirkman
with 30 views

I have been continuing to read Wendy Brown's book, Surviving the Apocalypse in the Suburbs, though sporadically. My train commute really isn't all that long, and I've had many, many other things to read in the mean time.I have small addition to my review-in-progress of the book, which merges with the theme from my last post: skepticism.... [read more]

Performance-Based Energy Code Does Not Eliminate Threat of Preemption

February 2, 2012 by Shari Shapiro
with 22 views

Yesterday, I posted that the District of New Mexico had issued a decision on the remaining open issues in the AHRI v. City of Albuquerque case. In the 1970's, the Federal government enacted minimum efficiency standards for certain HVAC equipment, which have been updated periodically since. In 2007, the... [read more]

From Events in the Gents to Pop Up People

February 2, 2012 by julian dobson
with 21 views

You can imagine how people reacted. The idea of 'events in the gents' doesn't really bear thinking about.Yet the anarchic enthusiasm of a bunch of people in Hackney to bring their local high street back to life says something about the way people care about their communities - even to the point of breaking into a boarded-up public toilet... [read more]

Digital vs. Analog Ways of Transforming Cities

February 2, 2012 by Next American City
with 135 views

Walkscore, a favorite civic tech app, notes that our Storefront has a decent walkscore but an unfortunate transit score.The other day I got a phone call from Josh McManus to talk about his work and Next American City’s Storefront for Urban Innovation. Josh is a Next American Vanguard who started a project called CreateHere in... [read more]

Reimagining Model Cities

February 1, 2012 by TheCityFix - produced by EMBARQ
with 96 views

During last week’s Transforming Transportation conference, Jaime Lerner expressed that one of the greatest compliments he has ever received was from his driver who told him that Curitiba looked exactly like the architectural model Lerner was carrying with him at the time. [read more]

Urban Farming as a Successful Business

February 1, 2012 by Gavin Walsh
with 333 views

Currently urban farming is a popular trend but it is not yet significantly changing the way we grow and eat. As we farm locally using sustainable/organic techniques we'll be reducing our carbon foodprint and eating better food. However, in order for urban farming to significantly impact our food supply it has to be economically... [read more]

A Garden City for the 21st Century

February 1, 2012 by The Dirt ASLA
with 186 views

Aberdeen, a city in Scotland, is not only transforming its urban center into a garden and cultural center, but also making sure the proposed designs suits the needs of the public. An upcoming referendum will gauge public support for the designs created by landscape architects OLIN, architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and Scottish... [read more]

No Complete Streets Measure in House Bill

February 1, 2012 by Stefanie Seskin
with 82 views

With no Complete Streets provision, the just-released House Transportation bill ignores millions of Americans nationwide who want their transportation system to provide safe and convenient choices, such as walking, riding a bike, and catching a bus or train. [read more]

The Price of Public Green Space

February 1, 2012 by the polis blog
with 118 views

A New Orleans public housing development on the verge of demolition. Source: The Bag Is it possible to assign a monetary value to public green space in cities? Alex Lo recently published an assessment of methods based on choice modeling and cost-benefit analysis. He focuses on the contingent value method (... [read more]

The geography of persistent unemployment contains some surprises

February 1, 2012 by Kaid Benfield
with 70 views

A bad economy hurts sustainability, in part because sustainability requires new approaches that must be funded, frequently with money from investors able and willing to take chances, or from local governments whose revenues are tied to declining property values or spending. I suppose a saving grace may be in the case of real estate... [read more]

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