urban planning

Inside The London Neighborhood That Will Be Built By Ikea

BY Ariel Schwartz | 04-17-2012 | 2:00 PM | URBAN PLANNING

Will it be just like a walk through an Ikea store? Will there be meatballs? Finally, details emerge from the furniture company’s urban planning scheme. READ MORE›

A 3-D Tool To Let Urban Planners Visualize Traffic, Noise, And Pollution

BY Ariel Schwartz | 04-04-2012 | 8:05 AM | URBAN PLANNING

No more guessing about what the impact of improvements to cities might be. Now urban planners have software to fully visualize what will happen when projects become reality. READ MORE›

Intelligent Cities Expo

BY Rachel Z. Arndt | 11-08-2011 | 12:58 PM | WORK/LIFE

The new urbanism is here and it's digital. GE is working with Abu Dhabi to build a zero-emissions city; IBM is centralizing management of municipal resources with its Intelligent Operations Center for Smarter Cities software. To celebrate the planners and engineers at this Hamburg expo, we've gathered some particularly, ahem, smart urban solutions from around the world.READ MORE›

Designing A Program To Predict People's Irrational Pedestrian Decisions

BY Morgan Clendaniel | 09-21-2011 | 12:24 PM | ETHONOMICS

SAFEPED is a traffic simulator that takes into account how human beings make predictions about speed and distance, so planners can see exactly where people are going to run into the street.READ MORE›

MIT's Free Urban Planning Software Will Help Build The Cities Of The Future

BY Michael J. Coren | 09-07-2011 | 3:33 AM | ETHONOMICS

If we are to improve the quality of life in our cities--27 of which are expected to have more than 10 million people by 2020--we will have to find a better way to build them. MIT's new software will help.READ MORE›

MIT's Place Pulse: A “Hot Or Not” For Cities, To Fix Broken Blocks

BY Suzanne LaBarre | 08-29-2011 | 8:55 AM | SALZBURG

When we stumble down an an unfamiliar street, we often determine quickly -- instinctively -- if it feels unsafe. We make a snap judgment about our surroundings, and it can have tremendous implications, influencing where we travel, ... READ MORE›

BIG's Plan For A Stockholm Freeway Looks Like 1970s Sci-Fi

BY Alissa Walker | 07-15-2011 | 11:20 AM | STOCKHOLMSPORTEN

Freeways, man. They sever neighborhoods, terrorize nature, and create dark, ugly spaces below their unsightly underpasses. Yet cars continue to need them, and cities continue to build them. So how do we turn those hulking rivers of ... READ MORE›

Flint, Michigan, Re-imagines Itself In An Architecture Competition

BY Belinda Lanks | 06-21-2011 | 2:04 PM | OPEN SOURCE ARCHITECTURE

Like many Rust Belt cities, Flint, Michigan, has seen its share of troubles: a drop in jobs (and population figures), along with a spike in crime. But Flint has something all its own: Genesee Towers, the city’s tallest high-rise and ... READ MORE›

Think Of Buildings As Sandwiches. What Makes Them Tasty?

BY Perkins+Will | 06-20-2011 | 9:12 PM | LAND USE

In the past, urban planners spent a lot of time coloring maps. Why? To set the rules for land use: Where will the housing go? The offices? The school? Two-dimensional thinking assigned one color to each parcel to guide which uses ... READ MORE›

A Primer On Turning City Blight Into Beauty [Video]

BY Suzanne LaBarre | 06-16-2011 | 8:16 AM | ASLA

Transportation infrastructure accounts for 20% to 40% of all urban land. These systems grossly enable global warming, with transit now representing an outsize 30% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. But for as little as $20,000, ... READ MORE›

For America's Cities, the Future Can Be Found in the Past

BY Perkins+Will | 04-03-2011 | 10:21 PM | BELTLINE

“The past is not dead. In fact it’s not even past.”--William Faulkner Imaginary Cities When looking at our cities, can you see the life that you imagined leading? Where do you spend your time? Are our cities inspiring and ... READ MORE›

A Virtual Community That's Defining the Future of a Physical One

BY Paddy Harrington | 03-09-2011 | 9:44 AM | PALM SPRINGS

Bruce Mau Design recently worked as a part of a team with HWKN architects to develop the design of a new LGBT retirement community in Palm Springs, California. The project was recently featured on Co. Design in “BOOM! Palm Springs ... READ MORE›

China Looks to Control Traffic Congestion With Cell Phones

BY Jenara Nerenberg | 03-02-2011 | 8:20 AM | ETHONOMICS

Beijing's unfortunate history of traffic jams provides just the motivation the government needs to start tracking vehicles more closely.READ MORE›

How Urban Planning Fans the Flames of Revolution

BY Jenara Nerenberg | 02-24-2011 | 9:49 AM | ETHONOMICS

The accelerating role social media played in the recent uprising in Egypt has gotten a lot of people talking, but urban planning was just as vital. READ MORE›

A New Design Movement That Can Help Us Beat Obesity

BY Perkins+Will | 02-23-2011 | 9:53 AM | STAIRS

Today, obesity is poised to overtake tobacco as the leading preventable cause of death in America. More than a third of all Americans are obese and an additional third, overweight. Total U.S. health care costs attributable to obesity ... READ MORE›

Two Wheels and a Dream: Mumbai's Congestion Inspires Student-Run Bike-Sharing Initiative

BY Jenara Nerenberg | 02-23-2011 | 6:57 AM | ETHONOMICS

Cars are a leading source of pollution across India and are responsible for about 62% of the pollution in Mumbai alone. College student Raj Janagam is on a mission to change that.READ MORE›

Infographic of the Day: Who the Broadband Revolution Left Behind

BY Cliff Kuang | 02-18-2011 | 8:50 AM | RURAL AFFAIRS

In America's rural areas, the internet barely exists as you and I know it: People can't get broadband in their house; they use dial-up modems at home; and the only place they can hope to watch a YouTube video is the local library. ... READ MORE›

Creating the Perfect City Is About Illusions, Such as Shorter Blocks

BY Perkins+Will | 02-07-2011 | 12:05 PM | GAINESVIILE

Crumbling infrastructure, two hour commutes, sprawl, economic stagnation, and obesity! These are just some of the problems facing the many increasingly unlivable American cities today. Cities like Portland, Oregon, hog urban ... READ MORE›

London's Urban Farming Hub Reaches New Heights

BY Jenara Nerenberg | 01-26-2011 | 8:23 AM | ETHONOMICS

The 4-story shop-turned-farm in Hackney, London, is opening its doors to cafe seekers and a potentially long-term financially-viable model of business.READ MORE›

Looking for Bold Ideas to Fix the City, New York Turns to Crowd Sourcing

BY Linda Tischler | 01-20-2011 | 2:28 PM | CIVICS

If anybody needs a feel-good moment in this winter of our discontent, it's Michael Bloomberg. When the embattled New York city mayor gave his State of the City address yesterday he hoped to take the spotlight off the issues that have ... READ MORE›