November 2011
11 posts
8 tags
New York Times Op Ed: The Death of the Fringe... →
By CHRISTOPHER B. LEINBERGER
Published: November 25, 2011
DRIVE through any number of outer-ring suburbs in America, and you’ll see boarded-up and vacant strip malls, surrounded by vast seas of empty parking spaces. These forlorn monuments to the real estate crash are not going to come back to life, even when the economy recovers. And that’s because the demand for the housing that once supported...
7 tags
Planetizen's Top 10 Urban Planning Books of the... →
These are definitely some great books. The books range from urban policy to topics like bicycle transportation. If you are looking for a book to help you explore urban planning this list will help you narrow it down. Of the list I have only read two (I have homework!): Triumph of the City by Ed Glaeser and Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi by NPR’s Steve Inskeep, and they were both...
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Minneapolis Star Tribune: New Bike Lanes Bring... →
In many cities there is tension between bicyclists and motorists. In Minneapolis, streets were first designed for walking and horses, then street cars but were converted for buses and cars. How do we share the road? What are the implications of changing a road’s design half a dozen times? What can be done to facilitate better experiences for both bikers and drivers? One thing I love about...
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Gehl Architects - North American Projects →
Jan Gehl is a Danish architect who has created some amazing spaces. His work focuses on improving urban areas primarily for pedestrians and bicyclists. I’d say he is a new-urbanist/pedestrianist/sustainable/resiliency planer. His blog title, Making Cities for People pretty much sums up his ideology. Take a look at some of his North American projects, you may have visited them. He is a master...
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Save Student Aid: Statement of Support →
Please sign this petition. As a student, the financial strain of college weighs heavy on my mind every day. Higher education should be available to everyone to wants it, without the fear of unsurmountable debt crippling our lives and families.
stickypaste:
Right now the congressional Super Committee is currently deliberating budget cuts to address our federal deficit and those cuts could have...
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How Can Cities Encourage Residents to Live More... →
Today I wondered this exact question as I saw a sprinkler at the edge of someone’s yard shooting water all over the street - in November - in Minnesota. What will it take for people to conserve? Some people say that the next world war will not be over oil, but water.
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The Pruitt-Igoe Myth | Katharine G. Bristol,... →
The Pruitt-Igoe example raises many intense emotions for people on all sides of the debate. Designed by Minoru Yamasaki of World Trade Center fame, the Pruitt-Igoe was intended to be a utopian neighborhood in the sky for poor blacks of St. Louis. Ultimately this project failed and the buildings were demolished in the late 1960’s. Why they failed is the point of contention. Many feel that it...
Hello,
When I first began this blog a year ago it was simply a catch-all for interesting articles and pictures of my shoes. Slowly, pages began to build up and I realized that the majority of it was urban studies related content - my area of study and passion. Most amazingly to me, people said that they had read what I had been posting - and found it interesting - and wanted more! It is a...
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8 tags
As Population, Consumption Rise, Builder Goes... →
The planet may not feel any different today, but there are now 7 billion people on it, according to the United Nations.
That number will continue to rise, of course, and global incomes are likely to rise as well. That means more cars and computers, and bigger homes: the kinds of things Americans take for granted. It’s that rise in consumption that has population experts worried.
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