Group items tagged

A project of The New York Times, "Every City, Every Block" creates a very user-friendly interface for looking at the latest numbers from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Household income, demographics, median home value, same sex couples: every one of these data points can be mapped out across the U.S. or down to the census tract, color coded for easy viewing and analysis. We're not sure why The New York Times put in the effort, but it pays off in spades.

Un Habitat intranet Library - Journals (go to parent for more) Cities (Science Direct) Habitat International (Science Direct) Journal of Urban Economics (Science Direct) Land Use Policy (Science Direct) Progress in Planning (Science Direct) World Development (Science Direct) 

With its sparkling harbour, enticing beaches and a climate to die for, Sydney is regularly rated as one of world's top ten most liveable cities. But from Friday the state government of New South Wales will pay residents A$7,000 (£4,500) to leave.

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_1_environmentalism.html Get Dense by Robert Bryce

interesting. on boundaries / definition

In 1991 City Council issued a challenge to create a community that is sustainable: "on the south shore of false creek, develop a neighbourhood that is the model of sustainability, incorporating: forward-thinking infrastructure; strategic energy reduction; high-performance buildings; and high transit access". This webpage highlights the planning policy that responds to Council's direction, and also provides site information, guiding documents, and current planning initiatives.

Income inequality has been on the rise in America for several decades now (for complicated reasons that we'll let Richard Florida explain), and the trend has been starker in some regions of the country, and in some cities, relative to others. Now, however, we are also beginning to see - all the way down to the neighborhood level - that America's growing gap between the rich and poor is also affecting where (and with whom) we live.

Iberoamerican Center for Strategic Urban Development (CIDEU in the Spanish acronym), which has more than a hundred member cities, all of which have applied the Barcelona Strategic Urban Planning methodology.

It's a mid-rise building that encompasses nearly an entire city block, usually developed over a surfacing parking lot or under-utilized former industrial site. There are countless more examples, even at the townhouse level (two examples from Minneapolis' downtown: here and here). Certainly, the loss of a parking lot is nothing to shed a tear over, but this building typology, which currently represents our American view of 'urban', presents itself as somewhat problematic.

The report "Innovation and the City" [PDF] is an important addition to our knowledge of urban policy innovation. It summarizes the results of a six-month research effort by policy researchers at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service and the New York-based Center for an Urban Future. The research team interviewed over 200 experts (including our own Emily Badger) and surveyed more than 120 policy innovations. (I should disclose here that I am Global Research Professor for the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies).

One of the problems I have with a lot of what passes for smart infill development - on the whole, a good thing - is that parks and green space are treated as afterthoughts at best, and frequently ignored altogether.

software-based simulation model for integrated planning and analysis of urban development

Later for Tool development?

Research of Shlomo Angel at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Comprehensive Atlas on Urban Expansion and Densities 1800-now. useful.

Expansion / Densification

We are experiencing an unprecedented change in the way we live. Populations are growing and expectations changing. We need to make places of habitation that are efficient, culturally appropriate and environmentally accountable. Arup is uniquely placed to provide these places in the 21st century.