ASUD

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

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.

Goodyear has a knack for pulling together all the latest information on land use issues and presenting it in a no-nonsense way. Her latest article explains the absurdity of the so-called "War on Cars", when cars will obviously be part of the mobility solution for a long time to come. Grist is a voice of sanity in the sometimes chaotic world of "green media."

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.

"About the Metropolitan Policy Program Created in 1996, the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program provides decision makers with timely trend analysis, cutting-edge research and policy ideas for improving the health and prosperity of cities and metropolitan areas. The program is based on a simple premise: The United States is a metropolitan nation. Metropolitan areas are home to 83 percent of the U.S. population, 85 percent of the nation's jobs and 92 percent of all college graduates. They are our hubs of research and innovation, our centers of human capital, and our gateways of trade and immigration. They are, in short, the drivers of our economy, and American competitiveness depends on their vitality. "

About the Metropolitan Policy Program Created in 1996, the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program provides decision makers with timely trend analysis, cutting-edge research and policy ideas for improving the health and prosperity of cities and metropolitan areas. The program is based on a simple premise: The United States is a metropolitan nation. Metropolitan areas are home to 83 percent of the U.S. population, 85 percent of the nation's jobs and 92 percent of all college graduates. They are our hubs of research and innovation, our centers of human capital, and our gateways of trade and immigration. They are, in short, the drivers of our economy, and American competitiveness depends on their vitality.

TED talks- New Urbanism

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.

Hot spots is an Economist Intelligence Unit research programme, commissioned by Citigroup, which ranks the competitiveness of 120 of the world's major cities. The Economist Intelligence Unit bears sole responsibility for the content of this report. The Economist Intelligence Unit's editorial team built the Index, conducted the analysis and wrote the report. The findings and views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsor. Our research drew on two main initiatives: A unique Index that compares 120 of the world's major urban agglomerations across eight distinct categories of competitiveness and 31 individual indicators. These cities collectively represent about 29% of the global economy, with a combined GDP of US$20.24tr. A detailed note on definitions and methodology is provided in the appendix. We conducted in-depth interviews with ten city experts, mayors and corporate executives, to get their insights on city competitiveness.

Macro forces continue to have an impact on the global influence of cities. Political power is rotating back from West to East, and with economic drivers having shifted from agrarian to industrial to information-based, more people live in cities than in rural areas. While New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo still rank among today's top cities, it appears that Beijing and Shanghai may become significant rivals in the next 10 to 20 years. These are among the highlights of the 2012 Global Cities Index (GCI), a joint study performed by A.T. Kearney and The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. In addition, a panel of academic and corporate executive advisors informed and challenged the study results. We've expanded this year's study; in addition to classifying the current global influence of 66 cities, we have also developed an Emerging Cities Outlook (ECO) to project which emerging-market cities may eventually rival the established global leaders for dominance. Figure 1 summarizes the 2012 results, along with the rankings from our 2008 and 2010 findings of major world metropolitan areas. (The censorship metric added in 2010 affected the positions of several emerging-market cities.) In the first section of this report, we explore the results and implications of the 2012 GCI rankings. The second section summarizes the results of our Emerging Cities Outlook, which analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of cities in developing markets by examining the rates of change and key factors that will affect their ability to capitalize on future globalization trends (see Appendix: About the Study).

Open knowledge repository (World BanK)

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.

the Singapore Housing agency. Over the last 50 years, Surbana has sculpted the unique skyline of Singapore, creating a million homes for over 85% of the population in an integrated living environment. With the support of our majority shareholder Temasek Holdings, as well as our new shareholder CapitaLand, we have grown to be a premium international building consultant and township developer with offices in 16 cities across Asia and the Middle East. Our value proposition lies in our expertise across the whole real estate value chain, encompassing development, fund management, architecture, engineering, project and construction management, urban planning, coastal engineering, infrastructure, sustainable design technologies and city management.

Also read: http://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2012/2/6/from-the-mayors-office-part-1.htmlhttp://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2012/2/20/from-the-mayors-office-part-2.htmlhttp://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2012/3/12/from-the-mayors-office-part-3.html Fictional Mayor addressing his staff on sustainable urban development. Great tone.

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.

StatSilk offers a range of web-based and desktop software to cater to diverse mapping and visualization needs. Our software has a common purpose: to make data analysis easy, efficient and enjoyable. We firmly believe that software should adapt to your needs, and not the other way around.

GeoIQ's enterprise analytics, enhanced visualization and data support features are now available for free to all GeoCommons users. Easily find answers to complex questions and share them with the world.

Data Visualisation and Sources, Maps. Useful List

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.

The Dirt, a weekly blog from the American Society of Landscape Architects, has long been essential reading for Planetizen's editors. The ASLA staff have their fingers on the pulse of the most interesting news about landscape architecture, and regularly interview working professionals about their thoughts and processes. As the fields of landscape architecture, urban design and planning increasingly overlap, the perspective from The Dirt becomes more and more relevant.

New York City's Department of Transportation created this blog as a campaign to re-brand the city's poor reputation when it comes to fixing potholes. The site is simply and irreverently designed to get the point across in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The department is busy everyday filling thousands of potholes, and this site makes that number abundantly clear. The blog also provides a form for reporting potholes.