10 lessons the US can learn from abroad on urban cycling.
February 14, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A 16th century set of Spanish colonization laws explain why L.A. isn't closer to the water.
January 26, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A Brooklyn architect helps members of underserved communities design their urban spaces.
December 19, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A car-free lifestyle is increasingly popular in Washington, D.C.
October 06, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A comprehensive database of BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) systems worldwide.
April 17, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A Connecticut gas station will be converted into a community health center.
January 12, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A defense of “ruin porn” photography of decaying cities.
February 15, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A Google Maps designer discusses the website's evolving portrayal of cities.
February 02, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A new book on development and urbanization in Africa.
December 30, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A new report assesses the challenges that transit-oriented development poses to community health.
February 06, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A new report on the effect of proximity to public transit on housing costs.
October 07, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A new report suggests that town planning and public health must be integrated to ensure healthy communities.
January 31, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A new website, Neighborland, invites New Orleans residents to suggest and discuss city improvement projects.
October 31, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A new website, Walkonomics, uses public datasets and user reviews to rate the walkability of cities
September 27, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A podcast on the relationship between faith and urban planning.
January 24, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A Portland food manufacturer exemplifies sustainable development in its relocation.
April 18, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A proposed network of elevated bike lines in London would keep cyclists off the road.
September 18, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A public art project envisions how, driven by climate change, rising sea levels will put London underwater.
February 22, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A San Francisco startup matches artists with property owners to bring art to their spaces.
April 23, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A visualization of urban density shows the wide variation in concentration across the world.
November 23, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Aerial panaromas showcase the beauty of cities around the world.
March 06, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
African Center for Cities
University of Capetown
The African Centre for Cities (ACC) is an interdisciplinary research and teaching program focused on quality scholarship regarding the dynamics of unsustainable urbanization processes in Africa, with an eye on identifying systemic responses.
Filed under: Organizations
In "Boundaries of Power: Politics of Preservation in Two Chicago Neighborhoods" (Urban Affairs Review, July 2011), Yue Zhang examines how aldermanic power affects the historical preservation efforts in the Pilsen and Bronzeville neighborhoods of Chicago.
June 17, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Urban farm activists in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, launch a collaborative website to share information about urban gardens throughout the city as a way to increase interest in urban agriculture.
May 31, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
An architect muses on the importance of thoughtfully-planned public spaces.
January 03, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
An article about the highway teardown movement in the post-Interstate era.
February 27, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
An editorial on allowing places to evolve while retaining their historic character.
January 13, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
The Dutch city of Utrecht has devised an innovative way to combat city congestion caused by idling delivery trucks.
September 21, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Announcing the 2013 Urban Forums
Between 26 April and 11 May 2013, the Network will host four conferences on the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park to discuss the built environment, globailization and mobility, political networks and health in cities.
November 29, 2012
Filed under: Issues
As it expands, Moscow diverges from the West in its automobile-oriented planning.
March 12, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM)
The Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving public policy and management by fostering excellence in research, analysis and education. With over 1,500 academic, practitioner, organizational and institutional members, APPAM promotes its mission through the annual Fall Research Conference, with the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM), the association's journal, several award programs and various activites including international and national conferences and workshops.
Filed under: Organizations
Best Practices Database in Improving the Living Environment
UN-HABITAT
This searchable database contains over 3,800 proven solutions from more than 140 countries to the common social, economic and environmental problems of an urbanizing world. It demonstrates the practical ways in which public, private and civil society sectors are working together to improve governance, eradicate poverty, provide access to shelter, land and basic services, protect the environment and support economic development.
Filed under: Links
Bicyclists in cities where biking is popular have a lower traffic fatality rate than those in cities where bicycling is not popular.
July 12, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Bike paths are a powerful incentive for getting people to ride.
April 19, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Brookings Institution study evaluates the suburbanization of HUD Housing Choice Voucher recipients.
November 07, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
The site of the former Brooklyn Airport will be transformed into a massive urban campground.
June 24, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Budget woes threaten the pace of Oakland's redevelopment.
July 13, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Buffalo offers possibilities for the metropolitan-driven, innovative American economy of the future.
March 26, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Built Environment
With an emphasis on crossing disciplinary boundaries and providing global perspective, each issue of Built Environment focuses on a single subject of contemporary interest to practitioners, academics and students working in a wide range of disciplines. Issues are guest-edited by established international experts who not only commission contributions, but also oversee the peer-reviewing process in collaboration with the journal’s editors. Subject areas include: architecture; conservation; economic development; environmental planning; health; housing; regeneration; social issues; spatial planning; sustainability; urban design; and transport. All issues include reviews of recent publications
Filed under: Journals
Margaret Garb asks why housing wasn't a part of Daniel Burnham's 1909 plan of Chicago in the Journal of Planning History.
April 19, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
The Chaddick Institute at DePaul University finds that buses are the fastest-growing form of intercity travel in the United States.
May 06, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Good Magazine looks at how bus rapid transit (BRT) made a positive impact on Guangzhou, China.
June 01, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Can "charter cities" help urban areas in emerging economies grow sustainably?
September 06, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Can the “Rust Belt” be revitalized?
Between 1950 and 2008, Detroit, once a city of almost 2 million, lost about half of its residents. What used to be a symbol of American prosperity has become the most prominent example of postindustrial urban decay. A recent book has analyzed the origins of the population decline and proposed strategies for revitalizing the former manufacturing cities in the Midwest and Northeast of the United States.
July 01, 2012
Filed under: Issues
Car- and bike-sharing programs see more use as gas prices surge in Canada.
August 31, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
A recent study finds that nursing home closures are located disproportionately in Black and Latino communities.
March 11, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
The Washington D.C. Office of Planning is launching a pilot program to give residents up to $12,000 to encourage them to move closer to work.
May 11, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Census of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
Complete count of U.S. Farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Includes data on land use and ownership, operator characteristics, production practices, income and expendures, and other information. Taken every five years.
Filed under: Data
Census UK
Economic and Social Data Service
UK Census data.
Filed under: Data
Center for Urban Dialog and European Policy
The Center for Urban Dialogue and European Policy was established in 1995 by the Vienna Municipality with the basic intention to give support to the Vienna city government and administration in all issues relating to the EU integration process and the competition between European business locations.
Future work will focus mainly on three themes of the political and societal ''project Europe'': the enlargement of the Union with all its different aspects; the reinforcement of the Urban Agenda in thought and action of the Union; and the development, or improvement, of European democracy.
Filed under: Organizations
Center for Urban Initiatives and Research
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Urban Archive is designed as a catalogue of research studies and reports focused on greater Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin. Each catalogued item provides bibliographic information, content abstract, source and, where possible, an electronic link to the report. The catalogue is organized by topical categories.
Filed under: Organizations
CEOs for Cities
A civic lab of today's urban leaders catalyzing a movement to advance the next generation of great American cities.
Filed under: Organizations
Chattanooga gets its own font in an effort to rebrand the city.
March 02, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Chicago announces "People Spots" and other placemaking initiatives.
July 12, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Chicago City Council makes urban agriculture legal.
September 16, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Chicago Imagebase
The Chicago Imagebase is a Web-based project aimed at enhancing knowledge about the built environment of the Chicago region. On this site you will find a wide variety of images and other data along with information on how to use this data to study the city.
Filed under: Data
Chicago Metropolis 2020
Chicago-based organization promoting regional development in the Chicagoland area
Filed under: Organizations
Chicago Metropolitan Area for Planning
Official metropolitan planning organization for the seven counties of northeastern Illinois
Filed under: Organizations
Chicago plans to build protected bike lanes across the city.
August 08, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Chicago Policy Review
University of Chicago
Since 1996 the Chicago Policy Review (CPR) has published top scholarship in the field of public policy analysis. Initially a forum for renowned scholars and policy experts such as Nobel Laureate James Heckman, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John McCain, the journal has primarily published the work of students and alumni of the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago since 2006.
The Chicago Policy Review (ISSN: 1093-8990) is edited and published annually by the students of the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies. By establishing linkages between theory and practice, the Review aims to promote thought provoking, insightful, and relevant public policy decision-making.
Filed under: Journals
The rate of hit-and-run incidents in Chicago is twice the national average. In response, the city released its Pedestrian Plan as part of an effort to eliminate pedestrian injuries and fatalities.
June 27, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
The city of Chicago is taking drastic measures to respond to predictions that the city's climate will change dramatically before the end of the century, reports the New York Times.
June 06, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
The construction of China’s sprawling cities begins to encroach upon military bases.
July 26, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development annouces the first grant winners for the new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.
March 21, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Cities Alliance
The Cities Alliance is a global partnership for urban poverty reduction and the promotion of the role of cities in sustainable development.
The Cities Alliance prioritizes support to cities, local authorities, associations of local authorities and/or national governments that are committed to:
• Improving their cities, and local governance, for all residents;
• Adopting a long-term, comprehensive and inclusive approach to urban development;
• Implementing those reforms necessary to effect systemic change, and to achieve delivery at scale; and
• Decentralizing resources to empower local government
Filed under: Organizations
An infographic ranks which US cities spend the most on gas.
August 10, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Cities are realizing that the arts drive economic development and attract tourists.
March 14, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Cities Centre
University of Toronto
Cities Centre is a multi-disciplinary research institute. The mandate of the Centre is broad: to encourage and facilitate research, both scholarly and applied, on cities and on a wide range of urban policy issues, both in Canada and abroad, and to provide a gateway for communication between the University and the broader urban community.
Filed under: Organizations
Cities Environment Reports on the Internet (CEROI) Programme
The CEROI programme was established to increase awareness about the urban environment, to improve environmental policy making by providing better access to information, and ultimately to improve the cities' and the world environment. The concept provides city authorities with an efficient tool to produce and present a report of the cities' environment on Internet. It includes a template with standard indicators and a tailor-made software for easy presentation of graphs, maps, photographs and text.
Filed under: Organizations
Cities get creative in studying and transforming vacant lots.
August 30, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Cities in the 21st Century
International Honors Program
Cities in the 21st Century program examines the intentional and natural forces that guide the development of the world’s cities. It combines an innovative urban studies academic curriculum with fieldwork involving public agencies, planners, elected officials, NGOs and grassroots groups in important world cities where exciting changes are taking place.
Filed under: Links
Cities send a message when they invest in bike parking infrastructure and bus shelters.
March 13, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning
Cities offers a comprehensive range of articles on all aspects of urban policy. It provides an international and interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of ideas and information between urban planners and policy makers from national and local government, non-government organizations, academia and consultancy.
The primary aims of the journal are to analyze and assess past and present urban development and management as a reflection of effective, ineffective and non-existent planning policies; and the promotion of the implementation of appropriate urban policies in both the developed and the developing world.
Filed under: Journals
Citiwire.net
Citiwire.net's mission is to reflect a new narrative for 21st century cities and regions. Leaving behind the 20th century pattern of cheap energy, endless automobility, burgeoning suburbs, threatened inner cities. To a challenge-packed 21st century: energy prices headed north, perilous carbon emissions, deepening have-have not divisions, excruciating social problems and deep challenges in education. But a time of exciting promise, too: for example rejuvenated downtowns, revival of classic walkable neighborhood form, new citistate-wide consciousness, more protected lands, upgrading rather than bulldozing developing world slums. Citiwire.net’s quest: to chronicle struggles, illuminate pathways to more vibrant, equitable, sustainable choices for grassroots America and urban regions worldwide.
Filed under: Links
City Mayors
Cities are shaping today's social, cultural, economic and technological agendas. They compete, learn from each other and act together. The City Mayors Foundation was established in 2003 to promote, encourage, and facilitate good open and strong local government.
Filed under: Links
City of Chicago Data Portal
The City of Chicago’s Data Portal is dedicated to promoting access to government data and encouraging the development of creative tools to engage and serve Chicago's diverse community. Here you’ll find essential data presented in easy-to-use formats to help Chicagoans keep track of how their government is performing and build innovative applications to benefit residents and visitors alike.
Filed under: Data
City-Region Studies Centre
University of Alberta
The City-Region Studies Centre (CRSC) is a University of Alberta research unit that engages with communities to explore the nature of towns, cities, and regions. CRSC is one of the only centres in North America to focus on regional research. To do this, we undertake both engaged and theoretical activities, work with clients, sponsor events, host visiting experts and public lectures, and maintain a global set of links with planners and academics, and cities and institutes. We are the portal to urban and regional teaching and research at the University of Alberta.
CRSC's goal is to increase understanding of the cultural, political, economic interactions and interdependencies within these social spaces and to inform public policy and improve the well-being of citizens.
Filed under: Organizations
CITYNET
For over 20 years, CITYNET (The Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements) has committed itself to helping local governments improve the sustainability of human settlements. Starting with 26 members in 1987, CITYNET has grown to become an international organization of more than 100 members in more than 20 countries, most of which are cities and local governments in the Asia-Pacific region.
Filed under: Organizations
Cityscape
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The goal of Cityscape is to bring high-quality original research on housing and community development issues to scholars, government officials, and practitioners. Cityscape is open to all relevant disciplines, including architecture, consumer research, demography, economics, engineering, ethnography, finance, geography, law, planning, political science, public policy, regional science, sociology, statistics, and urban studies.
Filed under: Journals
Clean Cities
U.S. Department of Energy
Clean Cities is the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) flagship alternative-transportation deployment initiative, sponsored by the Vehicle Technologies Program. Clean Cities has saved nearly 3 billion gallons of petroleum since its inception in 1993. More than 8,400 stakeholders contribute to Clean Cities' goals and accomplishments through participation in nearly 100 Clean Cities coalitions across the country. Private companies, fuel suppliers, local governments, vehicle manufacturers, national laboratories, state and federal government agencies, and other organizations join together under Clean Cities to implement alternative-transportation solutions in their communities.
Filed under: Links
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing announces that the city of Detroit has reached his goal of demolishing 3,000 homes as part of a plan to clear blight from the city.
May 10, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
CNN continues their series on the famous planned suburb of Levittown.
January 09, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Code for America connects tech-savvy individuals with city governments to help use technology to solve urban problems.
October 27, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Community-focused street policies aim to turn streets into multimodal public spaces.
December 15, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Congress for the New Urbanism
Nonprofit organization focused on sustainable, walkable, community development.
Filed under: Organizations
Joel Kotkin and Wendell Cox examines the continuing trend of suburbanization.
April 21, 2011
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Converting one-way streets into two-ways slows traffic, creating a more pedestrian-friendly area and driving commercial development.
February 08, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
County and City Data Books
University of Virginia
This resource provides access to the 1944 through 2000 County and City Data Books providing users with the opportunity to create custom printouts and/or customized data subsets (subsets only available for 1988-2000).
Filed under: Data
County Business Patterns (CBP)
Census Bureau
County level data (including counts, size, quarterly payroll) on organizations of all types in the U.S.
Filed under: Data
Creating buildings that are resilient to climate change and natural disasters.
March 28, 2012
Filed under: New & Noteworthy
Current Population Survey
U.S. Census Bureau
Labor force data for about 50,000 households; collected monthly.
Filed under: Data
Cyburbia
Cyburbia, established in 1994, is the Internet's oldest portal and social networking site for urban planners and others interested in cities and the built environment.
Filed under: Links
Data Driven Detroit
Data Driven Detroit (D3) provides accessible, high-quality information and analysis to drive informed decision-making that strengthens communities in Southeast Michigan.
D3 believes that direct and practical use of data by grassroots leaders and public officials promotes thoughtful community building and effective policymaking. As a “one-stop-shop” for data about the city of Detroit and the metro area, D3 provides unprecedented opportunity for collaboration and capacity building in Southeast Michigan.
Filed under: Data
Data SF (San Francisco)
City of San Francisco
DataSF is a central clearinghouse for datasets published by the City & County of San Francisco. The site allows you to find datasets in several ways: general search, tags/keywords, categories, and rating. The goal is to improve access to city data through open machine-readable formats. While the number and quality of datasets is increasing, we recognize there is much more that we can do. You can help by rating and commenting on existing datasets or by telling us what datasets we should make available to the public.
Filed under: Data
Data.gov
Federal Government
Collection of datasets generated and held by the Federal Government. Contains 305,823 datasets.
Filed under: Data
Data.Seattle.Gov
City of Seattle
The purpose of Data.Seattle.Gov is to increase public access to high value, machine-readable datasets generated by various departments of Seattle City Government.
Filed under: Data