The Urban Portal

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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

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American Planning Association (APA)

APA is an independent, not-for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities. The American Planning Association was created in 1978 by the consolidation of two separate planning organizations, but its roots go all the way back to 1909 and the first National Conference on City Planning in Washington, D.C.

Filed under: Organizations

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Boston Streets:  Mapping Directory Data

Tufts University
Boston Streets:  Mapping Directory Data contextualizes the people, places and events that have shaped the city from the years before the American Civil War through 20th-century urban renewal.  

Filed under: Links

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Building Resilient Regions

The University of California Berkeley
The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Building Resilient Regions (BRR) examines the power of metropolitan regions to respond to local and national challenges.  BRR brings together an interdisciplinary  group of scholars and practitioners to investigate why metro regions matter now, what constitutes resilience in the face of challenges, and what factors help to build and sustain strong metro regions.  The Network’s analyses focus on several broad-based national challenges where the regional response is especially significant.  These include: how growing regions address conditions such as increased traffic congestion and housing affordability; how regions that have lost manufacturing jobs build on existing strengths and attract new growth; how regions with large influxes of immigrants have responded to increased diversity and population pressures; and how the continued concentration and emerging deconcentration of poverty across metropolitan areas has affected access to opportunity and patterns of service provision.   While these challenges appear as defining characteristics of regions, their origins and paths of development are conditioned in large part by global technological and economic shifts and concomitant alterations in the international division of labor.

Filed under: Organizations

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Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)

Since 1978, Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has promoted urban sustainability—the more effective use of existing resources and community assets to improve the health of natural systems and the wealth of people, today and in the future. CNT is a creative think-and-do tank that combines rigorous research with effective solutions. CNT works across disciplines and issues, including transportation and community development, energy, water, and climate change.

Filed under: Organizations

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Center for Urban and Regional Studies

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Created in 1957, the Center for Urban and Regional Studies is one of the oldest university-based research centers of its kind. The Center's mission is to promote and support within UNC-Chapel Hill, high-quality basic and applied research on urban, regional and rural planning and policy issues. The Center seeks to generate new knowledge of urban and regional processes and problems and ultimately to improve living conditions in our communities. This is done by involving the University's faculty and graduate students in large, multidisciplinary research projects and smaller, more narrowly focused projects. The Center's mission also includes promoting the use of the research it facilitates.

Filed under: Organizations

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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

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Center for Urban Policy Research

Rutgers University
The Center for Urban Policy Research conducts basic and applied research on a broad spectrum of public policy issues, including affordable housing, land use policy, environmental impact analysis, state planning, public finance, land development practice, historic preservation, infrastructure assessment, development impact analysis, the costs of sprawl, transportation information systems, environmental impacts, and community economic development. 

Filed under: Organizations

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Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development

DePaul University
The Chaddick Institute, located at DePaul University in Chicago, advances the principles of effective land use, transportation and community planning. Founded in 1993, the institute offers planners, attorneys, developers, and entrepreneurs a forum to share expertise on difficult land-use issues through workshops, conferences and policy studies.

Filed under: Organizations

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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City, Culture, and Society

The 21st century has been dubbed the century of cities - sustainable cities, compact cities, post-modern cities, mega-cities, and more. CCS focuses on urban governance in the 21st century, under the banner of cultural creativity and social inclusion. Its primary goal is to promote pioneering research on cities and to foster the sort of urban administration that has the vision and authority to reinvent cities adapted to the challenges of the 21st century. The journal aims to stimulate a new interdisciplinary paradigm that embraces multiple perspectives and applies this paradigm to the urban imperative that defines the 21st century.

Topics of special interest to CCS include urban economics, cultural creation, social inclusion, social sustainability, cultural technology, urban governance, sustainable cities, creative cities. As a peer-reviewed international journal, CCS welcomes contributions from disciplines including but not limited to economics, business, accounting, planning, political science, architecture, geography, sociology, historiography, cultural studies, population studies and public administration.

Filed under: Journals

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy

Northeastern University
The Dukakis Center conducts interdisciplinary research, in collaboration with civic leaders and scholars both within and beyond Northeastern University, to identify and implement real solutions to the critical challenges facing urban areas throughout Greater Boston, the Commonwealth, and the nation.

Filed under: Organizations

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Geospatial Platform

The Geospatial Platform provides ready access to federally maintained geospatial data, services and applications.  It also provides access to data from our partners across State, Tribal, Regional and local governments as well as non-governmental organizations.

Filed under: Data

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GIS @ The University of Chicago

The University of Chicago Libraries provide a large collection direct links to national and international GIS data.

Filed under: Data

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GIS Lounge

Information and news site about geographic information systems, GPS, cartography, and remote sensing. GIS Lounge publishes items of interest to the geospatial community. GIS Lounge has has sections for job listings, geospatial press releases, and events.

Filed under: Links

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Goethe-Institute

A German Institute devoted to architecture, urban space, city research, town planning, and urban development.

Filed under: Organizations

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Honolulu Land Information System

City of Honolulu
The City and County of Honolulu has developed one of the most comprehensive GIS data base for any municipality of its size. The Honolulu Land Information System (HoLIS) is an enterprise-wide system serving over 15 City Departments with land use, permit, tax, infrastructure, and environmental data. Geographically referenced information links existing City records to precise locations on the island of Oahu for spatial query and analysis.

Filed under: Data

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How does public transportation affect employment opportunities?

A recent report published by the Brookings Institution examines the efficiency of the sprawling network of public transportation in the United States, focusing on the relationship between public transit and employment opportunities. Researchers used a complex data set consisting of routes, stops, and schedules of 371 transit providers in large American cities to determine job-site accessibility by public transportation, providing a sobering view of the effectiveness of public transit.

July 01, 2011

Filed under: Issues

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Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation

Rutgers University
The Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation (IRCT) is a university-based effort that helps community residents and leaders in the public and private sectors frame workable policies that will bolster the political, economic, and social participation of marginalized communities within the larger metropolitan community. The IRCT's vision is inclusive. Not only does it encompass concerns for the poor, but leaders of the Initiative also believe that in order for metropolitan regions to support sustainable and livable communities, all sectors of civil society must be involved and see a shared interest.

Filed under: Organizations

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Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy works with cities worldwide to bring about transport solutions that cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce poverty, and improve the quality of urban life.

Cities throughout the world, primarily in developing countries, engage ITDP to provide technical advice on improving their transport systems. ITDP uses its know-how to influence policy and raise awareness globally of the role sustainable transport plays in tackling green house gas emissions, poverty and social inequality. This combination of pragmatic delivery with influencing policy and public attitudes defines our approach. Most recently, ITDP has been instrumental in designing and building the best bus rapid transit systems in the world.

Filed under: Organizations

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Institute of Urban and Regional Development

University of California-Berkeley
IURD conducts collaborative, interdisciplinary research and practical work that reveals the dynamics of communities, cities, and regions and informs public policy.
Rooted in the social sciences, IURD's work has steadily gained recognition since its inception over 40 years ago. IURD has become the gateway to the university for those concerned with urban and regional issues—infrastructure, housing, sprawl, transportation, environmental quality, disaster recovery, and poverty and physical decline in inner cities—as well as a home for scholars who integrate real-world metropolitan problem-solving in their teaching and research.

Filed under: Organizations

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International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) is a Canadian-based, public policy research institute that has a long history of conducting cutting-edge research into sustainable development. The Institute is a non-partisan, charitable organization specializing in policy research, analysis and information exchange. Through its head office in Winnipeg, Manitoba and its branches in Ottawa, Ontario; New York, NY; and Geneva, Switzerland IISD applies human ingenuity to help improve the well being of the world's environment, economy and society.

Filed under: Organizations

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Late 19th- and Early 20th-Century Urban Rail Transit Maps

University of Chicago
The maps included on this site roughly illustrate the history of urban rail transit between the 1860s and the 1920s. These years were the heyday of urban rail transit. Virtually every city in the Western world and in its colonial offshoots had street railroads during much or all of this period. Streetcars were drawn by horses in the early years. The invention of the grip cable in 1870s and of electric traction in the late 1880s greatly increased their speed and reliability. By the end of the 19th century, everyday urban life was completely dependent on this mode of transport.

Filed under: Data

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Locating London’s Past

Website allowing users to search a wide body of digital resources relating to early modern and eighteenth-century London, and to map the results on to a fully GIS compliant version of John Rocque's 1746 map.

Filed under: Data

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Mapping London

Highlighting the best of maps of London. Mapping people, places, data, things

Filed under: Data

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Miami GIS Web Portal

City of Miami
The City of Miami, Florida's GIS portal, designed to provide residents and stakeholders access to numerous mapping applications with enhanced, visual representation of City parcels, data and services. 

Filed under: Data

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National Institute of Urban Affairs

National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)  (India) is a premier institute for research, training and information dissemination in urban development and management. Established in 1976, as an autonomous body under the Societies Registration Act, the Institute enjoys the support and commitment of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, State Governments, urban and regional development authorities and other agencies concerned with urban issues. 

Filed under: Organizations

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Neptis Foundation

The focus of Neptis’s work is the understanding of urban regions– their pasts, present conditions, and futures, in local and global contexts. In particular, Neptis’s interest is the design of urban regions: that is, their use of land, their built environments, and their modes of transportation.

The role of Neptis is to carry out nonpartisan research, data collection, mapping, and publication related to the architecture of urban regions, to improve the quality of debate and decisions. The foundation’s mode of operation is to initiate, support, and publish research by leading academics and other experts on aspects of regional urbanism. Neptis does not represent any special interest group.

Neptis’s program of research has produced over 30 published studies, all of which are available to all interested members of the public in various forms – reports, CDs, downloads, maps, and summaries.

Filed under: Organizations

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Next City

University of Washington
As a public research institution located in the heart of a globally connected metropolitan area, with deep faculty expertise in urban fields, the University of Washington is helping to find informed solutions to the challenges and opportunities presented by the new urban age.   Faculty research is helping urban leaders and citizens across the globe make their cities healthier, safer, and greener.  Partnerships with professionals and community members are making this region a recognized leader in innovative urban design, planning, and governance. Students are learning about cities in the classroom, conducting urban research, and contributing to community well-being through urban service – here in Seattle as well as in other nations and continents.  Events across the university bring leading urban thinkers to campus and engage the wider community in conversations about cities past, present, and future.

Under the leadership of Provost Phyllis Wise, NEXT CITY: Sustainable Urbanization is serving as a university-wide theme between 2009 and 2011 to focus attention on the University of Washington’s urban teaching, research, and outreach activities.  Cities and their people are the emphasis of major university lecture series, seminars, cultural and education events, and public roundtables on the challenges and opportunities of urbanization.   New research initiatives, courses, and partnerships with the community are bringing together Washingtonians and others in discovering more about the twenty-first century’s urban age.  Explore this website, and join the conversation.

Filed under: Organizations

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Polis Network

Polis is a network of European cities and regions working together to develop innovative technologies and policies for local transport.  Our aim is to improve local transport through integrated strategies that address the economic, social and environmental dimensions of transport. To this end, Polis supports the exchange of experiences and the transfer of knowledge between European local and regional authorities. It also facilitates the dialogue between local and regional authorities and other actors of the sector such as industry, research centers and universities, and NGOs.

Filed under: Organizations

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Project for Public Spaces

Project for Public Spaces (PPS) is a nonprofit planning, design, and educational organization dedicated to helping people create and sustain public spaces that build stronger communities. Our pioneering Placemaking approach helps citizens transform their public spaces into vital places that highlight local assets, spur rejuvenation, and serve common needs.

Filed under: Organizations

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San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association

Throughout history, civic involvement has been the foundation of a thriving, vibrant city. SPUR's expanded work in the Urban Center will focus on educational programs in good government, public policy, urban planning and design with the ultimate goal of engaging citizens in SPUR's work and in the issues that affect the entire region.

SPUR's activities, include:

• research and advocacy by policy directors
• frequent policy committee and task force meetings
• meetings with civic leaders and allied organizations
• lunchtime and evening forums and panel discussions
• an urban affairs library and resource center
• permanent and rotating exhibitions

Filed under: Organizations

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Seattle Municipal Archives

City of Seattle
The Seattle Municipal Archives (SMA) holds over 10,000 cubic feet of records documenting the history, development, and activities of the agencies and elected officials of Seattle. Some of the research strengths of the holdings include parks, engineering, legislative activities, and urban planning. 

Filed under: Links

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SSIIM:  Social and Spatial Inclusion of International Migrants, Urban Policies and Practice

Lauv University of Venice
By promoting public awareness on the importance of effective urban policies for the social and spatial inclusion of international migrants, the SSIIM UNESCO Chair will help addressing urban poverty reduction, as well as enhancing worldwide urban cultural diversity and preventing urban conflicts.

In the short term the SSIIM UNESCO Chair will contribute:

-  to produce new knowledge and a better understanding on how to improve good urban governance for the social and spatial inclusion of international migrants.

- to exchange information on policies and practices that best respond to the challenges of increasingly multicultural urban societies.

-  to foster the awareness of policy-makers, government officials and the civil society at large on the importance of international migrants social and spatial inclusion in urban areas.

Filed under: Organizations

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Sustainable Cities International

Sustainable Cities International is a registered not-for-profit organization based in Vancouver, Canada. Operating since 1993, the mission of Sustainable Cities is to catalyze action on urban sustainability with cities around the world. We work by connecting and mobilizing people through the process of co-creating.

We facilitate a thriving, international network of cities that act as urban laboratories: adopting, testing and improving on innovations. Ideas are accelerated through sharing of experience and cities are making transformational change a reality.

Filed under: Organizations

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The 7th World Congress of Environmental Education: The Rural-Urban Relationship

June 9–June 14, 2013
World Congress of Environmental Education
Marrakech, Morocco

Filed under: Events

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