cities
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Pop-up book brings kids' ideal green cities to life
Spanish design firm Play Studios asked kids to describe what they thought cities would look like in the future, then animated the kid-rendered cities in pop-up book form. There's plenty of fantasy here, but these budding urbanists also have an eye for connected, sustainable, eco-friendly living. Check out the monorails running between buildings in Boscopolis, or the cars in Bright City that run on fallen leaves.
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As suburban office parks lose steam, Apple unveils the ultimate example
Back to the future in the Apple spaceship.Screenshot: Apple via YouTube The old-school suburban office park seems to be having a midlife crisis. A special report in Crain’s about Chicago-area businesses such as Sears, AT&T, and Sara Lee looking to relocate from the suburbs to the urban core — along with the news that Swiss […]
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Cities can lead on climate-change solutions — here’s how
Rapid transit buses, like these in Los Angeles, reduce emissions and are cheaper than light rail.Photo: ChrisCross-posted from the World Resources Institute. The post was written by Manish Bapna, WRI’s executive vice president and managing director. On June 2, I had the pleasure of speaking at the C40 Summit in São Paulo, Brazil. The C40 […]
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Why do cities get so little respect from state and national governments?
Sao Paulo, Brazil.Photo: Henrique GodoyLast week, I attended the C40 summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The C40 is a network of cities across the globe that are working to address climate change. It recently absorbed the (Bill) Clinton Climate Initiative, a story you can read about in The New York Times, and now represents enormous […]
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Which part of Detroit really needs to be ‘right-sized’?
Photo: Trey CampbellCross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. At the bottom of this post are two short videos about Detroit, both featuring architect and planner Mark Nickita, principal of the city’s Archive Design Studio and a lifelong Detroit resident. In a very refreshing change from the mind-numbing negativity one usually hears about the city, Nickita […]
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Colorado town considers "How much renewable energy is feasible" — 80 percent by 2025?
A great story of a city looking to — literally — take ownership of its energy future: The Colorado Renewable Energy Standard, as amended last year by the state Legislature, requires Xcel Energy to get 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. … Boulder leaders — who let the city’s 20-year franchise […]
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A new generation says Dallas doesn’t have to suck
Yesterday I wrote about an emerging “new New Urbanism” — solutions for cities that are fast, cheap, nimble, flexible, and open-source. What does that look like in action? Let’s look at a specific example. Some cities have great public buildings, designed at a grand but human scale, that foster civic engagement and a sense of […]
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The new New Urbanism: Fast, nimble, flexible, and tactical
Creating the new New Urbanism, on the street in Madison, with plenty of beer.Photo: Aurash KhawarzadLast week, the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) held its 19th annual meeting in Madison, Wisc. You may not have heard of the CNU, but you have almost certainly seen its influence in American development. The movement — which […]
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Websites help you choose a walkable, low-commute home
Looking for an apartment involves a lot of guesswork — if you believe Craigslist, absolutely everything is "steps from shopping and transportation!" If you want to figure out how to maximize walkability and minimize commute, you have to actually schlep over there. Or, now, you could just hit the web. PadMapper integrates rental listings, Google maps, […]
