Streets Are Safer for Drivers But Not for Pedestrians @CityLab

Post by Project for Public Spaces.

"A lot of people don’t walk because they are afraid it will kill them before it makes them healthier" @CityLab http://t.co/agAp1qhn3g

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) December 30, 2014

Small Container Transformed Into a Home @ExpandIsbu @ArchiDaily @Homesthetics

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

From Planetizen — Todd Litman: Time Traffic Engineers moved beyond Roadway Level of Service (LOS) rating system

Evaluating transportation system performance based only on roadway LOS biases planning to favor automobile-oriented improvements, such as wider roads with higher design speeds, to the detriment of other modes, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of increased automobile dependency and reduced travel options. There is good evidence that communities which improve walking, cycling and public transit experience shifts to those modes, indicating latent demand. Read more: Reform Transport Engineering: Expand Beyond Just Roadway Level of Service (LOS) Ratings | Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network

From Mother Jones — Which Kills More Americans: Guns or Cars?

Post by Mother Jones.

From The Vancouver Sun — Vancouver swaps parking requirement for car shares

At the proposed new mixed-use Oakridge Centre there will be up to 75 car share vehicles, purchased by the developer for the Modo car share cooperative, for use by the public. In exchange for this, for every car-share vehicle, the City of Vancouver will allow the developer to build up to five fewer underground parking spaces. Welcome to the new world of collaborative partnerships between developers, the city, and car share companies, unique in Canada and spreading to other municipalities in the region. Read more: Vancouver swaps parking requirement for car shares

From @ArchDaily — Unfolding Accommodation and Panelized Modular Housing

Post by Architecture Daily.

Architecture Daily shared Homesthetics's video. - Architecture Daily

From CityLab — What Really Happens When a City Makes Its Transit System Free?

When Jean-Francois Mayet became mayor of Châteauroux in 2001, the town’s transit system was descending into irrelevance. Each of Châteauroux’s 49,000 inhabitants took the bus, on average, 21 times per year, well below the 38 per annum average for small French cities.

Mayet, a member of France’s socialist party, did what few mayors confronted with a struggling mass transit system would do: he made the whole thing free.

Ever since, the otherwise ordinary French town has become a canary in the coal mine of transportation policy, closely watched by the dozens of other municipalities in various stages of free transit experiments.  Read more CityLab - To save a struggling mass transit system

From @ArchiDaily — Architecture Music

Post by Architecture Daily.

From Vancouver Public Space Network — 50 Ideas for Improving Public Space

The Vancouver Public Space Network is a volunteer-run non-profit doing advocacy, education and outreach on Vancouver’s public realm. Since 2008, the VPSN has produced Last Candidate Standing and simultaneously released a series of policy recommendations for improving the state of Vancouver’s public spaces. Here are the VPSN’s priorities for the consideration of candidates for local government to take action on from 2014 to 2018: –  you can read more here: http://bit.ly/1zq9y7Y And on Facebook.

#PublicSpaces in #Bogotá, Colombia"the Athens of South America" @PPS_Placemaking

#PublicSpaces in Bogotá, Colombia, "the Athens of South America" @PPS_Placemaking http://t.co/boGa9aZfQ2

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) November 30, 2014

From PBS NewsHour — 'A long way from zero' NYC takes on traffic fatalities

Although New York City streets over the past few years have been the safest in decades, traffic accidents and pedestrian fatalities have recently started to tick back up. Now, city officials are looking to "Vision Zero," an initiative based on a model from Sweden. The plan hinges on expanded enforcement, new street designs and legislation to increase penalties for dangerous drivers. NewsHour's Hari Sreenivasan reports. Read more: A long way from zero': NYC takes on traffic fatalities | PBS NewsHour

From US Public Interest Research Group — Millennials in Motion

Over the last decade – after 60-plus years of steady increases – the number of miles driven by the average American has been falling. Young Americans have experienced the greatest changes: driving less; taking transit, biking and walking more; and seeking out places to live in cities and walkable communities where driving is an option, not a necessity.

Academic research, survey results and government data point to a multitude of factors at play in the recent decline in driving among young people: socioeconomic shifts, changes in consumer preferences, technological changes, efforts by state governments and colleges to limit youth driving, and more.

Read more: Millennials in Motion | U.S. PIRG. HT Todd Litman 

Dublin Cyclehoop Bike Hangar will be installed in mid-January. @DCCbeta

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

NYC lowered speed limit to 25. Other cities should do it too.

Post by Project for Public Spaces.

Charles Montgomery in Salon.com — Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities

Most of us agree that development that provides employment and tax revenue is good for cities. Some even argue that the need for jobs outweighs aesthetic, lifestyle, or climate concerns—in fact, this argument comes up any time Walmart proposes a new megastore near a small town. But a clear-eyed look at the spatial economics of land, jobs, and tax regimes should cause anyone to reject the anything-and-anywhere-goes development model. To explain, let me offer the story of an obsessive number cruncher who found his own urban laboratory quite by chance. Read more: Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities - Salon.com

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From StreetsBlog NYC — Woodhaven BRT Could Set New Standard for NYC Busways

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NYC DOT and the MTA have developed three design concepts for Select Bus Service on Woodhaven Boulevard and Cross Bay Boulevard in southeast Queens, and two of them go further than previous SBS routes to keep cars from slowing down buses [PDF]. All of the options include some measures to shorten crossing distances for pedestrians on one of the city’s widest and most dangerous streets. Read more: First Look: Woodhaven BRT Could Set New Standard for NYC Busways

From Project for Public Spaces — Finding a Place to Sit in Ireland’s Public Spaces

PPS’s Communications and Outreach Manager Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman was fortunate recently to visit Ireland on a brief but informative tourist trip. Taking a moment out of the scheduled hustle, she took the opportunity to record some of the public spaces of Dublin and Galway – while searching for an elusive public seat.

Read more about her commentary and Irish culture on our Exposure photoblog page, and be sure to check out Nidhi’s adventure in Bogota, and our three features from last year’s Heart of the Community program, including Burnside Park in Providence, RI, Travis Park in San Antonio, TX, and Campus Martius Park in Detroit, MI. For more on our involvement in Dún Laoghaire, check out our blog on our workshops. More at: All Around Ireland: Finding a Place to Sit in Ireland’s Public Spaces

From @Dezeen — 3D Animation Completion of Sagrada Família

More at: One-minute 3D animation shows final phases of Gaudí's Sagrada Família

#TEDTalk @JeffSpeckAICP at @TEDCity2_0

Like "The Walkable City" book by @JeffSpeckAICP? You'll love his #TEDTalk at @TEDCity2_0: http://t.co/NwSa2iJAQb pic.twitter.com/VjxTPU87fA

— TEDCity2.0 (@TEDCity2_0) November 5, 2014

UBC School of Architecture Urban Design Forum livestream and tweets #urbandesignforum

Tweets about "#UrbanDesignForum "

Forum on the future of Commercial Drive Live tweets #streets4every1

#streets4every1 Tweets

Join #streets4every1 tomorrow at the Grandview Woodland Area Council Forum on the future of Commercial Drive. pic.twitter.com/9U3Tt4p5jx

— Streets For Everyone (@Streets4Every1) November 3, 2014

Rotterdam Markthal goes supersized in psychedelic ‪#‎marketplace‬ @guardian

Post by Nanaimo Commons.

From Price Tags — Arthur Erickson on False Creek development – 1983

Fascinating Jack Webster interview with Arthur Erickson in 1983, discussing the development of B.C. Place (when it was a proposed megaproject to be developed by the Province) for which he was the consulting architect. Renderings start at 9.45. (A very-80s Dave Podmore, head of planning for B.C. Place, shows up – that’s him pictured.) Full post at: Arthur Erickson on False Creek development – 1983 | Price Tags

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From Project for Public Spaces — How to Restore Walking as a Way of Life

The bias in our national philosophy towards high speed mobility has long been a topic that PPS has advocated against. In addition to stifling Placemaking, forcing people into cars has contributed to a host of growing national problems. Most compelling of those problems is the incredible pedestrian carnage. Yet until recently public outcry was minimal and government investment in transportation paid only lip service to annual fatalities that amount to the equivalent of one major airplane crash each month. Read more: Project for Public Spaces | How to Restore Walking as a Way of Life

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Jeff Speck's Albuquerque New Mexico Downtown Walkability Analysis

Albuquerque, New Mexico Downtown Walkability Analysis. This project focuses on walkability and connectivity in downtown, with special attention to the area surrounding the Convention Center and Innovate ABQ site as well as the railroad track at Central Avenue. Jeff Speck's final report submitted Sept 2014 here. More from the City of Albuquerque's website here.

From CityLab — 5 Key Themes Emerging From the 'New Science of Cities'

In the past few years, a remarkable body of scientific research has begun to shed new light on the dynamic behavior of cities, carrying important implications for city-makers. Researchers at cutting-edge hubs of urban theory like the University College London and the Santa Fe Institute have been homing in on some key properties of urban systems—and contradicting much of today's orthodoxy. Their findings have begun to feed into recent and upcoming gatherings on the future of cities—including lead-in events for the U.N.'s big 2016 Habitat III conference on sustainable development—and arming leaders in the field with new ammunition in the global battle against sprawl.

In one sense, these lessons are not so new. Legendary urbanist Jane Jacobs was famous for her prescient insights about the emerging sciences of “organized complexity” and what they offered for a more effective approach to urban planning—insights she published all the way back in 1961. (In fact, physicist Geoffrey West of the Santa Fe Institute likes to say they are just doing “Jacobs with the math.”) Read more: 5 Key Themes Emerging From the 'New Science of Cities' - CityLab

Video: Big Cities, Small Mayors @Richard_Florida @maytree_canada

Video: Big Cities, Small Mayors @Richard_Florida @maytree_canada @CBCTheNational http://t.co/ahTaIdZfYl

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) October 28, 2014

The (amazing) density of Barcelona Eixample @cnunextgen

Post by CNU NextGen: The Next Generation of New Urbanists.

From craftsy.com —Bright Lights, Big City Inspiration: Urban Sketching Tutorial

Illustration: Bird’s eye view via Craftsy member artistkierstan.

Urban sketching might seem intimidating at first, but there’s a whole world of subject matter out there just waiting to inspire you. In this post, we’ll explore a number of different ways to approach sketching in the city, from subject matter to style. More at: Bright Lights, Big City Inspiration: Urban Sketching Tutorial

A glimpse into Lerner's #UrbanAcupuncture

MT A glimpse into Lerner's notebook, foreword by Jan Gehl @sustaincities #UrbanAcupuncture http://t.co/nMjt3YcXSU pic.twitter.com/b8yA8vKCVM

— Gehl Architects (@citiesforpeople) October 9, 2014

James McNabb Solo Exhibition — Metros @McNabbDesign @Vimeo

James McNabb Solo Exhibition - METROS from The Greatest Trick on Vimeo.

New Danish ambassador presents his credentials. On a Christiania Bike... @copenhagenize

Post by Copenhagenize.com.

Will Innovation Save Us? Follow the conversation: #SFUPS

#SFUPS Tweets

This Thursday: Built City @MOV — Cornelia Hahn Oberlander and Friends

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

From Chicago magazine — The Future of Transportation in Chicago

Airplanes on the lake, a bike superskyway, trains galore—and more bold ideas to reimagine how you get around the city. More at: The Future of Transportation in Chicago | Chicago magazine | August 2014

From @TechCocktail — 6 Ways to Become Your Own City Planner

The trend is that governments are not only opening up data, but also their urban planning and budgeting processes. Public participation is taking on a whole new look. Local civic advocates are stepping up as collaborators who are well-versed in details once reserved for professionals. Wait – what? That’s right. Civic leaders around the country are tackling the normally staid topics of urban planning and traffic engineering on their own terms. Read more: 6 Ways to Become Your Own City Planner

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RT @humansofny "We're all victims of the architect."

"We're all victims of the architect. Architecture is the only art that you can't help but feel. You can avoid..." pic.twitter.com/1hqgCc2eGl

— Brandon Stanton (@humansofny) October 14, 2014

New York 1915 (colourized). @jen_keesmaat

New York 1915 (colourized). Note the size of the street trees, the width of the sidewalks, the architectural detail. pic.twitter.com/Q3jWTtMLSF

— jennifer keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) October 12, 2014

4500 pedestrians are killed by motor vehicles every year on US streets @PPS_Placemaking

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

This is fabulous for many reasons. "Little girl parking bike." @jen_keesmaat

This is fabulous for many reasons. "Little girl parking bike." http://t.co/cU0y4tr4tS HT @FascinatingVids #TOpoli

— jennifer keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) October 9, 2014

CACs “unproductive and divisive” — YVR Planning Dir Jackson

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

From @architectmag — @snohetta and @DIALOG Release #Calgary Central Library Designs

Post by Nanaimo Commons.

Americans Don't Walk Much And I Don't Blame Them — @Kaid_in_DC in @HuffPostGreen

This won’t be breaking news to most readers, but Americans don’t walk very much. Periodically, National Geographic publishes a 17-nation “Greendex” study on, among many other things, transit use and walking. In 2012 Americans came in dead last on both indices, and it wasn’t close.  

Read more: Americans Don't Walk Much, and I Don't Blame Them | F. Kaid Benfield

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New Masters of Community Planning Program at @VIUniversity approved by the province!

New Masters of Community Planning Program at @VIUniversity approved by the province! The first cohort is planned for September 2015. Pls RT

— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) September 26, 2014

From lewisnvillegas — The City in TED talks

A collection of 20 minute chats or Ted Talks by a wide cross-section of prominent contemporary figures. See them alll at: The City in TED talks | lewisnvillegas

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From The Daily Beast — ‘The Power Broker’ Turns 40: How Robert Caro Wrote a Masterpiece

September 16, 2014. Forty years ago today, Caro’s magisterial 1,296-page life of New York master builder Robert Moses rewrote the rules of biography.

In the spring of 1974, after Robert A. Caro had finished writing The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York—a seven-year ordeal that took the book through three publishers and two editors and nearly bankrupted Caro—the first-time author got a surprise phone call from his agent, Lynn Nesbit.

“I submitted the book to The New Yorker,” she told him, “and Mr. Shawn [William Shawn, who was then the editor of The New Yorker] told me he's never read anything like it, and he's going to publish more of it than he's ever published of any book.” Read more: ‘The Power Broker’ Turns 40: How Robert Caro Wrote a Masterpiece - The Daily Beast

#trans_form Speaker Series #3 — Creating a City for Everyone @Penalosa_G @kteschke

It's almost here! #trans_form #3 is tomorrow night @LeVelo_Victoria @OlenaNina @CommunityMike @RethinkUrban #yyj pic.twitter.com/TEzgqlMtYo

— GreaterVictoriaCycle (@GVCC) September 17, 2014

Curbside Chat @clmarohn @StrongTowns

More at: Strong Towns 

Mayoral candidate @christianwolmar proposes pedestrianisation of Oxford Street @standardnews

London mayoral candidate @christianwolmar proposes pedestrianisation of Oxford Street: http://t.co/HhgpZYMtCY pic.twitter.com/KvnEUl3jca
— Carlton Reid (@carltonreid) September 12, 2014

— @BrentToderian in @planetizen — Tall Tower Debates Could Use Less Dogma, Better Design

It's the debate about tall buildings, possibly the most polarizing argument in CNU circles (arguably even more than the lingering traditional vs contemporary architecture debate), and maybe in urbanism circles in general.

In previous posts and talks, I've discussed the importance of what I call "density done well." It might be impossible to discuss the controversial issue of density (still referred to by some politicians as “the d-word”) without discussing height. In fact, height is often more polarizing and controversial than density itself. Height and density have a relationship, one that can be over-simplified or mischaracterized, but they aren’t the same thing - you can have density without height, and yes, you can have height without density. Read more: Tall Tower Debates Could Use Less Dogma, Better Design | Planetizen: The Urban Planning, Design, and Development Network

Stealth waterfront park privatization underway in #Nanaimo

#Vancouver's Seawall has been named Canada's best public place - but it's also a neighborhood & multi-modal corridor. pic.twitter.com/zATF7zAeSg
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) September 8, 2014

Nanaimo’s seawall parks and neighbourhoods are first rate and our best asset. Our City Hall has just passed an upzoning for a pie-in-the-sky “Hilton” hotel development on the waterfront and our City Hall is considering privatizing large portions of our waterfront Georgia Park.

This stealth privatization is being done on 3 fronts: 

• an outright “lease” turning parkland over to the developer for a loading zone area (semi’s and delivery vans servicing a 300+ room hotel, patio areas for hotel cafes and lounges and a “grand staircase” creating a flow from the hotel lobby directly down to the waterfront promenade).

• portraying the aggressive extension of its lobby into and onto our parkland by a “grand staircase” connecting to the harbour side promenade as a community benefit. “Connectivity” between Front Street through the hotel to the staircase. This staircase is to be included in lands under their control by a 60 year lease agreement.

• perhaps most objectionably of all, the agreement with Staff to apply the very modest Community Amenity Contribution created by the huge uplift in value created by City concessions to be spent only on areas immediately surrounding their property and in concert with their landscape architects.

Staff report to Council here. 

Up-zoning to 114.3 m height and FAR of 12 approved Sept 3 at a well attended public hearing, a large majority of delegates speaking against the height and massing application and the park give-away . Sale of land currently designated lane-way that runs the property perimeter on the north and east sides (which alternatively could have been added to this park area which has been overdue for a redesign for at least 15 years). If there was a strong evidence based argument on which the City made these decisions, I didn’t hear it expressed by Council, it wasn’t made by the proponent at the public hearing and I see no sign of it in the Staff report.

The park lease provision, if the idea itself isn’t pulled off the table now just weeks before the municipal election, will require a referendum. Opposition to the loss of control over parkland, especially a much-loved and popular waterfront park, is strong, broad and spreading.

More background and further thoughts here. 

@1sidewalkballet @andrewtrevjones @NanaimoBulletin @neil21 They should NOT privatize public space. Especially for that abomination.
— Wise Monkeys (@wisemonkeysblog) August 20, 2014

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TO financial district=$375m property tax revenue/per sq km, compared to $6m per sq km rest of the city @jen_keesmaat

Financial district in Toronto = $375 million in property tax revenue per sq km, compared to $6 m per sq km for the rest of the city. #TOpoli

— jennifer keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) September 6, 2014

SF Polk Streetscape Project Overview @walksf @FolksForPolk

Post by Walk San Francisco.

Check out what happened on Robson Street this summer @LatsAP @Penalosa_G

Post by 8-80 Cities.

A wealth-creating pattern of development @neil21 @StrongTowns

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

From Co.Create — IBM's Smarter Cities Continues With A Crowdsourced Pop-Up Park in Dublin

Last year, IBM and Ogilvy France created an award-winning outdoor ad campaign that transformed billboards into urban tools like benches, rain covers, and stairway ramps. For the campaign's next move, the brand and agency teamed up with creative social network Zooppa to put out a call to its global community for ideas to improve their cities and communities, offering prizes from $500 to $10,000. 

Out of 80 video entries, eight winners were picked based on their vision, efficiency, ability to execute, and ability to provide data for further insights. The top prize went to a plan from Dublin, Ireland, to turn an abandoned city lot into a thriving urban park and community space. Other winners included a cardboard bike form Israel, an urban farming initiative from Calgary, and a Detroit plan to transform an abandoned buildings into fish farming facilities.Read more: IBM's Smarter Cities Continues With A Crowdsourced Pop-Up Park in Dublin | Co.Create | creativity + culture + commerce

"The Sidewalk Ballet" in Flinders Lane, Melbourne @PPS_Placemaking

Post by Project for Public Spaces.

Jen Keesmaat in Own Your City — In Complete Communities Pedestrians Take Precedence

RAFFI ANDERIAN ILLUSTRATION

Jennifer Keesmaat is chief planner and executive director of the City Planning Division, City of Toronto.

As one columnist recently put it, the suburbs can be a “snooze fest” for the younger generation. Echo boomers, loosely defined as those between the ages of 16 and 34 and the fastest-growing demographic in Toronto, are choosing urban over suburban and are forgoing a driver’s licence in favour of walking, cycling and transit. Our data confirms this trend in Toronto.

There are many differing reasons why, including the high cost of driving, greater awareness of environmental impacts, a rejection of the quality of life, costs and sacrifices that accompany a long commute, and importantly, it is increasingly possible to live without a car. Read more: In Complete Communities, Pedestrians Take Precedence | Own Your City

Condon / @pricetags Debate: Should #Vancouver Change How It Zones Big Projects? | @TheTyee

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

From CityLab — The Devastating Impact of 30 Years of Sprawl, As Seen From Space

How much have cities in Texas expanded in just the past few decades? A "truckload" I believe is the appropriate regional answer, and now we can actually see those urban centers spread like slime mold with a series of amazing satellite-based animations. More at: The Devastating Impact of 30 Years of Sprawl, As Seen From Space - CityLab

From CityLab — The Number One Thing We Could Do to Improve City Life

At this year's Aspen Ideas Festival, CityLab asked a group of journalists, professors, and non-profit leaders to predict the future of livable, walkable cities. "If I could have one wish for people who live in cities," says Conservational International's M. Sanjayan, "it's that we find ways to connect back to nature, to remind [people] that nature isn't out there—outside the cities—but right in their homes where they live." Other panelists include Luís Bettencourt, Geoffrey West, Alissa Walker, Jeff Speck, and Jennifer Pahlka. Read more: The Number One Thing We Could Do to Improve City Life, According to Geoffrey West, M. Sanjayan, Jennifer Pahlka, and More - CityLab

1914 - World's First Traffic Light Cleveland OH @WhatWasThere

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

Scandinavian Tourists 'Horrified' By Canada's Car Culture @HuffPostCaLiv

Post by The Huffington Post Canada.

Must-read from @fabulavancouver in @bcbusiness — why Lower Mainland transit matters to all BC

Check out BCB August with fab illo by @OttoSteininger for @fabulavancouver story on Vancouver's traffic nightmare. pic.twitter.com/xk8RF8aw5z
— Catherine Mullaly (@c_mullaly) July 30, 2014

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RT @mattogee: A must-read from @fabulavancouver in @bcbusiness on why Lower Mainland transit matters to all B.C.: http://t.co/xqbzfXLp7n
— NanaimoCommons (@NanaimoCommons) July 31, 2014

From CBC Radio — Ideas with Paul Kennedy Witold Rybczynski: Art We Live In

We love and hate them, but we can't escape them either - we're all obliged to live and work in buildings, and we all have strong feelings about how they look, how they function, and how they affect us.

Witold Rybczynski plays architecture tour guide to explore some big questions: What makes buildings work (or not)? What were the architects thinking? And what do buildings tell us about ourselves, our times and what we do? More at: Art We Live In | Ideas with Paul Kennedy | CBC Radio

From Sustainable Cities Collective: #VisionZero — Traffic Deaths: Sweden: 3/100,000 USA: 11.4/100,000

Photo by the NYC Dept of Transportation / Flickr.

Countries like Sweden have taken ambitious, holistic steps to improve traffic safety and save lives through an initiative called Vision Zero, a road safety framework that asserts that “no loss of life is morally acceptable.” The concept has spread to places such as New York City, where newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio campaigned and has adopted the approach. Both Sweden and New York City’s strategies are advanced for two reasons, the first being that they set clear targets. Research has revealed that setting ambitious road safety targets can help motivate stakeholders to improve road safety. Secondly, these policies shift the responsibility for road safety from only personal actions like wearing seat belts and helmets to a shared responsibility between road users and designers, which means also creating safer pedestrian infrastructure, automated enforcement, and reducing driving speeds. Together, these ideas can drastically change how countries and cities around the globe approach traffic safety. Read more: Urban Road Safety and Overall Goals | Sustainable Cities Collective

Patrick Condon in The Tyee – Vancouver's 'Spot Zoning' Is Corrupting Its Soul

Photo by hradcanska 

Why is Vancouver a place where developments increasingly spark conflicts, where frustrated developers must gamble millions of dollars on projects before knowing if they will meet city approval, and where developer money floods the political system? Is that just the way modern cities operate, or is there something unusual about Vancouver? 

Read more: The Tyee – Vancouver's 'Spot Zoning' Is Corrupting Its Soul

From @LeanUrbanism — Lean Sprawl Repair – Mall Retrofit

The past decade has seen the demise of hundreds of shopping centers and malls. Out of roughly 1,000 enclosed malls in the US, approximately 30% are dead or dying. In places of weak recovery and population loss, malls may languish for years, negatively impacting the surrounding suburban communities.

Malls are sprawl types that are normative and repetitive, and the tools for their repair can be the same. In places of economic and population growth, malls will be retrofitted into urban cores with multiple uses: offices, residential, live-work units, and hotels that will rebalance the existing retail space.

Municipalities, developers and planners need new ways to utilize and adapt such underperforming commercial properties. Having already outlived their lifecycles, these properties can provide inexpensive space for business incubation and/or affordable housing that has become scarce in recent years, as downtowns and inner-city neighborhoods have experienced a redevelopment renaissance. Read more: Lean Sprawl Repair – Mall Retrofit | Lean Urbanism

Helsinki's plan to make car ownership pointless in 10 yrs @guardian

Post by SFU Certificate Program for Community Economic Development.

Big Ideas: How do you fix a city in the 21st century? @TorontoStar Via @PPS_Placemaking

Post by Project for Public Spaces.

ICYMI: Don Cayo in The Sun — Congestion may signify better productivity, not worse @LitmanVTPI

More roads or cheaper-to-use roads — ones without tolls, for example — lead to less productivity, not more, a recent study concludes. If you think this sounds paradoxical, so does the study’s author, Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Institute. But he also offers several reasons why it’s so.

For one thing, decisions to build roads or subsidize them by not charging users tends to come at the expense of other access options, things such as densification so people need not travel so far, or transit that provides more bang for the buck. These kinds of decisions are often based on politics, thus defying efficient market principles and undermining productivity. Read more: Don Cayo: Congestion may signify better productivity, not worse

Fun #dataviz: A Day in the Life of a New York City Taxi. @chris_whong

Fun #dataviz: A Day in the Life of a New York City Taxi. http://t.co/vt68jmloNQ pic.twitter.com/IfSDl68GW2

— Chris Whong (@chris_whong) July 14, 2014

Free Download: 'A General Theory of #Urbanism' @DPZandCo

Free Download: 'A General Theory of #Urbanism' Draft. Feedback encouraged. http://t.co/3y9UTOcZjy #urbandesign #planning #cities
— Duany Plater-Zyberk (@DPZandCo) June 25, 2014

Tweets from Canadian Institute of Planners 2014 Fredericton NB #cip2014

#CIP2014 Tweets

Moving Beyond the Automobile: @Streetfilms documents some fantastic Road Diets

Stroll down to the Rambla del Poblenou... @barcelona_cat

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

@emilymbadger in The Washington Post — An Economic Defense of Old Buildings

Jane Jacobs, a woman akin to the patron saint of urban planners, first argued 50 years ago that healthy neighborhoods need old buildings. Aging, creaky, faded, "charming" buildings. Retired couples and young families need the cheap rent they promise. Small businesses need the cramped offices they contain. Streets need the diversity created not just when different people coexist, but when buildings of varying vintage do, too. "Cities need old buildings so badly," Jacobs wrote in her classic "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," "it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.” More here: An economic defense of old buildings

From Old Urbanist — We Are the 25%: Looking at Street Area PercentagesAnd Surface Parking

Original work: photoLith

Several months ago I posted a chart in which I calculated the proportion of land given over to buildable space, right-of-ways and park space for each of 22 cities, or city neighborhoods.  In response, one commenter suggested that I perform the same exercise with off-street parking included as a separate category.  Although the work of Chris McCahill, which I featured last week, does just this for a number of cities, another commenter directed me to this thread at Skyscraper Page, where a number of people have mapped surface parking lots for several American cities.  I'd like to feature three of those here (which I've further edited to show parking structures and park space), while adding one of my own.  No guarantee of perfect accuracy is given. Red shows surface parking, yellow shows above-ground parking garages, and green shows park space: More at: Old Urbanist: We Are the 25%: Looking at Street Area Percentages and Surface Parking

Terrific infographic shows the benefits of walkable communities @everybodywalk

Terrific infographic from today's CDC report shows the benefits of walkable communities http://t.co/rtFewyq0 pic.twitter.com/WyYA15wH

— Every Body Walk (@everybodywalk) August 7, 2012

De Blasio Signs Traffic Safety Bills, 25 MPH Will Go Into Effect This Fall @StreetsblogNet Via @PPS_Placemaking

Post by Project for Public Spaces.

Badass Democracy: Reclaiming the Public Commons: @CityRepair at @TEDx SantaCruz

Badass Democracy: Reclaiming the Public Commons: Mark Lakeman at TEDxSantaCruz http://t.co/jb1mjpriYz

— City Repair Project (@CityRepair) June 23, 2014

Removing lanes will remove cars, not flow. @JeffSpeckAICP

I can't stress this enough. The number of drivers in Manhattan is a pure function of congestion. Removing lanes will remove cars, not flow.

— Jeff Speck (@JeffSpeckAICP) June 19, 2014

And if you don't understand what I mean, please watch this quick talk on induced demand: http://t.co/ITZgnOLsKH

— Jeff Speck (@JeffSpeckAICP) June 19, 2014

This pattern of development is 1000 yrs of acquired culture knowledge...& we've just thrown it away @clmarohn

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

RT @SprawlRepairMnl: Best cities surprise at every corner. #Sprawl is predictable, repetitive, tiring.

RT @SprawlRepairMnl: Best cities surprise at every corner. #Sprawl is predictable, repetitive, tiring. pic.twitter.com/ovi0VJ0EgF

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) June 15, 2014

Helena Avenue street party. #Toronto, a city of neighbourhoods. @g_meslin

We have an amazing street party on my street, but I have never seen anything like this, @g_meslin pic.twitter.com/we2sMxPQp7 #neighbourhoods

— jennifer keesmaat (@jen_keesmaat) June 15, 2014

Traffic planning is more social science than science — @BrentToderian

When I sometimes ask engineers to explain why great places that don't meet their safety standards actually prove to be safer...1/2 #CNU22

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) June 7, 2014

2/2... the engineers often respond "that's just because people behave differently there." Exactly. #CNU22

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) June 7, 2014

Traffic planning is more social science than science, & to understand mobility in cities better, engineers will need to be more "social."

— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) June 8, 2014

I never get tired of this quote — "It took me 40 years to get rid of my education” — Jan Gehl @citiesforpeople

I never get tired of this quote — "It took me 40 years to get rid of my education” — Jan Gehl @citiesforpeople http://t.co/GO7t3V65pg

— TheSidewalkBallet (@1sidewalkballet) June 6, 2014

Twitter List — Walking, Cycling, Transit

Tweets from https://twitter.com/1sidewalkballet/lists/walking-cycling-transit

From Streetfilms — Parking Craters: The Scourge of American Downtowns

Streetsblog's Angie Schmitt popularized the term "parking crater," and she explains it simply: A parking crater is "a depression in the middle of an urban area formed by the absence of buildings."

Different types of "meteors" left behind parking craters in the 20th Century -- sprawl subsidies, the erosion of manufacturing, highway building. Whatever the cause, parking craters absolutely destroy sections of downtowns and make the environment more inhospitable and unattractive for people. In these areas, there is virtually no street life. In warm weather the asphalt makes the air more oppressive. It's hell on earth. It's a parking crater.Parking Craters: Scourge of American Downtowns from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

The Congress for the New Urbanism — #CNU22 Buffalo NY June 4 - 7

Tweets about "#CNU22"

City-owned golf courses overlaid on the West End @thecitylab

For context. City-owned golf courses overlaid on the West End, a neighbourhood with a population of about 45,000. pic.twitter.com/YtJtOr3q8M

— citylab (@thecitylab) April 22, 2014

NYC Museum Mile— June 10 a traffic-free Fifth Avenue free admission at 9 museums @Guggenheim

Post by The Sidewalk Ballet.

Federation of Cdn Municipalities Conference Live tweets #FCMycm @FCM_online

Tweets about "#FCMycm "

Twitter List — Architecture, Design

Tweets from https://twitter.com/1sidewalkballet/lists/architecture-design

Twitter List — Global city bloggers From @guardiancities

Tweets from https://twitter.com/guardiancities/lists/global-city-bloggers