UrbanDesign

Proposed zoning code update draws business objections: Anchorage | adn.com

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:21:40 -0500

Proposed zoning code update draws business objections: Anchorage | adn.com

Valdivia, Chile

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:04:44 -0500

Valdivia, Chile

Active Design Guidelines

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 12:15:52 -0500

Active Design Guidelines:

“In the 19th and early 20th centuries, architects and urban reformers helped to defeat infectious diseases, such as cholera and tuberculosis, by improving design of buildings, streets, neighborhoods, clean water systems and parks. In the 21st century, designers can again play a crucial role in combating the most rapidly growing public health epidemics of our time: obesity and its impact on related chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Today, physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are second only to tobacco use as the main causes of premature death in the United States. A growing body of research suggests that evidence-based architectural and urban design strategies can increase regular physical activity and healthy eating.

The Active Design Guidelines provides architects and urban designers with a manual of strategies for creating healthier buildings, streets and urban spaces, based on the latest academic research and best practices in the field. The Guidelines includes:

Urban design strategies for creating neighborhoods, streets and outdoor spaces that encourage walking, bicycling and active transportation and recreation.

Building design strategies for promoting active living where we work, live and play—for example, through the placement and design of stairs, elevators and indoor and outdoor spaces.

Discussion of synergies between active design and sustainable design initiatives such as LEED and PlaNYC.”

PlaceEconomics Blog: Save America's Treasures Update

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:54:01 -0500

PlaceEconomics Blog: Save America's Treasures Update

American Suburbia v. the Planet

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:43:00 -0500

American Suburbia v. the Planet:

“The reason our houses are so big (and inefficient), he says, is because we have eliminated a healthy civic life. We build homes with giant foyers because we have no public squares. We need media rooms because it’s not easy or pleasant to drive to a multiplex theater, cross a parking lot through an ocean of cars, and pay a fortune for popcorn. We build bars in our basements because there are no neighborhood pubs. We have giant refrigerators and ever-growing storage needs because shopping is both far away and unpleasant (hello, Costco). The result? We heat and air-condition unused rooms in oversized unpleasant houses. And because our home bars and foyers are empty and our media experiences private, we’re lonely, to boot.”

Migration: Geographies In Conflict | Newgeography.com

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:36:22 -0500

Migration: Geographies In Conflict | Newgeography.com

9 Great Streets Around the World | Project for Public Spaces (PPS)

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:27:51 -0500

9 Great Streets Around the World | Project for Public Spaces (PPS)

Urbanizing the Mojave: Places: Design Observer

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:28:05 -0500

Urbanizing the Mojave: Places: Design Observer

Houses of the Future “In the absence of strong central...

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:45:00 -0400

Houses of the Future

“In the absence of strong central leadership, the rebuilding has atomized into a series of independent neighborhood projects. And this has turned New Orleans—moist, hot, with a fecund substrate that seems to allow almost anything to propagate—into something of a petri dish for ideas about housing and urban life.”

Inspiration from Europe

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:55:00 -0400

Inspiration from Europe

Watershed Planning

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 10:50:12 -0400

Watershed Planning:

The New York Department of State, in partnership with the Department of Environmental Conservation, prepared a watershed planning multimedia informational package to meet the growing demand for assistance in watershed planning.