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Curated by:
Lisa Drogin | a University of Michigan Urban and Regional Planning Graduate Student studying Physical Planning, Urban Design, and Neighborhood Development. //
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via GOOD | Regional Planning Is the New City Planning
“The ripple effects of a new downtown skyscraper or suburban development are now felt far beyond any one neighborhood or even one city, extending to surrounding counties and metro areas. An ideological shift is underway as we understand the interconnectedness of the communities in which we live. Collectively, we’re rethinking our society’s developmental future.
Cue regional planning. It’s not a new concept, but it’s quickly gaining in popularity as cities learn the importance of working together to build sustainable foundations for growth.
For example, San Diego recently adopted the first Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS) as part of its larger Regional Transportation Plan. While the plan accounts for a long-range vision for the logistic development of the area’s transport and travel infrastructure, the SCS component adds a necessary emphasis on the environmental impact of each decision.
Any good relationship, however, requires negotiation. Multiple cities may comprise a region, and even though their fates are intertwined, it’s only natural that each would want to advocate for privileges and protections for its own citizens. Regional planning is a way to productively engage in that negotiation, addressing issues that transcend city limits and involve shared resources—whether natural, built, or human.”

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via New York Times | I.H.T. Special Report on Smart Cities: Hip Cities That Think About How They Work
“The story of young people, full of ambition, energy, skill and talent, moving to enticing cities that call to them like a siren’s song is as old as modern civilization. And in a world where national borders are easier to traverse, where more countries are joining the prosperous global middle class and where the cost of a one-way plane ticket is more affordable, young professionals probably have more cities to choose from than ever before.

Our pick of cities that are, in a phrase, both great and good…”

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Don’t focus on single buildings so much as fabric. If fabric is lost, we have a few heroic buildings in large parking lots.

— Steve Mouzon (via impracticalinconceivableabsurd)

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via GOOD | New York Turns the Spotlight on North Brooklyn’s Creative Communities
“Love them or hate them, it’s undeniable that the North Brooklyn neighborhoods Williamsburg and Greenpoint have served as a laboratory of creativity for longer than a decade. Urban activists in the trendy enclaves have created models for more collaborative, locally focused economies, mapping out a blueprint for a sustainable approach to urban life. Amplify Brooklyn, an exhibit and event series officially opening tonight, will explore the work and ideas generated in those neighborhoods. Workshops will showcase organizations like Green Map System, which uses mapping to promote sustainable community development, and ioby, a social media and fundraising site for activists that’s debuting a new toolkit for neighborhood problems…
The exhibit is part of a two-year initiative called Amplifying Creative Communities, which investigated Manhattan’ Lower East Side last year before shifting the focus across the East River for this year’s Amplify Brooklyn. Graduate students and faculty affiliated with Parsons’ Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Lab interviewed leaders from 30 different community organizations about socially innovative solutions to urban problems, from community gardening to alternative transportation….”

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via GOOD | Goodbye, Sidewalks: London Planners Break Down Boundaries Between Cars and Pedestrians

“Advocates for livable streets usually push for more sidewalks and bike lanes to protect pedestrians and cyclists from cars. Division is seen as the key to safety and participation. But a new project in London questions the idea of barriers to begin with, envisioning a “shared space” for the intermingling of vehicles and walkers. It may seem chaotic, but planners believe it could foster a more accessible, safer, pedestrian-friendlier thoroughfare by forcing everyone to slow down and be aware of who’s on the road.

Exhibition Road in London—a half-mile strip in the city’s cultural heart that draws 11 million visitors each year to its numerous museums and cultural institutions—will reopen next month without clear lane markers or curbs … Instead, visual and textural cues let the street’s users know how to operate. The pavement is styled with strips of lighter granite crosshatched against a black backdrop, an elegant and leisurely look that hints at paths for pedestrians to cross. Installing corduroy “warning tactile paving” and drainage covers will indicate to vision-impaired pedestrians where the area for cars begins, while removing curbs will make it easier for wheelchairs to navigate the area.”

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chicagourbangarden:

Part of green roof at Museum of Science and Industry Smart Home

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smartercities:

Retrofuturism, Renewables, Colonisation and Endless Cities – Four Visions of the Future | This Big City
What are the fundamental trends of our age? In central London on November the 25th and 26th, thirty forward-thinking minds will attempt to address this topic at the iq2 if conference. This Big City contributor Rachel Armstrong will be one of the speakers, all 30 of whom will also be exploring this (massive) question: how will our homes, lives and cities be transformed by an urbanised, environmentally conscious and technologically empowered humanity?
To give you some kind of idea of what to expect, we’ve selected four videos from iq2 if’s youtube channel, each of which features a different speaker and a different future-thinking idea (and if you’re tempted to go, the guys at iq2 are giving This Big City readers a massive discount on ticket prices – read on for details):

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via Next America City | A Parking Garage Becomes Hip for a Day
“Can a parking garage do more for a community than simply provide parking spaces? The Hipp Deck, a temporary use intervention recently undertaken in Cleveland, Ohio responded to that question with a resounding ‘Yes!’ An ordinary downtown parking garage was temporarily transformed into a lively public outdoor performance venue, complete with friendly elevator operators, lawn seating, local food concession stands and a fountain pond growing lettuce…
Parking infrastructure takes up a significant amount of space in many cities and parking spots often sit vacant outside of peak periods of demand. Alternative programming in off-peak hours can maximize the financial and cultural returns on parking facilities and enliven an otherwise underutilized resource.
The Hipp Deck embodied a compelling vision for Cleveland’s parking infrastructure; a hybrid landscape, which recognizes the reality of parking demands, but also engages the desires of residents. Cars avoid the uncovered top level of parking decks, but people love the view! Sloped decks also work great for theater seating. We hope this exciting people-centered vision for the future of our ever-present parking infrastructure will help inspire the collective acts of our fellow artists, activists and designers.”

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San Francisco has created a quick way to convert a parking space or two into pleasant micro parks that the community picks and maintains.
via Crosscut | Parklets: a great idea for Seattle to steal
“Originally launched in 2010, San Francisco’s Public Parklet program is part of the Pavement to Parks effort started under Mayor Gavin Newsom. The goal is to create interesting neighborhood spaces in thoughtful, non-traditional ways. The idea of the Public Parklet is to convert a parking space or two into a pleasant micro park with seating, landscaping, and community support. Parklets are intended to provide space for people to sit and relax and enjoy the city around them.”

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city cooperative - via Grist | Can we turn mining pits into underground cities?
“Architect Matthew Fromboluti designed this inverted skyscraper to make use of abandoned open-pit mining operations in Bisbee, Ariz. The 900-foot underground building (maybe we should call it a mantle-scraper?) wouldn’t just be for residences — it would comprise an entire self-sufficient subterranean city, including crops fed by skylights.”

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San Francisco Neighborhoods

catabolicmystic:

Via Calcium75

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via New York Times - Rescued by Design
A painting project has brought art to the Santa Marta favela in Rio de Janeiro. | “Design With the Other 90 Percent: Cities,” a show organized by the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, shows how the problems of millions of the world’s poorest people are being addressed.

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incorporating green space

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In great cities, spaces as well as places are designed and built: walking, witnessing, being in public, are as much part of the design and purpose as is being inside to eat, sleep, make shoes or love or music. The word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organized around citizenship — around participation in public life.

— Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking (via yourdialog)

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