Urban Planning Thread

[saysmydoctor]

Hey, it's a rad topic and fun to read because of all the nifty pictures.

Some blogs to follow:

Streetsblog (http://www.streetsblog.org/)
Streetsblog DC (http://dc.streetsblog.org/)
Streetsblog SF (http://sf.streetsblog.org/)
Infrastructurist (http://www.infrastructurist.com/)
Urban Omnibus (http://urbanomnibus.net/)
Good (http://www.good.is/)

[zachff]

Urban sprawl sucks so hard.

[fredrico0012]

Says the guy from the city.

[zachff]

Says the guy from the city.
Good one bro

[<*)))><]

Isn't this what Obama did before running the country?

[loveisdead]

Isn't this what Obama did before running the country?

He was a community organizer. Sorta kinda like this.

[xshady121]

This thread reminds me how much I want a career dealing with urban planning.

[<*)))><]

Okay I think it is hard to argue that this is bad. Maybe I should take a shot at it?

[xshady121]

Well it could be argued that the benefits of sprawl outweigh the cons.

[saysmydoctor]

Says the guy from the city.
No.
Urban sprawl sucks so hard.
Urban =/= suburbs
Well it could be argued that the benefits of sprawl outweigh the cons.
Only if you aren't paying attention.

[StartAngry&Mad]

Well it could be argued that the benefits of sprawl outweigh the cons.
I'm very curious to hear that argument, Go!

[StartAngry&Mad]

Hey, it's a rad topic and fun to read because of all the nifty pictures.

Some blogs to follow:

Streetsblog (http://www.streetsblog.org/)
Streetsblog DC (http://dc.streetsblog.org/)
Streetsblog SF (http://sf.streetsblog.org/)
Infrastructurist (http://www.infrastructurist.com/)
Urban Omnibus (http://urbanomnibus.net/)
Good (http://www.good.is/)
Thanks for the blog links man, I've been wanting to follow some new ones and Infrastructurist is just the kind of thing I've been looking for

[saysmydoctor]

Thanks for the blog links man, I've been wanting to follow some new ones and Infrastructurist is just the kind of thing I've been looking for
I love it.

I should note, I listed Good not because it talks bare bones wonkish policy, but rather community activism and participation. And it talks more than about streets, highways, bicycle lanes, etc. Community gardens, block parties, parks, libraries, post offices--these are important to consider in planning.

[StartAngry&Mad]

I love it.

I should note, I listed Good not because it talks bare bones wonkish policy, but rather community activism and participation. And it talks more than about streets, highways, bicycle lanes, etc. Community gardens, block parties, parks, libraries, post offices--these are important to consider in planning.
I hear ya, I just finished my undergrad in Urban Planning & Land Development and am moving to England to do my masters in Transportation Planning, so I definitely recognize the holistic approach planners should be taking when assessing projects. I realized I really didn't didn't do enough reading during my undergrad, especially recreationally to immerse myself in the industry, and there're so many good blogs out there nowadays.

[.invisible ink.]

this thread is right up my alley. i'm a fan of innovative city planning. Are you familiar with Curitiba, Brazil? I spent a summer studying environmental sustainability there in college - it's the most environmentally well-designed city in the world.

check it out: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/brazil1203/

swQTTG3NcYY

[xshady121]

It's not an argument I subscribe to. I'm just saying, it can be reasonably argued.

[saysmydoctor]

It's not an argument I subscribe to. I'm just saying, it can be reasonably argued.
Not really.

The very nature of suburban sprawl is wasteful. From the use of street hierarchy to these planned communities which waste land and stretch resources....it's stretched out resources thin.

[.invisible ink.]

Well it could be argued that the benefits of sprawl outweigh the cons.

who exactly argues this? i'd love to see this cited because it sounds ridiculous.

[saysmydoctor]

Density reconsidered: (http://www.urbanophile.com/2010/04/15/density-reconsidered/)


I’m a fan of contextually appropriate density in urban areas. If you don’t have sufficient population and income density, you can’t support urban neighborhood retail; if you can’t support neighborhood urban retail, you don’t have any real walkability; if you don’t have walkability, you are car dependent; if you are car dependent, then you are in direct competition with the suburbs; if you are in direct competition with the suburbs, you are probably going to lose. You can’t have a walkable neighborhood if there is not, in fact, anything to walk to, no matter how many sidewalks you put in.


But other benefits touted for density may not be as important in some cities. In the “spiky world” geography of globalization, high value enterprises are said to require dense networks and intense, face to face interactions. The best description of this I’ve seen is the notion that “people in global cities like to have lunch.” It’s an important part of how information and ideas spread. That’s why we increasingly see certain types of activities focused in the cores of cities like New York, Chicago, and Boston. Their high densities allow easy, frequent, face to face interactions.


This need for high density interaction environments might seem to work against lower density cities that sprawl all over the place. But does it always?


I’m not so sure. For smaller cities – say those with metro areas around two million or less – I’m not sure a lack of a huge, packed, downtown core is as critical to those types of interactions.

[saysmydoctor]

Electric cars? Need a smarter grid. (http://www.fastcompany.com/1633874/what-will-an-electric-vehicle-ready-smart-grid-infrastructure-look-like)
http://dc.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/us__en_us__energy__electric_cars_ch art2__710x300.gif

[saysmydoctor]

http://www.streetsblog.org/2010/05/02/real-time-and-on-line-transit-information-for-a-connected-region/
"When the arrival times of buses and trains are not known to travelers waiting to board them, the time spent waiting while not knowing how long the wait will last is typically perceived to be from two to two and half times the actual wait time. Informing transit travelers at a bus stop or a train station of the expected arrival time of a bus or a train will go a long way in bringing this perception in line with the actual wait time. Achieving this goal will reduce transit travel anxiety, will increase a traveler's propensity to use transit, and will reduce private vehicle usage in the long run."

Sounds like an interesting symposium for any transit-minded posters from NYC.

[saysmydoctor]

XoVXoB6x3vM&feature=player_embedded

[saysmydoctor]

http://streetsblog.net/2010/05/10/brookings-report-bright-flight-transforming-cities-and-suburbs/
White flight reversal.

[saysmydoctor]

Improvements and things to come from CDTA (Capital Region transit authority).
(http://blog.timesunion.com/business/cdta-unveils-latest-technology-to-improve-service/20199/#more-20199)

[.invisible ink.]

http://consumerist.com/2010/06/cul-de-sacs-are-making-us-fat.html

Short URL: http://con.st/10008115 |
Cul-de-sacs Are Making Us Fat (http://consumerist.com/2010/06/cul-de-sacs-are-making-us-fat.html)

http://consumerist.com/seattleneighbs.jpg (Urban Design 4 Health)

Are the disconnected cul-de-sacs so popular in suburban development actually strangling their communities?
These striking images compare the walkability of two Seattle neighborhoods. The blue lines are how far a pedestrian could go walking from the red dot at the center.

At left is Woodinville, a typical suburban arterial jumble with no walkable areas. At right is Ballard, with much easier pedestrian access between points and to food, goods, and services. Ballard's walkable footprint is much larger.

New research published in the Harvard Business Review (http://hbr.org/2010/05/back-to-the-city/sb1/) finds those living in more walkable areas travel 26% fewer miles by car. As walkability increases, so does walking and biking, while pollution and fatness decrease.

The problem, The Seattle Transit Blog argues (http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/04/14/is-the-problem-auto-dependency-or-suburbia/), is that the government, "historically let developers do nearly anything with cheap land." "We all know what it’s like to have to get in your car to go to the Baskin Robbins in the next strip mall over. Is this an example of freedom? Not socio-economically, for certain. Not if you prefer to walk than drive. And certainly this lack of oversight is not the best choice for the planet."

The Unintended Consequences of Cul-de-sacs (http://hbr.org/2010/05/back-to-the-city/sb1) [Harvard Business Review]
The Cul-de-Sac Ban (http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#politics_policy-2) [NYT Magazine]
How Cul-de-Sacs Are Killing Your Community (http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/05/07/how-cul-de-sacs-are-killing-your-community/) [Infastructurist]
The Damaging Effect of Cul-de-sacs on Walkability (http://seattletransitblog.com/2010/06/22/the-damaging-effect-of-cul-de-sacs-on-walkability/) [Seattle Transit Blog]
Is the Problem Auto-Dependency or Suburbia? (http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/04/14/is-the-problem-auto-dependency-or-suburbia/) [Seattle Transit Blog]

[.invisible ink.]

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/will-obamas-new-walking-and-biking-initiatives-entice-americans-out-of-their-cars.html

Will Obama's New Walking and Biking Initiatives Entice Americans Out of Their Cars?

The Obama Administration to increase spending on walking and biking projects by $1.2 billion.
By Sara Novak (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/author/sara-novak/) | Sun Jun 20, 2010 08:00

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/travel-outdoors/biking-image.jpg
READ MORE about:
Non-Car Transportation (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tag/Non-Car%20Transportation)



It was more than a bit disconcerting when Mary Peters, transportation secretary under Bush stated that biking and walking (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/calculate-your-neighborhoods-w.html) "really are not transportation," saying they had no place in federal transportation policy. Talk about out of touch. And she backed up her perspective by spending the same amount of money on biking and walking (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/forget-gym-walk.html) projects as we had nearly 20 years ago. Obama will increase money spent on walking and biking projects from $600 million to $1.2 billion.

As a walker and biker in South Carolina, a part of the country where walking and biking are far from the norm, I constantly feel like my life is endangered. We are in desperate need of adequate biking and walking paths so more and more people can see fit to use non-car modes of transportation. The weather in the South is mild the majority of the year, perfect for walking and biking, but we need the infrastructure first before people will feel safe enough to venture out.

According to the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/7834334/Obama-administration-spends-1.2-billion-on-cycling-and-walking-initiatives.html), the new policy is an extension of the Obama administration's livability initiative, which regards the creation of non-car transportation including buses, streetcars, and trains, as well as biking and walking as central to solving the nation's transportation woes.

The U.S. Census Bureau found in 2008 close to 800,000 people nationwide used the bike (http://www.daytondailynews.com/ohio-recreation/biking/number-of-people-biking-to-work-up-but-still-rare-708734.html) as a primary means of transportation to work. That was an increase of 61 percent, or almost 300,000 people since 2000. Still, biking (http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/commute-to-work-by-bike.html) to work is relatively rare, at about 0.5 percent of total commuting. We can do much better."Americans want and need safe alternatives to driving," Ray LaHood, transportation secretary under Obama, said in a statement. "By making biking and walking safer and more accessible, we'll be able to provide Americans with more choices and help foster more active, liveable communities."

[samsara]

This is interesting but I know nothing about it since I live in the middle of nowhere.

[Machu505]

The terrain of my area makes large-scale grid-style suburbs a really difficult goal to pull off.

[saysmydoctor]

I'm not saying grid-pattern is the way to go (though, it is seemingly the most effective), but street hierarchy definitely isn't. It's actually financially more of a burden.

[saysmydoctor]

Libertarians: bad for infrastructure.
(http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/08/25/libertarians-are-wrong-about-infrastructure-news-at-11/)

[mattyrocks]

this topic is actually quite interesting.

[mattyrocks]

and that brooklyn grange video is awesome.

[saysmydoctor]

Sudan: let's make animal-shaped cities.
(http://www.infrastructurist.com/2010/08/26/the-latest-in-sudanese-urban-planning-cities-shaped-like-animals/)

[Sunken In]

Well it could be argued that the benefits of sprawl outweigh the cons.


It could be argued, but that doesn't mean those arguements would make sense or be correct.

Urban sprawl isn't solving any problems, it's just feeding our car-dependant lifestyles and our unchecked consumerism.

I'd like to hear one single benefit of urban sprawl.

[the sky below]

interesting topic.

my city is absolutely fucked when it comes to planning. our latest 30-year-plan for the city has come under harsh criticism because it calls for 18 "new communities" along the fringes of the city over the next 20 years. something like 85,000 new homes. yet there's nothing concrete about revitalizing our downtown with more mixed-use and residential buildings. it's frustrating.


and just throwing in a couple pictures here that i stumbled upon last night... just interesting to see the vast differences in planning styles:

Suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark
http://justpaste.it/files/justpaste/image5.jpg

Denver, USA
http://justpaste.it/files/justpaste/image11.jpg

Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa
http://justpaste.it/files/justpaste/image15.jpg

Freeways in Los Angeles, USA
http://justpaste.it/files/justpaste/image34.jpg

[saysmydoctor]

Chicago's Loop U is ahead of the curve. (http://www.urbanophile.com/2010/08/29/urban-universities-done-right-chicagos-loop-u/)

Based on my experiences here in Albany, I'd say the author is right.

[saysmydoctor]

$20 billion rapid transit Grand Paris network opens for debate this week.
(http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/09/02/stations-picked-huge-automated-transit-project-for-paris-is-closer-to-realization/)

[saysmydoctor]

Rail appears to encourage non-automobile commuting.
(http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/10/13/transit-mode-share-trends-looking-steady-rail-appears-to-encourage-non-automobile-commutes/)

[Love As Arson]

David Harvey, "Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference"

This book engages with the politics of social and environmental justice, and seeks new ways to think about the future of urbanization in the twenty-first century. It establishes foundational concepts for understanding how space, time, place and nature - the material frames of daily life - are constituted and represented through social practices, not as separate elements but in relation to each other. It describes how geographical differences are produced, and shows how they then become fundamental to the exploration of political, economic and ecological alternatives to contemporary life.

The book is divided into four parts. Part I describes the problematic nature of action and analysis at different scales of time and space, and introduces the reader to the modes of dialectical thinking and discourse which are used throughout the remainder of the work. Part II examines how "nature" and "environment" have been understood and valued in relation to processes of social change and seeks, from this basis, to make sense of contemporary environmental issues.

Part III, is a wide-ranging discussion of history, geography and culture, explores the meaning of the social "production" of space and time, and clarifies problems related to "otherness" and "difference". The final part of the book deploys the foundational arguments the author has established to consider contemporary problems of social justice that have resulted from recent changes in geographical divisions of labor, in the environment, and in the pace and quality of urbanization.

Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference speaks to a wide readership of students of social, cultural and spatial theory and of the dynamics of contemporary life. It is a convincing demonstration that it is both possible and necessary to value difference and to seek a just social order.
http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/science_books/philosophy/Justice_Nature_and_the_Geography_of _Difference.html

There Goes The Neighbourhood: Redfern and the Politics of Urban Space

The question of what kind of city we want cannot be divorced from that of what kind of social ties, relationship to nature, lifestyles, technologies and aesthetic values we desire. The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city. It is, moreover, a common rather than an individual right since this transformation inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power to reshape the processes of urbanization. The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is, I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights - David Harvey, The Right to the City There Goes the Neighbourhood was the ironic chorus to the 1992 Body Count song which lamented the invasion of the once poor (and Black) into the neighbourhood of the rich (and white). But an alternative destruction of “The Neighbourhood” can happen when the poor get pushed out of their local community as part of the process of gentrification. This issue is particularly relevant for the suburb of Redfern, an inner city suburb of Sydney which has been home for a large working class and Indigenous community, and which is undergoing a process of rapid development and change.
http://avaxhome.ws/ebooks/Politics_Sociology/9780980547.html