60 Years of Urban Change: Midwest – striking before and after aerial photos of nine midwestern cities show the profound effect highways and other land clearance projects of the mid-1950s have had in changing the texture of these downtowns over the last 50 years. The Institute of Quality Communities at …
Bauwelt 24:2014 Stadt und Auto – this June 27, 2014 issue of the German weekly Bauwelt has good articles about cars in cities. Even if you’re German-language-challenged, it’s worth a look for the photos and illustrations of a variety of approaches to harmonizing the tangle of cars, buses, pedestrians, and bicyclists in …
Frame #93 – July / Aug 2013 issue of this Dutch design magazine (text in English) features the Rijksmuseum, recently reopened after a ten-year closure for extensive renovations and restorations. One of the challenges faced by Cruz y Ortiz, the Spanish architecture firm responsible for the rebuilding …
Center for Active Design: Resources – links to design guidelines aimed at architects, urban designers, planners, policy makers, communities, developers, and educators wishing to promote health “through the design of buildings, streets, and neighborhoods.” The original publication Active Design Guidelines has been followed with four supplements: Promoting Safety …
The Atlantic Cities often covers how cities and urban areas around the world accommodate bicycle traffic. Here are three recent posts: 10 Brilliant Pieces of Bike Infrastructure – examples, many with clips, from ten cities in Europe, China, and the U.S. A Real-Time Bike-Share Map for the Entire World – …
Circular bicycle bridge hovers over busy highway – walkers and bicyclists in the Dutch city of Eindhoven have a great way to cross a major intersection, via this wonderful floating bridge designed by ipv Delft. You get a taste of it in the 1-min clip accompanying the post and also …
Instructional Video of the Day: How to Build Skyscrapers Over Moving Trains – 2:46 min video shows method of construction to be used by ‘mega-developer’ Brookfield in Manhattan West. The company intends to develop two 60-story towers without interrupting train traffic, though a dozen tracks connecting Penn Station to …
Happy 150th birthday to the world’s oldest underground train system. Learn more at Transport for London. The London Transport Museum has a timeline, the London Evening Standard has stories from 150 Londoners, the BBC features stamps and related stories, MSN News lists things you didn’t know about the Underground, Huffington Post has a collection …
The Secrets Of Making Time Fly While You Wait – an NPR story about how people hate waiting in lines and how they occupy that time to make it seem to go quicker. It also highlights how designers can play a role in relieving the accompanying boredom and/or frustration. …
If you’re an urban planner or if you’re interested in how cities work, check out the magazine The Urbanist from the San Francisco Urban Planning and Research Association (SPUR). The focus is on “good planning and good government in the San Francisco Bay Area” but the issues addressed, the …
The Architectural Spectacle That Is Munich’s Metro – interview with Nick Frank, an art director who’s taken striking photos of Munich’s subway stations. He says the best time to find them without people is early Sunday mornings. We caught up with Frank to discuss the architecture of his architectural shots.
Local Transportation Funding Measures Voted on Across the U.S. – post includes a table of results of recent votes in 11 U.S. states on a variety of issues touching on transportation. The data is from the Center for Transportation Excellence. Between 2000 and mid-2012, there have been approximately 350 municipal, county, …
Tall building specialists reveal concept for 1.3 sq km satellite city outside Chengdu – WAN post about “dense vertical city that acknowledges and in fact embraces the surrounding landscape” just outside of the Chinese city of Chengdu. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture envision it as very pedestrian-friendly, with …
Please Bring This to America: Heated Bike Lanes – It wasn’t until I saw the photo that I understood why this would be desirable. In the Netherlands they’re trying to figure out how to keep people using bikes year-round. The man behind the proposal, Marcel Boerefijn, said there would be savings …