April 18, 2006
Award for Kid-Healthy Communities
The American Public Health Assocation recognized five communities that are designed with the health of children in mind:
- Riverside County,CA
- Highlands' Garden Village in Denver, Colorado
- Centennial Place in Atlanta, Georgia
- Delaware County, Ohio
- Winchester Greens in Richmond, Virginia
American Public Health Association Blue Ribbon Case Studies
February 16, 2006
Liverpool Kids and Walkability
The City of Liverpool worked with local children to map raod safety hazards between residences and schools. Maps of the results and a film made by the students are on display in the Maritime Museum, and the city council has allocated funding to deal with many of the safety hazards noted by the children.
Liverpool Kids have it all mapped out
school facilities, urban design
January 31, 2006
Criminalizing Homelessness
The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty published a report in January, 2006, on trends in policies regarding homelessness.
Report: A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities
class, economic development, urban design
January 25, 2006
Photographer Olivo Barbieri
An aqueduct on the periphery of Rome
Metropolis is running an article on Italian photographer Olivo Barbieri, an artist who manages to make urban aerials appear like models or animations of cities rather than real places. Thanks to BLDGBLOG and The Map Room for the links...
architecture, photographs, urban design
December 06, 2005
Photos: Redwood City
Warning: 400 photos in this set and many of them are repetitive. Redwood City is not the most aesthetically appealing site (although, who can knock a beautiful Longs Drugs or Albertsons, really)... but it has provided plenty of opportunities for urban design studio projects.
UD studio, photographs, urban design
November 01, 2005
We're Presenting in Emeryville
My urban design studio is presenting tonight to Emeryville's City Council.
Emeryville City Council Study Session Agenda
Family Affordable Housing and a Charter Elementary School
Built on a 5-acre block abandoned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Tierra del Sol apartments and school marks a first in the San Fernando Valley and in California: it blends affordable, five-bedroom apartments with a charter school for grades K-5.
School-House Project Comes to Fruition
community and housing development, school facilities, urban design
October 10, 2005
Crissy Field Marsh Expansion Study
Notes from a report on expansion of Crissy Field by Phillip Williams & Associates, Ltd. in 2004.
Crissy Field Marsh Expansion Study Notes on executive summary in the extended . . .
Continue reading "Crissy Field Marsh Expansion Study"
September 28, 2005
NYC's Academy of Urban Planning
An offspring of Gates and the New Century High Schools initiative in New York, the Academy of Urban Planning is a small high school within a high school that opened in 2003. There will be a special on MTV this Thursday, September 29th at 10:30pm about students' redesign of the school cafeteria.
Millenium Villages and the Urban Village Task Force
A UK report via the Office of the Prime Minister on sustainable urban villages...
In March 1999 the DETR commissioned action research into the Millennium Villages initiative and its contribution to sustainable development, and to stimulate debate about the creation of sustainable communities. The project had key aims to:
- support the development of sustainable communities in a wide range of contexts, including local housing and regeneration programmes in urban areas, small towns and rural areas; and
- propose a framework to facilitate the subsequent evaluation of the Millennium Villages initiative and to draw out any transferable lessons which could be fed back into their current development.
Millennium villages and sustainable communities
3D Sketchup
Trying out the free trial version of 3D Sketchup right now - you can scan a hand drawing or use building footprints and generate volumes. There are also options for trees, lights, street furniture, surfacing, etc.
Emeryville's Center for Community Life
Emeryville's proposed Center for Community Life is a partnership between the city and the school district to create a new focal point for the city at the current site of the Emeryville Middle/High School and an existing Caltrans depot.
community and housing development, school facilities, urban design
Dyett & Bhatia's San Diego Plan
Urban design firm Dyett & Bhatia has prepared a plan update for downtown San Diego that is currently being reviewed by several organizations for adoption. This comprehensive plan divides the downtown into 9 neighborhood centers, 8 of which are new, with specific zoning, massing, and design regulations for each neighborhood. There is a detailed web site for the plan with three dimensional flyover animations of projected construction, parks, etc. The plan also includes capping the freeway that divides downtown from Balboa Park with pedestrian freindly green space.
September 20, 2005
Book: Public Spaces - Urban Places
Carmona, Matthew et. al., Public Places - Urban Spaces, Oxford: Architectural Press, 2003.
A basic review of urban design with a focus on current practice, including the development process.
Notes in the extended...
Continue reading "Book: Public Spaces - Urban Places"
June 28, 2005
Article: Mercy Housing's Carter Terrace in Vis Valley
Mercy Housing's Carter Terrace in Visitacion Valley has 101 affordable units and a waiting list of 3,000...
Visitacion Valley Complex Shows How to Add New Homes to Old Cities
Air Force Base Redevelopment
In Denver, the closed Lowry Air Force base has been redeveloped and now boasts a business district, over 3,000 homes, and new schools. Snags still exist regarding environmental cleanup and a nearby community college, but overall the project appears to be thriving. Lowry has an extensive website promoting immigration through interactive maps depicting schools, housing complexes, business areas, and even highlighting affordable housing. Lowry is especially interesting in light of current redevelopment plans for Treasure Island in SF...
On Grounds of Old Base, a New Community is Born
June 24, 2005
I *Heart* Google
Google's latest mapping scheme involves driving around with laser mounted trucks to measure buildings in major urban areas and create realistic 3D maps. Now let's just hope they don't print the word "google" over and over in the background like they did with their arials.
June 21, 2005
Routledge's Urban Reader Series
The City Reader is already on my shelf, but it'd be nice to get my hands on Routledge's other Urban Readers, including:
June 16, 2005
New Urbanism Spreading in Arizona, but with Critics
The New Urbanists have a habit of creating charming, walkable communities where wealthy people live (but commute out for work) and low-income workers commute in for service positions: the traditional neighborhood in the New Urbanist unwritten vision includes hired maids, landscapers, and other low-wage jobs.
So far, the New Urbanism concepts have proved popular with buyers. They are paying from $300,000 in Verrado to well over $2 million at the Parks at Silverleaf. Most observers believe other builders will follow suit with more traditional neighborhood designs. But New Urbanism has its critics. They say the communities are elitist and increase sprawl, and residents are still dependent on cars to commute to work.
New Valley alleys are the cat's meow
June 15, 2005
L.A. 16 Acre Civic Park
The article mentions affordable housing, but not how much.... and why is a commercial development venture including housing, retail, and a hotel billed under the title of park?
A 16-acre civic park stretching from City Hall to the Los Angeles Music Center would serve as the centerpiece of a downtown redevelopment project approved by city and county officials late last month.
Projected to cost $ 1.8 billion and mainly financed with private funds, the Grand Avenue project calls for building five new skyscrapers to house a boutique hotel, condominiums, and affordable housing, and surrounding them with retail shops, a supermarket, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
L.A. Getting the Ball Rolling on 16-Acre Civic Park Project
land use, real estate, urban design
June 02, 2005
Teresa Caldeira's "Fortified Enclaves: The New Urban Segregation"
For James' Holston's Cities and Citizenship, Caldeira describes the relationship between modernist design aesthetics and the power of defensible design to segregate by social class. She details development in Sao Paulo, Paris, and L.A., often referencing Sassen's work, as well.
Notes in the extended...
Continue reading "Teresa Caldeira's "Fortified Enclaves: The New Urban Segregation""
May 16, 2005
Article: Students Try Their Hand at Urban Design
Y-Plan made the Oakland Tribune yesterday! Congratulations Team Holloway, and, of course, Team Smith -- it was a long semester, but we made it. The next big question is sustainability; how will students stay involved with the station and see the design ideas to fruition in a decade?
Students Try Their Hand at Urban Design
central station, education, historic preservation, planning articles, urban design
May 06, 2005
Article: Democracy Takes Command
Harvard Design Magazine takes a look at the changing role of "citizen planners" . . . how has the community development process changed over time, and where is it headed?
For designers who would be urbanists, the challenge is to move beyond the general knowledge of citizens engaged in planning their communities. The future of urban design now lies in the development and use of information systems and tools that all players in the community-making process will use. Understanding and supporting these knowledge bases and tools so they are integral parts of the democratic planning process is one of the great opportunities for the planning and design professions and portends a shift of historic proportions with regard to the means by which cities are planned, designed, and built, a shift as important as the design of any piece of infrastructure. As opposed to advocating urban design education for the masses or leading the people to the city on the hill of good design, planners, architects, and landscape architects, acting as urban designers, must associate themselves and their specialized activities with everyday people to do everyday planning.
community and housing development, planning articles, urban design
May 04, 2005
Article: States Scrutinize School Construction Costs
New Jersey has even put a hold on new land deals, contracts, and change orders under its $8.6 billion facilities project for some of its neediest districts after a review by the state inspector general found “lax and/or nonexistent oversight and accountability” within the state’s School Construction Corp.
Meanwhile, Indiana is near the end of a 120-day moratorium on approving school construction projects. The halt was called by newly inaugurated Gov. Mitch Daniels in his State of the State Address in January to give the state time to review whether too much school construction aid was going to nonacademic frills.
Massachusetts recently formed a school building authority, which moves the audit process for construction projects from the state education department to the state treasurer’s office, partly to devote more people to routine audits of school construction.
And Ohio officials announced earlier this year that they would review and scale back school district plans under a $10 billion statewide building project after finding that some of the districts targeted for the project were seeing declining enrollments.
States Scrutinize School Construction Costs
education, land use, urban design
May 02, 2005
Photos: Washington Square Park
Washington Square Park in Manhattan contains a variety of uses, including spaces for dogs, skaters, and children, along with ample seating.
Washington Square Park Photo Album
central station, landscape architecture, photographs, urban design