Urban Planning

Folks across the blogosphere are geeking out over this new software created by Spencer Boomhower at the Portland firm Cupola Media. "Unity3D Visualization" lets users manipulate the features of a street and then evaluate the changes in an immersive animated display.

This week, Jeff and Tanya take on the Atlanta Braves' terrible, no-good, very bad decision to move their stadium to Cobb County, Georgia. We discuss cities that are (and are not) shaped like wedding cakes, and whether that means you need to smoosh your spouse's face in it. Tanya makes a pedestrian-rights argument against high-heeled shoes (and Jeff abstains from taking sides). We parse the differences between "shared streets" -- without marked-out space for cars, bikes, and people on foot -- and vehicular cycling.

What rhymes with “waterfront redevelopment plan”?

Behold, Streetsblog's brand-new podcast! In what we aim to turn into a recurring feature, Reconnecting America's Jeff Wood and I recently chatted about the week's news in livable streets, urbanism, and sustainable transportation. The topics are drawn from Jeff's excellent daily compendium of transportation and planning links, The Direct Transfer, and from stories we're tracking at Streetsblog Capitol Hill. It's a treat for me to get back to producing audio -- I was a radio reporter before joining Streetsblog.

When he settled on Miami as his designated spot to escape Toronto winters, urbanist Richard Florida said he expected “all young people with a lot of gel in their hair.” What surprised him was finding a pocket of baby boomer urbanites from cities like Washington, DC, who came to Miami for its arts, diversity and walkability.

He's a "top urban influencer." He promoted parking reform in his campaign to become Pittsburgh's next mayor. And on Tuesday, City Councilman Bill Peduto won the Democratic mayoral primary, making him something of a shoo-in for the city's highest office. (Pittsburgh hasn't elected a Republican mayor since the 1930s.)

Six weeks after my daughter was born, my midwife asked me if I was getting any exercise. I confessed I wasn’t. I hadn’t figured out a new routine that included exercise, my old activities weren’t baby-friendly, I just didn’t have the time, and I wasn’t up for anything high-impact.

So, how did Washington, D.C. -- widely perceived as one of the most expensive cities in the country -- end up topping a “most affordable” housing list?