[cross-post from California Planning, March 2015, Vol. 15, Issue 02, p. 8 (here)] Imagine waking up one morning, turning on the tap, and water does not flow . . . , for the next 1,000 years, or it’s saltwater, or toxic! Extreme paranoia or our new normal? Hopefully the former! Yet each day we read stories
Sustainable Water Policy Challenges Read More »
Interested in a seeing-is believing tour of Passive House HQ Brussells? Why . . . , not! In September 2014 NYC Mayor De Blasio released an energy efficiency Plan for NYC called ‘One City: Built to Last‘. The Passive House standard is celebrated in the plan as the target benchmark for future energy performance of both new
Passive House Brussels Tour – Benchmark for NYC Plan Read More »
The Devil’s Slide Trail. Jonathan Berlin. How a state highway became a scenic paradise. Page 1 Who’s where. Veronica Flores, Thalia Leng, AICP, and Amit Price Patel. Page 5 Meet a local planner. Sian Llewellyn, FAICP, interviews Victoria Walker, Director, Community and Economic Development, Concord. Page 6 ACCESS magazine available. New emphasis on economic competitiveness in transportation. Page 11 Where in the world? Photo by Veronica Flores.
Making meaningful progress towards California’s climate mitigation goal — reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 — is one of the front-line sustainability challenges facing planners. This reduction is the minimum required globally to stay within a safe trajectory of global warming and, hopefully, climate re-stabilization. Meeting this challenge requires
Planning for low-carbon communities Read More »
6:00 – 7:30 PM, SPUR, 654 Mission Street, SAN FRANCISCO. Beverages and light snacks available. A new, neighborhood-scale greenhouse gas inventory of the Bay Area suggests that responding effectively to climate change requires a more nuanced, place-based approach. The authors of the study – Chris Jones of UC Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, and
Low-Carbon Communities Event Read More »
On January 23rd at the Net Positive (Energy+Water) Conference in San Francisco, the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) released their recently completed Living Community Patterns (LCP) – Exploratory Strategies for a Sustainable San Francisco, a research report prepared in collaboration with the San Francisco Planning Department. Planning teams can use this report to spur innovation
Living community patterns — bits and pieces of next-generation urban form? Read More »
My Oakland. Erika Sawyer, AICP, interviews Elizabeth Greene, AICP. Page 1 Director’s note, Andrea Ouse, AICP. P 3 Seattle grits its way through tunnel project. Josh Cohen, Next City. Will other cities will look to Bertha-like megaprojects that run over budget and reconsider plans to be the biggest and boldest? Page 5 Who’s where. Carmela Campbell, AICP; Dionne Early, Karly Kaufman, Stefanie Krantz,
Where the city meets the country Stretching 12 miles from the UC Berkeley Campus to San Leandro, the Oakland Hills are a world unto themselves. The hills rise from the Oakland flatlands to an elevation of about 1,500 feet along Skyline Boulevard. Visible from almost everywhere in Oakland, the hills are noted for their steep
The Crown Jewel of Oakland Lake Merritt is the epicenter of Oakland. Affectionately referred to as the city’s “crown jewel,” the Lake is to Oakland what Central Park is to New York, and the National Mall is to Washington DC. It is Oakland’s aesthetic and spiritual heart—a place where residents from all corners of the
Why do we love City Planning? David Hogan, AICP. Contestants reply. Page 1 How much Public Space does a city need? Greg Scruggs, Next City. When we think about public space, we overlook the largest single public space asset in any city’s rolls: streets. Page 7 2015 APA Northern Section awards. Enter nominations by March 5 — recognize the best in
