News

Will MIT’s new–and FREE–open-source, city-building urban network analysis (UNA) software (for ArcGIS 10) be the panacea for the “70% of today’s [global] urban growth /1/ occurs outside the formal planning process[?]. If nothing changes, the inefficiencies, pollution, and misery of modern dysfunctional cities may become the norm. Avoiding that future just became a bit easier […]

From Global Planners Network: The American Planning Association (APA) is leading an Urban Planning Initiative under the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. The 30-month project will promote urban planning as a tool to foster sustainable, climate-proof development across the Americas, under President Barak Obama’s Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. The work,

Thank you Daniel for a surprisingly engaging question (go to this APA SCP Linked In discussion for more detail and others’ responses). With only nine voices contributing, we already have quite an interesting variety of perspectives. I have to say that I cannot really get used to “sustaining places,” even after reviewing and commenting on two drafts of the Task Force Report.

Read/skim the full story here (PDF) (another PDF version here). Also peruse their website. Go here for a web-based version of the story with video. Whistler, BC, is generally recognized as one of Canada’s leaders in community sustainability planning, engagement and implementation, and it was one of the very first communities to begin developing a

WEBINAR – Sept 28, 2011. A simple idea for today’s complex environment: join HBR and Professor McGrath for just one hour to learn how to thrive amid today’s intense complexity. Professor McGrath’s insights will help you and your organization better manage amid uncertainty and achieve optimal results. Managing complexity is a key component of a

South Bay Strategic Sustainability Workshop. FRIDAY, October 14th, 8 AM – 12:30 PM, HMH, 1570 Oakland Road, San Jose. Light breakfast provided, lunch sponsored by HMH. The workshop will introduce frameworks for strategic sustainability and use a group exercise to illuminate how to produce benchmarks and action plans to sharpen and accelerate sustainability planning in

EVENT:  Sustainability remains at the forefront of innovation in the design professions as our urban challenges persist. LEED and other metrics have brought the conversation to the mainstream, and yet there is doubt that such measures can make a big enough difference to solve the problems at hand. Sandy Mendler, Robert L. Thayer and Sim Van der Ryn will explore the future of sustainable design, with a focus on regenerative design solutions. Co-presented with UC Berkeley Extension’s Sustainable Design Program.

FYI: cross post from APA newsletter:

Come to Dallas/Fort Worth for four days of in-depth workshops at this fall’s Planners Training Service, November 9–12, 2011. For our first PTS workshops in Texas, we’re bringing you the biggest ideas in planning — the ideas you need to solve the problems on your desk today. Sign up now!

Focus on Sustainability and Resiliency

http://www.planetizen.com/node/50883

In a recent Linked APA SCP discussion, i wrote the following in response to a query regarding sustainability subdivision ordinances:

If you are still seeking info, try . . .