Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Urban Planning

Streetfilms: Interview With the Transportation Engineer

By Ben Fried | Sep 26, 2008 | 8 Comments

In his storied career at New Jersey DOT, Gary Toth played an indispensable role changing the culture of the agency, promoting a place-based ethic instead of the auto-centric transportation planning dogma. Today Toth heads transportation initiatives at Project for Public Spaces, where he has written "A Citizen’s Guide to Better Streets." The book, which will […]

Obama, Ethanol, and the “New Metropolitan Reality”

By Brad Aaron | Jun 26, 2008 | 17 Comments

In a weekend speech to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Senator Barack Obama continued to distinguish himself on urban policy, talking up cities as vital economic centers worthy of investment. Harry Moroz of DMI Blog has the story. Obama opened with a reference to his time as a community developer in Chicago and he joked […]

Historic Town Chooses to “Retain Its Charm” By Enabling Sprawl

By Ben Fried | May 12, 2008 | 23 Comments

On Friday, Streetsblog looked at how northern Virginia can’t get enough road widening. As a follow-up, Gary Toth of Project for Public Spaces directed us to another example of how smart growth faces hurdles in the places that need it most — in this case, the Trenton suburb of Bordentown, New Jersey (right: the main […]

Masdar: Arabic for Chutzpah?

By Aaron Naparstek | Jan 22, 2008 | 54 Comments

The world’s first car-free, zero-carbon city is slated to rise near the Persian Gulf by 2013. Even though it derives almost all of its wealth from oil and gas, the emirate of Abu Dhabi is making a splashy effort to wean itself from fossil fuels, reports Agence France-Presse. Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahayanis […]

Times Square: Too Many People, or Just Too Many Cars?

By Brad Aaron | Jan 10, 2008 | 14 Comments

Why is Times Square so crowded? An article in yesterday’s New York Times considered that question, asking real estate brokers if businesses might be shying away from the area due to packed streets and sidewalks. According to a survey cited in the article, 68 percent of Times Square office workers say congestion is the top […]

Jan Gehl: Gridlocked Streets Are “Not a Law of Nature”

By Brad Aaron | Nov 7, 2007 | 9 Comments

It could have been just another gathering of urban idealists, agreeing with each other about how great it would be to have more public space for people, and less for cars. Except last night’s NYC Streets Renaissance event, "A New Vision for the Upper West Side," featured renowned Danish planner Jan Gehl — who, as […]

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