Planning Pool

While it might be nice if our cities and towns were built around squares as is the case in much of Europe, most places in North America developed around a main street. As such, Main Street programs have developed all across the United States, with average returns of $25 to the local economy for every $1 invested. Still, beyond its economic force, the program’s greatest strength is the sense of ownership is grants community members in celebrating their hometowns.

The following slideshow covers the Maryland Main Street Program, which is but one of many… Read more

Daniel Fontaine is a co-editor of CityCaucus.com and an active political commentator with a background in political science, writing and strategy. CityCaucus occasionally teams up with PlanningPool.com to cross-post articles of common interest… like this one, originally published here.

Should taxis be treated the same way as other public transit vehicles?

For many of us who live in major urban centres and choose not to own a vehicle (or can’t afford one), taxis are an essential form of public transit that helps us to manage our daily affairs. In my own case, our family decided years ago that we’d sell our second car and … Continue Reading

Among recent improvements in the site layout here at PlanningPool.com, we’ve revamped the NewsPool feature. This is a continuously updated feed of noteworthy current planning stories found on the Net by PlanningPool contributors. Check it out by clicking the tab at the site’s top right!

A few this week’s stories from the NewsPool are highlighted below, for your end-of-week reading pleasure.

In the world of planning for more sustainable transportation, bicycles are getting well-deserved respect in the US and in Mexico City:

Los Angeles Times – Mexico City Bicycle Program Pedals Uphill
Mexico City’s bicycle-sharing system, Ecobici, challenges assumptions in a car-oriented culture. Its goal is to raise bikes’ mode share from 1% to 5% in the city.

CUNY Sustainable Cities – … Continue Reading

It’s hopeful that 10,000 business people are gathered from around the globe to discuss and create opportunities for a greener economy at the Globe 2010 conference. Amazing actually, when you consider that the world wide economic slump could have caused the risk-averse business scene to shirk away from the imperative to consider the environment in their operations.

However, a number of messages in Globe 2010’s opening plenary were also supremely disappointing. First, sustainability is a feature – not a focus – of business. Granted, GE Energy is has just spent $5 billion and will invest another $10 billion more over five years in research and development of its eco-portfolio. The language used to describe this effort shows a segregated understanding of the role of sustainability. James Suciu, GE Energy’s President of Global Sales & Marketing, described the need to provide, … Continue Reading

This week, Vancouver will be host to the world’s largest event dedicated to the business of the environment. Globe 2010 will bring together over 10,000 professionals from more than 70 countries, “for three days of thought-leading sessions presented by world-renowned sustainability experts; to survey leading-edge environmental innovations; and to participate in unparalleled global networking opportunities.”

Held March 24-26 at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Planning Pool will cover some key sessions at Globe 2010 including:

• Opening plenary
• Eco Communities: Designing a Sustainable Future
• Ministerial Dialogue on Sustainability

Globe 2010 has four sub themes to its programming: clean technology, water, sustainable retail, and the future of the auto industry. Check out the full program schedule for more information.

For fans of CBC’s business competition television program, Dragon’s Den, auditions for the upcoming sixth season will happen as … Continue Reading

Planning fails are often the physical manifestation of misguided perceptions. Though well-intentioned, perpetuating outdated beliefs is irresponsible; green solutions should have green outcomes.

The article ‘Green solutions come from many directions,’ published in the Vancouver Sun on March 9, 2010 refers to a survey in late 2009 that lists “sustainability issues in transportation” as Vancouver, BC’s primary environmental concern among residents. The author, Scott Hardy, interprets “transportation” to mean “fixing traffic problems”, which he claims “not only reduces commuting times, it leads to a greener, cleaner city.” To do this, he writes that “Vancouver needs to better manage the traffic into and out of the city.”

The idea that … Continue Reading

One of the great things about being a student is having the luxury of coming up with really fun ideas. Last semester, some classmates and I worked on a re-imagining of a Vancouver neighborhood around the Britannia Community Center (here’s a link to the project / sorry for the Flashtastrophe). One feature that we put into our design was the idea of a tool library.

Basically, a tool library is like a book library, except that rather than borrowing books, people can borrow ladders, lawn mowers, power tools, circular saws and other tools that people only use infrequently. Our group placed the hypothetical tool library in a light-industrial warehouse and paired it with a “Maker Shed” and … Continue Reading

What is it about current governance and decision-making systems that make them so resistant to change and act as barriers to implementing sustainability? A packed room of city counselors, sustainability consultants and public participation advocates explored this question with workshop leader Chris Lindberg at a Gaining Ground workshop on Wednesday.

Participants identified four reasons that our government and decision-making systems slow-down sustainability initiatives:

• Multi-jurisdictional systems reduce the capacity to act and dilute ownership of key issues
• Leaders are hesitant to share power and take risks
• The perfect can get in the way of the good
• Lack of imagination for alternatives to business-as-usual.

Planning Implementation Gap
Conference moderator Rob Abbott answered the question by pointing to communities’ habit of … Continue Reading

Bill Reed, Principle of the Integrative Design Collaborative, began his lecture by talking about the problematic structure of the English language and how this has influenced the way english-speaking cultures conceptualize nature and approach development. Specifically, the use of object verbs and subject verbs causes us to describe and ultimately understand elements of the world in isolation as opposed to in relation to other elements. While the topic of  language wasn’t the theme of this workshop, it set the stage for examining ‘Living System Design,’ which is an integrated design approach that philosophically and practically combines human development with natural ecosystems.

Framing his discussion about this integrative design approach, Reed spoke to the consequences of contemporary ideas … Continue Reading

For over 50 years Fresh Kills was the main landfill for New York City and  the largest dumpsite in the world.  In March of 2001 the site was closed due to pressure from the Environmental Protection Agency, only to be reopened temporarily in September of that year as the receiving site for the demolished World Trade Center buildings.   Now the land, once a symbol of waste and environmental disrespect, is being re-developed as the largest park in New York City—at 2,220 acres it will be almost three times the size of Central Park.  The site will be extensively landscaped with native vegetation and will provide natural ecological areas as … Continue Reading