Location:
Website:
The Institute for New Economic Thinking is a nonpartisan research and education nonprofit organization based in New York, NY. Created in response to the global financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, the Institute accelerates the development of a new field of economic thought.
By funding academic research, building communities of innovative scholars, and spreading the word globally about the urgent need for change, we are creating real-world solutions to the great challenges of the 21st century. Our work supports the efforts of scholars all over the world as they change the way economics is studied, considered and taught.
The global financial crisis made it clear that the world needs new economic thinking, and it needs it now.
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Research. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Pacific Institute
Location: Worldwide
Website: www.pacinst.org
We envision a world where the basic needs of all people are met, where resources are managed sustainably and the natural world protected, and where conflicts over resources are resolved in a peaceful and democratic fashion.
The Pacific Institute works to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. We conduct interdisciplinary research and partner with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—in California, nationally, and internationally.
Our aim is to find real-world solutions to problems like water shortages, habitat destruction, global warming, and environmental injustice.
Based in Oakland, California, we conduct research, publish reports, recommend solutions, and work with decision makers, advocacy groups, and the public to change policy. Since our founding in 1987, we’ve become known for independent, innovative thinking that cuts across traditional areas of study. Our interdisciplinary approach not only helps us make connections that others miss, it also enables us to bring opposing groups together to forge effective real-world solutions.
Website: www.pacinst.org
We envision a world where the basic needs of all people are met, where resources are managed sustainably and the natural world protected, and where conflicts over resources are resolved in a peaceful and democratic fashion.
The Pacific Institute works to create a healthier planet and sustainable communities. We conduct interdisciplinary research and partner with stakeholders to produce solutions that advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity—in California, nationally, and internationally.
Our aim is to find real-world solutions to problems like water shortages, habitat destruction, global warming, and environmental injustice.
Based in Oakland, California, we conduct research, publish reports, recommend solutions, and work with decision makers, advocacy groups, and the public to change policy. Since our founding in 1987, we’ve become known for independent, innovative thinking that cuts across traditional areas of study. Our interdisciplinary approach not only helps us make connections that others miss, it also enables us to bring opposing groups together to forge effective real-world solutions.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Failed Architecture
Location: International
Website: www.failedarchitecture.com
Failed Architecture is a research platform that aims to open up new perspectives on urban failure – from what it’s perceived to be, what’s actually happening and how it’s represented to the public.
Supported by a website, travelling workshops and a series of lectures, the research collective seeks to develop ongoing and open conversations with experts in the field of architecture and planning and the public at large.
Based in Amsterdam, but operating internationally, Failed Architecture consists of a group of young professionals that share knowledge in architecture, urbanism, media, sociology, history and the arts.
Observing and living in a time in which the position and meaning of architecture is increasingly being questioned, our main drive is to research the political and cultural processes that tag a building as a success or a failure (past/ present/ future).
By using the maxim ‘failed architecture’ we aim to raise questions. What is failure? Which criteria do we/ can we use to define failure? According to whom has something failed? If perceived as failed, what caused this and what are its effects?
We understand architecture as the outcome of larger urban dynamics, which are therefore at the core of our research. By exploring a wide range of viewpoints – e.g. residents, architects, planners, developers and artists – we aim to provide some possible answers to the aforementioned questions.
This will provide us with broad insights into how the relationships between design, politics, economics, culture and human behavior can literally and representatively (re)shape our built environment.
Website: www.failedarchitecture.com
Failed Architecture is a research platform that aims to open up new perspectives on urban failure – from what it’s perceived to be, what’s actually happening and how it’s represented to the public.
Supported by a website, travelling workshops and a series of lectures, the research collective seeks to develop ongoing and open conversations with experts in the field of architecture and planning and the public at large.
Based in Amsterdam, but operating internationally, Failed Architecture consists of a group of young professionals that share knowledge in architecture, urbanism, media, sociology, history and the arts.
Observing and living in a time in which the position and meaning of architecture is increasingly being questioned, our main drive is to research the political and cultural processes that tag a building as a success or a failure (past/ present/ future).
By using the maxim ‘failed architecture’ we aim to raise questions. What is failure? Which criteria do we/ can we use to define failure? According to whom has something failed? If perceived as failed, what caused this and what are its effects?
We understand architecture as the outcome of larger urban dynamics, which are therefore at the core of our research. By exploring a wide range of viewpoints – e.g. residents, architects, planners, developers and artists – we aim to provide some possible answers to the aforementioned questions.
This will provide us with broad insights into how the relationships between design, politics, economics, culture and human behavior can literally and representatively (re)shape our built environment.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Center for Urban Pedagogy
Location:
Website: www.welcometocup.org
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses design and art to improve civic engagement.
CUP projects demystify the urban policy and planning issues that impact our communities, so that more individuals can better participate in shaping them. We believe that increasing understanding of how these systems work is the first step to better and more diverse community participation. CUP projects are collaborations of art and design professionals, community-based advocates and policymakers, and our staff. Together we take on complex issues—from the juvenile justice system to zoning law to food access—and break them down into simple, accessible, visual explanations.
The tools we create are used by organizers and educators all over New York City and beyond to help their constituents better advocate for their own community needs.
CUP takes two approaches to improving public engagement through civic education:
- youth education programs in which students work with teaching artists to investigate some aspect of how the city works and create final products that educate others about what they learned; and
- community education programs that bring together designers and advocates to produce tools, workshops, and publications that explain complex policies or processes for specific audiences.
Community Education works with advocacy organizations, policy experts, and designers to produce publications, workshops, and other teaching tools that explain important policy issues for the people who most need to know.
CUP publications and teaching tools are made for and with specific groups in specific places, but they reach a national audience of people interested in civics education and graphic and information design.
CUP’s Envisioning Development Toolkits are workshops built around interactive tools that teach people about basic land-use terms and concepts, enabling them to participate meaningfully in neighborhood change.
For example, the Affordable Housing Toolkit teaches participants about income demographics and the technical definitions of affordable housing to help them analyze proposed developments in concrete terms of units, rents, and incomes. The toolkits are developed in close collaboration with community organizations throughout New York, such as Good Old Lower East Side, the Fifth Avenue Committee, the Municipal Arts Society, and Tenants and Neighbors.
Making Policy Public series facilitates close collaborations between policy experts and design professionals to produce foldout posters that make complex policy issues accessible. For example, The Cargo Chain helped 10,000 longshoremen understand their place in the global shipping network, and is also a bestseller at art and design bookstores in New York. Collaborators have included designers like Candy Chang, Alice Chung of Omnivore, and Thumb Design with organizations such as the Brennan Center for Justice, Community Voices Heard, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Through our Technical Assistance program, community organizations and advocacy groups can hire CUP to create custom outreach and organizing tools. For example, we are working with the Participatory Budgeting Project and Community Voices Heard, along with designer Glen Cummings, to produce outreach and educational materials, as well as maps and ballots for a citywide effort to engage public participation in City Council budget decision making.
Youth Education partners with schools and after school programs to produce experiential, project-based curricula that get students out of the classroom to interact with New York City and the people who make it work. Our education programs vary in length from one day to one semester and reach over 500 students each year – from the Bronx to South Brooklyn and everywhere in between.
Urban Investigations projects ask basic questions about how the city works and answer them over the course of a semester. Where does our garbage go? Where does our water come from? Who built public housing? Students make site visits and conduct interviews while working with artists, designers, and staff to produce award-winning videos, exhibitions, magazines, and other media that communicate what they’ve learned to a wide audience. These products are screened in theaters, exhibited at museums, and used by advocacy organizations to educate others.
For example, the Sewer in a Suitcase, a working model of a city streetscape and combined sewer system developed by CUPwith students from City-as-School, has been featured on the Design Observer website and at the Proteus Gowanus gallery, and is currently being used by educators at organizations like The Harbor School and the Lower East Side Ecology Center to teach people about wastewater management and combined sewer overflow. CUP projects are in-class and after school, project-based curricula for high school students, from semester-long projects to single-session workshops.
For example,CUP recently developed a curriculum with a teacher at the Academy of Urban Planning in Bushwick to help students understand how to use information graphics in their persuasive writing. After conducting an on-the-street survey on a proposed soft drink tax, students created their own figures, charts, and graphs to help them develop arguments for or against the tax.
We also provide Teacher Trainings, professional development workshops for teachers and administrators that help educators connect students to their communities through art and design. We develop custom programs to meet the needs of a particular group, from a two-hour site assessment project to a week-long set of workshops.
Website: www.welcometocup.org
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses design and art to improve civic engagement.
CUP projects demystify the urban policy and planning issues that impact our communities, so that more individuals can better participate in shaping them. We believe that increasing understanding of how these systems work is the first step to better and more diverse community participation. CUP projects are collaborations of art and design professionals, community-based advocates and policymakers, and our staff. Together we take on complex issues—from the juvenile justice system to zoning law to food access—and break them down into simple, accessible, visual explanations.
The tools we create are used by organizers and educators all over New York City and beyond to help their constituents better advocate for their own community needs.
CUP takes two approaches to improving public engagement through civic education:
- youth education programs in which students work with teaching artists to investigate some aspect of how the city works and create final products that educate others about what they learned; and
- community education programs that bring together designers and advocates to produce tools, workshops, and publications that explain complex policies or processes for specific audiences.
Community Education works with advocacy organizations, policy experts, and designers to produce publications, workshops, and other teaching tools that explain important policy issues for the people who most need to know.
CUP publications and teaching tools are made for and with specific groups in specific places, but they reach a national audience of people interested in civics education and graphic and information design.
CUP’s Envisioning Development Toolkits are workshops built around interactive tools that teach people about basic land-use terms and concepts, enabling them to participate meaningfully in neighborhood change.
For example, the Affordable Housing Toolkit teaches participants about income demographics and the technical definitions of affordable housing to help them analyze proposed developments in concrete terms of units, rents, and incomes. The toolkits are developed in close collaboration with community organizations throughout New York, such as Good Old Lower East Side, the Fifth Avenue Committee, the Municipal Arts Society, and Tenants and Neighbors.
Making Policy Public series facilitates close collaborations between policy experts and design professionals to produce foldout posters that make complex policy issues accessible. For example, The Cargo Chain helped 10,000 longshoremen understand their place in the global shipping network, and is also a bestseller at art and design bookstores in New York. Collaborators have included designers like Candy Chang, Alice Chung of Omnivore, and Thumb Design with organizations such as the Brennan Center for Justice, Community Voices Heard, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Through our Technical Assistance program, community organizations and advocacy groups can hire CUP to create custom outreach and organizing tools. For example, we are working with the Participatory Budgeting Project and Community Voices Heard, along with designer Glen Cummings, to produce outreach and educational materials, as well as maps and ballots for a citywide effort to engage public participation in City Council budget decision making.
Youth Education partners with schools and after school programs to produce experiential, project-based curricula that get students out of the classroom to interact with New York City and the people who make it work. Our education programs vary in length from one day to one semester and reach over 500 students each year – from the Bronx to South Brooklyn and everywhere in between.
Urban Investigations projects ask basic questions about how the city works and answer them over the course of a semester. Where does our garbage go? Where does our water come from? Who built public housing? Students make site visits and conduct interviews while working with artists, designers, and staff to produce award-winning videos, exhibitions, magazines, and other media that communicate what they’ve learned to a wide audience. These products are screened in theaters, exhibited at museums, and used by advocacy organizations to educate others.
For example, the Sewer in a Suitcase, a working model of a city streetscape and combined sewer system developed by CUPwith students from City-as-School, has been featured on the Design Observer website and at the Proteus Gowanus gallery, and is currently being used by educators at organizations like The Harbor School and the Lower East Side Ecology Center to teach people about wastewater management and combined sewer overflow. CUP projects are in-class and after school, project-based curricula for high school students, from semester-long projects to single-session workshops.
For example,CUP recently developed a curriculum with a teacher at the Academy of Urban Planning in Bushwick to help students understand how to use information graphics in their persuasive writing. After conducting an on-the-street survey on a proposed soft drink tax, students created their own figures, charts, and graphs to help them develop arguments for or against the tax.
We also provide Teacher Trainings, professional development workshops for teachers and administrators that help educators connect students to their communities through art and design. We develop custom programs to meet the needs of a particular group, from a two-hour site assessment project to a week-long set of workshops.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Center for an Urban Future
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.nycfuture.org
The Center for an Urban Future is a NYC-based think tank dedicated to highlighting the critical opportunities and challenges facing New York and other cities, and providing fresh ideas and workable solutions to policymakers. The Center’s primary focus is on growing and diversifying the local economy, expanding economic opportunity and targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods. We consistently elevate important, but long overlooked, issues onto the radar of public officials—and we push policymakers to think differently about economic and workforce development.
The Center does this through publishing fact-based research reports that are accessible to a wide audience and holding high-profile policy forums.
Jonathan Bowles is the Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank dedicated to independent research about key policy issues facing New York and other cities. During his 12 years at the Center, he has been the architect of the policy agenda for the Center and is responsible for making it one of New York's most innovative and influential organizations and one in which its policy ideas are well-respected and widely used by policymakers, business leaders, and nonprofit practitioners.
At the Center,Jonathan has authored more than two-dozen reports, including a widely acclaimed 2007 study about the significant impact immigrant entrepreneurs are having on cities' economies, an influential study about New York City's innovation economy and a report about how to retain and grow New York's middle class. He has been asked to be a guest contributor for the New York Times and The Council on Foreign Relations on a range of urban issues including New York City's need to diversify its economy and immigrant entrepreneurs.
His research about key economic trends facing New York and its five boroughs, the value of small businesses to cities, and the economic impact of industries ranging from air cargo to biotechnology has been covered in publications ranging from the New York Times to The Economist. Jonathan is a frequent moderator and speaker at conferences and panel discussions on urban policy in New York and nationally.
Website: www.nycfuture.org
The Center for an Urban Future is a NYC-based think tank dedicated to highlighting the critical opportunities and challenges facing New York and other cities, and providing fresh ideas and workable solutions to policymakers. The Center’s primary focus is on growing and diversifying the local economy, expanding economic opportunity and targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods. We consistently elevate important, but long overlooked, issues onto the radar of public officials—and we push policymakers to think differently about economic and workforce development.
The Center does this through publishing fact-based research reports that are accessible to a wide audience and holding high-profile policy forums.
Jonathan Bowles is the Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank dedicated to independent research about key policy issues facing New York and other cities. During his 12 years at the Center, he has been the architect of the policy agenda for the Center and is responsible for making it one of New York's most innovative and influential organizations and one in which its policy ideas are well-respected and widely used by policymakers, business leaders, and nonprofit practitioners.
At the Center,Jonathan has authored more than two-dozen reports, including a widely acclaimed 2007 study about the significant impact immigrant entrepreneurs are having on cities' economies, an influential study about New York City's innovation economy and a report about how to retain and grow New York's middle class. He has been asked to be a guest contributor for the New York Times and The Council on Foreign Relations on a range of urban issues including New York City's need to diversify its economy and immigrant entrepreneurs.
His research about key economic trends facing New York and its five boroughs, the value of small businesses to cities, and the economic impact of industries ranging from air cargo to biotechnology has been covered in publications ranging from the New York Times to The Economist. Jonathan is a frequent moderator and speaker at conferences and panel discussions on urban policy in New York and nationally.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Urban Intelligence Unit
Location: Africa
Website: www.futurecapetown.com/urbaniu
Our mission is to conduct high-quality, innovative and trans-disciplinary research, to foster knowledge sharing and to review policy matters in the area of urbanism, Born out of our collective curiosity for cities – and the people and places shaping them – the Urban Intelligence Unit (UIU) was formed in late 2012, as a research wing of Future Cape Town, to experience, explore and engage with this curiosity.
Embracing a trans-disciplinary approach – based on the simple yet radical idea that everybody contributes, beyond their individual expertise – our team background ranges from finance to the arts, psychology to law, urban infrastructure to graphic design – all of which contributes to forming the diverse and broad perspective we feel necessary to approach contemporary urban challenges and complexities.
Our mission includes:
- carrying out innovative, trans-disciplinary research,
- fostering knowledge sharing in the area of urbanism,
- facilitating and conducting research into and reviews of policy matters.
Our work includes:
- current research projects include Future Spaces, which explores the potential role of multimedia in exploring and understanding public spaces,
- Your City Idea, involving testing of the use of installations in public space as a study of public engagement and participation.
We are also passionate about becoming a centre for the dissemination of knowledge infographics and data visualisations, hosting knowledge share sessions for our team and the public in the form of the Urban Knowledge Network and supporting the research programmes of other organisations.
Within Future Cape Town, the team plays an important role by supporting the advocacy aim of the organisation, with reviews and research into urban policy matters, the formulation of position statements, and producing discussion papers to support the Future Cape Town summits.
If you need a nimble, dynamic, open-minded team to support your organisation, we would love to explore working with you.
Website: www.futurecapetown.com/urbaniu
Our mission is to conduct high-quality, innovative and trans-disciplinary research, to foster knowledge sharing and to review policy matters in the area of urbanism, Born out of our collective curiosity for cities – and the people and places shaping them – the Urban Intelligence Unit (UIU) was formed in late 2012, as a research wing of Future Cape Town, to experience, explore and engage with this curiosity.
Embracing a trans-disciplinary approach – based on the simple yet radical idea that everybody contributes, beyond their individual expertise – our team background ranges from finance to the arts, psychology to law, urban infrastructure to graphic design – all of which contributes to forming the diverse and broad perspective we feel necessary to approach contemporary urban challenges and complexities.
Our mission includes:
- carrying out innovative, trans-disciplinary research,
- fostering knowledge sharing in the area of urbanism,
- facilitating and conducting research into and reviews of policy matters.
Our work includes:
- current research projects include Future Spaces, which explores the potential role of multimedia in exploring and understanding public spaces,
- Your City Idea, involving testing of the use of installations in public space as a study of public engagement and participation.
We are also passionate about becoming a centre for the dissemination of knowledge infographics and data visualisations, hosting knowledge share sessions for our team and the public in the form of the Urban Knowledge Network and supporting the research programmes of other organisations.
Within Future Cape Town, the team plays an important role by supporting the advocacy aim of the organisation, with reviews and research into urban policy matters, the formulation of position statements, and producing discussion papers to support the Future Cape Town summits.
If you need a nimble, dynamic, open-minded team to support your organisation, we would love to explore working with you.
Sustania 100
Location: International
Website: www.sustania100.me
More than a model and a vision, Sustainia aims to be the world’s one-stop toolbox for sustainable solutions. Sustainia100 is an overview and inspiring catalogue of solutions already out there, which will make Sustainia a reality. In order to find new and inspiring solutions it’s critical to engage those who develop them around the world: you, our community.
We invited you to submit your ideas and solutions to supplement our research. The response was incredible – solutions from students, multi-national corporations, and individual crusaders, from Canada to Russia to Kenya.
Floating islands; hybrid mass transit systems; energy from speed bumps; solar power sold through the Avon business model. And each and every solution ready and being used today.
Together these solutions make up the Sustainia100, through which we aim to put today’s solutions at your fingertips. The Sustainia100 will be unveiled at a high-profile event at the Rio+20 conference this June. Later in the year one outstanding solution will win the Sustainia Award, a monetary prize to push the solution.
The Sustainia100 and the Sustainia Award will occur every year.
Website: www.sustania100.me
More than a model and a vision, Sustainia aims to be the world’s one-stop toolbox for sustainable solutions. Sustainia100 is an overview and inspiring catalogue of solutions already out there, which will make Sustainia a reality. In order to find new and inspiring solutions it’s critical to engage those who develop them around the world: you, our community.
We invited you to submit your ideas and solutions to supplement our research. The response was incredible – solutions from students, multi-national corporations, and individual crusaders, from Canada to Russia to Kenya.
Floating islands; hybrid mass transit systems; energy from speed bumps; solar power sold through the Avon business model. And each and every solution ready and being used today.
Together these solutions make up the Sustainia100, through which we aim to put today’s solutions at your fingertips. The Sustainia100 will be unveiled at a high-profile event at the Rio+20 conference this June. Later in the year one outstanding solution will win the Sustainia Award, a monetary prize to push the solution.
The Sustainia100 and the Sustainia Award will occur every year.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Terwilliger Center for Housing
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.uli.org/research/centers-initiatives/terwilliger-center-for-housing/
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing engages in a multifaceted program of work that includes research, publications, convenings, awards, and technical assistance. Our mission is to facilitate creating and sustaining a full spectrum of housing opportunities—including affordable and workforce housing—in communities across the country.
Established in 2007 with a gift from longtime ULI member and former ULI chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger, the Center’s initial mission was to expand workforce housing opportunities for families earning 60 to 120 percent of the area median income.
While the Center’s primary focus remains on housing affordability, with a particular emphasis on workforce housing policies and projects, our mission has expanded in 2011 to include a broader range of housing issues.
This expanded focus will help to integrate ULI’s many housing efforts into a coherent program of work that furthers the development of mixed-income, mixed-use communities and a full spectrum of housing affordable to all, a critical aspect of ULI’s core mission of the “responsible use of land.
Website: www.uli.org/research/centers-initiatives/terwilliger-center-for-housing/
The ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing engages in a multifaceted program of work that includes research, publications, convenings, awards, and technical assistance. Our mission is to facilitate creating and sustaining a full spectrum of housing opportunities—including affordable and workforce housing—in communities across the country.
Established in 2007 with a gift from longtime ULI member and former ULI chairman J. Ronald Terwilliger, the Center’s initial mission was to expand workforce housing opportunities for families earning 60 to 120 percent of the area median income.
While the Center’s primary focus remains on housing affordability, with a particular emphasis on workforce housing policies and projects, our mission has expanded in 2011 to include a broader range of housing issues.
This expanded focus will help to integrate ULI’s many housing efforts into a coherent program of work that furthers the development of mixed-income, mixed-use communities and a full spectrum of housing affordable to all, a critical aspect of ULI’s core mission of the “responsible use of land.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Reconnecting America
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.reconnectingamerica.org
Reconnecting America is a national nonprofit that advises civic and community leaders on how to overcome community development challenges to create better communities for all. Reconnecting America develops research and innovative public policy, while also building on-the-ground partnerships and convening players needed to accelerate decision-making.
The community where we live holds a special place in our hearts. Some of us still live in the same neighborhood where our family has had roots for generations. Some of us choose a community with an eye toward a new beginning. Where we live matters.
At Reconnecting America, we help transform promising ideas into thriving communities, where transportation choices make it easy to get from place to place, where businesses flourish, and where people from all walks of life can afford to live, work and visit.
Website: www.reconnectingamerica.org
Reconnecting America is a national nonprofit that advises civic and community leaders on how to overcome community development challenges to create better communities for all. Reconnecting America develops research and innovative public policy, while also building on-the-ground partnerships and convening players needed to accelerate decision-making.
The community where we live holds a special place in our hearts. Some of us still live in the same neighborhood where our family has had roots for generations. Some of us choose a community with an eye toward a new beginning. Where we live matters.
At Reconnecting America, we help transform promising ideas into thriving communities, where transportation choices make it easy to get from place to place, where businesses flourish, and where people from all walks of life can afford to live, work and visit.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Regional Plan Association
Location: CT, NY & NJ
Website: www.rpa.org
It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to Regional Plan Association. We hope that you will find our website a helpful resource for information and a useful tool for two-way communication about our far-reaching initiatives and programs.
For 90 years, RPA has been an indispensable source of ideas and plans to policy makers and opinion shapers across the tri-state area. RPA's in-depth studies, relentless advocacy and staying power ensure that critical transportation, urban development, housing and open space projects move forward across business downturns and election cycles. And RPA's America 2050 program is advancing national efforts to strengthen our aging infrastructure and protect vital natural resources.
Just consider some of RPA's recent successes:
- RPA has been helping guide the region's development of climate change and resiliency strategies, calling for a new approach to the way we manage storms in the tri-state region.
- In December 2012, RPA co-hosted an event on the New York City's future after Superstorm Sandy at which Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out his vision for the city, and former Vice President Al Gore called on political leaders to do more to confront the threat of global warming.
- RPA published influential research on why large infrastructure projects take so long to complete in the U.S. and how the work could be accelerated.
- Other prominent research quantified the expected increase in housing values in Queens and Long Island as a result of the Long Island Rail Road's future connection to Grand Central Terminal.
- In June, RPA convened more than 125 national experts on large landscape conservation to discuss how to ensure that wildlife habitat, water supplies and working farms and forests throughout the U.S. Northeast are protected for future generations.
- RPA's America 2050 and the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility continued to build the case for investment in our rail system nationally and in the Northeast corridor. America 2050 has become a national leader in the debate on high-speed rail, and where and how federal and private funds should best be employed.
- RPA's annual Assembly is New York's premier civic event, bringing together nearly 1,000 top business, civic, philanthropic and government leaders from across the metropolitan region and the country. Each year the Assembly focuses on a priority issue.
The 2012 Assembly, "Bold Plans - Big Innovations - Bright Future," on April 27, 2013, featured high-level panel discussions with the region and nation's leaders on economic development, housing, sustainable design, energy, mobility, technology and governance. The program featured a keynote address by Mayor Bloomberg. The 2013 Assembly will be held on Friday, April 19.
Last year's Assembly also served as the culmination of the first Transit Leadership Forum, a weeklong summit, hosted by RPA, for the leaders of the world's largest and most dynamic transit authorities, who shared their experiences and ideas on how to deal with the myriad challenges running integrated transit systems. A second summit will be held in Singapore in March 2013.
It has been and will continue to be a unique time for RPA as we work on the front lines to find sensible solutions in tough times. Unquestionably, what RPA does best - bringing together diverse interests, advising government and private interests, and providing recommendations based on smart policies - is what will be the driving force in making monumental and sustainable changes happen.
We look forward to continuing to plan for the future of our region and around the nation.
Website: www.rpa.org
It gives us great pleasure to welcome you to Regional Plan Association. We hope that you will find our website a helpful resource for information and a useful tool for two-way communication about our far-reaching initiatives and programs.
For 90 years, RPA has been an indispensable source of ideas and plans to policy makers and opinion shapers across the tri-state area. RPA's in-depth studies, relentless advocacy and staying power ensure that critical transportation, urban development, housing and open space projects move forward across business downturns and election cycles. And RPA's America 2050 program is advancing national efforts to strengthen our aging infrastructure and protect vital natural resources.
Just consider some of RPA's recent successes:
- RPA has been helping guide the region's development of climate change and resiliency strategies, calling for a new approach to the way we manage storms in the tri-state region.
- In December 2012, RPA co-hosted an event on the New York City's future after Superstorm Sandy at which Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out his vision for the city, and former Vice President Al Gore called on political leaders to do more to confront the threat of global warming.
- RPA published influential research on why large infrastructure projects take so long to complete in the U.S. and how the work could be accelerated.
- Other prominent research quantified the expected increase in housing values in Queens and Long Island as a result of the Long Island Rail Road's future connection to Grand Central Terminal.
- In June, RPA convened more than 125 national experts on large landscape conservation to discuss how to ensure that wildlife habitat, water supplies and working farms and forests throughout the U.S. Northeast are protected for future generations.
- RPA's America 2050 and the Business Alliance for Northeast Mobility continued to build the case for investment in our rail system nationally and in the Northeast corridor. America 2050 has become a national leader in the debate on high-speed rail, and where and how federal and private funds should best be employed.
- RPA's annual Assembly is New York's premier civic event, bringing together nearly 1,000 top business, civic, philanthropic and government leaders from across the metropolitan region and the country. Each year the Assembly focuses on a priority issue.
The 2012 Assembly, "Bold Plans - Big Innovations - Bright Future," on April 27, 2013, featured high-level panel discussions with the region and nation's leaders on economic development, housing, sustainable design, energy, mobility, technology and governance. The program featured a keynote address by Mayor Bloomberg. The 2013 Assembly will be held on Friday, April 19.
Last year's Assembly also served as the culmination of the first Transit Leadership Forum, a weeklong summit, hosted by RPA, for the leaders of the world's largest and most dynamic transit authorities, who shared their experiences and ideas on how to deal with the myriad challenges running integrated transit systems. A second summit will be held in Singapore in March 2013.
It has been and will continue to be a unique time for RPA as we work on the front lines to find sensible solutions in tough times. Unquestionably, what RPA does best - bringing together diverse interests, advising government and private interests, and providing recommendations based on smart policies - is what will be the driving force in making monumental and sustainable changes happen.
We look forward to continuing to plan for the future of our region and around the nation.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Intelligent Cities
Location: Nationwide
Website:
www.nbm.org/intelligentcities/
What makes a city Intelligent? You Do.
For as long as we have lived in cities we have reflected on their form, feel, and function. From the launch of the first hot air balloon to the creation of geospatial information software, we have developed technologies that enable us to assess what we have done, what we are doing, and what we wish to do.
Today, the scale and complexity of neighborhoods, towns, and cities are unprecedented, and so are our tools for understanding them. Intelligent Cities, an initiative of the National Building Museum, supported by its partners TIME and IBM and funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, explores the intersection of information technology and urban design to understand where we are, where we want to be, and how to get there.
With contributions from experts in research, design, and technology, the Intelligent Cities book offers an interdisciplinary look at the complex relationship between city form and technology. This wide-ranging and readable book summarizes the National Building Museum’s year-long Intelligent Cities initiative, which was an exploration of how data and information technology impact the way cities look, feel, and function.
Award-winning, original infographics commissioned by the museum and thought-provoking essays enrich the discussion of new—and not so new—issues of technology and urban form. Intelligent Cities looks at the most ubiquitous of today’s technologies, such as the telephone and the computer, and offers new insight into their impacts on human settlement and society.
Reach out and call someone!
Researchers at MIT Senseable City Lab, AT&T Labs-Research and IBM Research have analyzed billions of anonymous connections from AT&T cell phone networks across the country—where people were calling from.
How did you choose your home?
Information surrounds us. With satellite global positioning technology we can see hot roofs, storm water run-off and where traffic is crawling. But there’s more. There’s a relationship between the health of our waterways and how we travel to work. There’s a connection between the size of our homes and how much energy we use. Intelligent Cities aims to reveal these connections, to make them visible and actionable...because informed people make better decisions.
What do you like best about your neighborhood?
Walking and biking to elementary school used to be common. Now, they're rare. What happened? We started building fewer, bigger schools between neighborhoods. We built new wide roads to reduce congestion on the way to school. We thought schools would be safer away from Main Street, with its sidewalks of commerce and distractions. We can see the consequences now, making connections between those decisions and rising health problems. With better information, can we make our neighborhoods intelligent? We can.
What connects you to your community?
People love to be with people. Fifty years ago people met at the corner diner, local church, or at a neighborhood block party. We still create networks at social clubs, places of worship, and neighborhood potlucks but we have now added virtual communities to that list as over 500 million people are on Facebook.
Even as electronic forums gain popularity, real places to gather remain important. How can we begin to visualize and cultivate these networks to make better cities? Connections define community: our physical and virtual networks connect us to each other and the places where we live.
What makes a city a city?
According to AAA, Americans spend on average $8,485 each year on their cars. Seems like a lot of money, doesn't it? And most of that money leaves your local economy. What if you were able to get rid of a car and spend-or invest-that money in your community and city?
Where does your water go?
Where does all the water go when it rains? Simple question, complex answer. We spend billions of dollars to construct ever larger sewer systems. And in a time of increasing droughts across the U.S. we flush more of our stormwater straight out into the ocean instead of capturing it. It turns out that how and where we build plays a key role.
INTELLIGENT CITIES IS A NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM PROJECT
Website:
www.nbm.org/intelligentcities/
What makes a city Intelligent? You Do.
For as long as we have lived in cities we have reflected on their form, feel, and function. From the launch of the first hot air balloon to the creation of geospatial information software, we have developed technologies that enable us to assess what we have done, what we are doing, and what we wish to do.
Today, the scale and complexity of neighborhoods, towns, and cities are unprecedented, and so are our tools for understanding them. Intelligent Cities, an initiative of the National Building Museum, supported by its partners TIME and IBM and funded by The Rockefeller Foundation, explores the intersection of information technology and urban design to understand where we are, where we want to be, and how to get there.
With contributions from experts in research, design, and technology, the Intelligent Cities book offers an interdisciplinary look at the complex relationship between city form and technology. This wide-ranging and readable book summarizes the National Building Museum’s year-long Intelligent Cities initiative, which was an exploration of how data and information technology impact the way cities look, feel, and function.
Award-winning, original infographics commissioned by the museum and thought-provoking essays enrich the discussion of new—and not so new—issues of technology and urban form. Intelligent Cities looks at the most ubiquitous of today’s technologies, such as the telephone and the computer, and offers new insight into their impacts on human settlement and society.
Reach out and call someone!
Researchers at MIT Senseable City Lab, AT&T Labs-Research and IBM Research have analyzed billions of anonymous connections from AT&T cell phone networks across the country—where people were calling from.
How did you choose your home?
Information surrounds us. With satellite global positioning technology we can see hot roofs, storm water run-off and where traffic is crawling. But there’s more. There’s a relationship between the health of our waterways and how we travel to work. There’s a connection between the size of our homes and how much energy we use. Intelligent Cities aims to reveal these connections, to make them visible and actionable...because informed people make better decisions.
What do you like best about your neighborhood?
Walking and biking to elementary school used to be common. Now, they're rare. What happened? We started building fewer, bigger schools between neighborhoods. We built new wide roads to reduce congestion on the way to school. We thought schools would be safer away from Main Street, with its sidewalks of commerce and distractions. We can see the consequences now, making connections between those decisions and rising health problems. With better information, can we make our neighborhoods intelligent? We can.
What connects you to your community?
People love to be with people. Fifty years ago people met at the corner diner, local church, or at a neighborhood block party. We still create networks at social clubs, places of worship, and neighborhood potlucks but we have now added virtual communities to that list as over 500 million people are on Facebook.
Even as electronic forums gain popularity, real places to gather remain important. How can we begin to visualize and cultivate these networks to make better cities? Connections define community: our physical and virtual networks connect us to each other and the places where we live.
What makes a city a city?
According to AAA, Americans spend on average $8,485 each year on their cars. Seems like a lot of money, doesn't it? And most of that money leaves your local economy. What if you were able to get rid of a car and spend-or invest-that money in your community and city?
Where does your water go?
Where does all the water go when it rains? Simple question, complex answer. We spend billions of dollars to construct ever larger sewer systems. And in a time of increasing droughts across the U.S. we flush more of our stormwater straight out into the ocean instead of capturing it. It turns out that how and where we build plays a key role.
INTELLIGENT CITIES IS A NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM PROJECT
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
The Laws That Shaped L.A.
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Website: www.kcet.org/socal/departures/landofsunshine/laws-that-shaped-la/
For more than a year now, the Laws That Shaped L.A. column has been chronicling a running list of laws that a range of experts say have made a significant impact on the people and places of this region -- and oftentimes, far beyond.
As regular readers of the column know, the columns are automatically archived. That automatic archive appears chronologically by the date each column was published.
For readers who are interested in more subject-matter groupings, we present just such an index. Please note that many columns are cross-listed and appear in multiple subject sections.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT:
The Roots of Sprawl: Why We Don't Live Where We Work
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
Sprawl: What Happens When You Legislate Against Vibrant Streets
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Survey Says: How Thomas Jefferson Made the Streets of L.A.
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
Teddy Roosevelt's Signature Let Los Angeles Grow
How The Westside Became So Crowded
The End of the Road: The Idea That Took A Toll on How We Travel
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
My Way or the Highway: Why Mega-Roads Rule The City
The Birth of Sprawl: How Ending the Great Depression Meant Inventing the Suburbs
How CEQA Allows Anyone to Thwart Development
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
DESIGN:
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
Why Automobiles Look The Way They Do
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
Street Food is Not A Crime
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
ECOLOGY:
How Los Angeles Began to Put its Soggy Days Behind
Don't Bury Your Head in the Sand: Why The Clean Water Act Matters
When It Comes To Water, Why L.a. is Better Off Than Texas
When the Eco Zeitgeist Changed
Power Play: California, Electricity and Climate Change
How Yellowstone Led to Los Angeles
Teddy Roosevelt's Signature Let Los Angeles Grow
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
How CEQA Allows Anyone to Thwart Development
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
ECONOMY:
Proposition 13: The Sacred Cow That Won't GO Away
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
The Birth of Sprawl: How Ending the Great Depression Meant Inventing the Suburbs
Street Food is Not A Crime
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
ELECTIONS:
Dr. Strangevote, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Ballot Initiatives
ENERGY:
Power Play: California, Electricity and Climate Change
EQUAL RIGHTS:
Title IX: Why So Many More Women and Girls Play and Win at Sports
When California Decided Who Could Have Kids and Who Could Not
How World War II Era Internment Camps Changed Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and America
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
Skid Row's Toilet Woes: Where Going to the Bathroom is Illegal
FOOD:
Street Food is Not A Crime
When This Law Ended, What Happened to Mexican Immigration?
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
FREE SPEECH:
Los Angeles and the First Amendment
Why is Civic Activism and Journalism Legal and Who was Jerry Schneiderman?
HOMELESSSNESS:
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
Skid Row's Toilet Woes: Where Going to the Bathroom is Illegal
IMMIGRATION & ETHNICITY:
When This Law Ended, What Happened to Mexican Immigration?
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
The Immigration Law That Changed Postwar Chinatown
Street Food is Not A Crime
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
How World War II Era Internment Camps Changed Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and America
The Immigration Law That Shaped Postwar Chinatown
LABOR:
When This Law Ended, What Happened to Mexican Immigration?
PUBLIC HEALTH:
How Los Angeles Began to Put its Soggy Days Behind
Why Automobiles Look The Way They Do
Street Food is Not A Crime
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Don't Bury Your Head in the Ground: Why The Clean Water Act Matters
When the Eco Zeitgeist Changed
Behind California's Ban on Assault Weapons
When California Decided Who Could Have Kids and Who Could Not
When The Olympics and L.A. Youth Sports Changed Forever
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
PUBLIC SAFETY:
Why Los Angeles Isn't A Beach Town
Behind California's Ban on Assault Weapons
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
Skid Row's Toilet Woes: Where Going to the Bathroom is Illegal
SPORTS:
When The Olympics and L.A. Youth Sports Changed Forever
Title IX: Why So Many More Women and Girls Play and Win at Sports
TAXES:
Proposition 13: The Sacred Cow That Won't Go Away
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
TRANSPORTATION:
My Way or the Highway: Why Mega-Roads Rule The City
Why Automobiles Look The Way They Do
Free The Jitney! When Buses, Bicycles, Light Rail and Feet Aren't Enough
The End of the Road: The Idea That Took A Toll on How We Travel
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
How The Westside Became So Crowded
Survey Says: How Thomas Jefferson Made the Streets of LA
Bland 1976 Downtown skyline. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library
URBAN PLANNING
Why Los Angeles Isn't A Beach Town
The Roots of Sprawl: Why We Don't Live Where We Work
The Birth and Growth of City Planning
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
Does Zoning Matter in Los Angeles?
Sprawl: What Happens When You Legislate Against Vibrant Streets
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Survey Says: How Thomas Jefferson Made the Streets of LA
How Yellowstone Led to Los Angeles
How The Westside Became So Crowded
The End of the Road: The Idea That Took A Toll on How We Travel
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
Proposition 13: The Sacred Cow That Won't Go Away
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
My Way or the Highway: Why Mega-Roads Rule The City
The Birth of Sprawl: How Ending the Great Depression Meant Inventing the Suburbs
Free The Jitney! When Buses, Bicycles, Light Rail and Feet Aren't Enough
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
How CEQA Allows Anyone to Thwart Development
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
Channelizing the L.A. River. Image courtesy USC Digital Archives
WATER
Why Los Angeles Isn't a Beach Town
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Don't Bury Your Head in the Ground: Why The Clean Water Act Matters
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
When the Eco Zeitgeist Changed
Teddy Roosevelt's Signature Let Los Angeles Grow
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
When It Comes To Water, Why L.A. is Better Off Than Texas
Website: www.kcet.org/socal/departures/landofsunshine/laws-that-shaped-la/
For more than a year now, the Laws That Shaped L.A. column has been chronicling a running list of laws that a range of experts say have made a significant impact on the people and places of this region -- and oftentimes, far beyond.
As regular readers of the column know, the columns are automatically archived. That automatic archive appears chronologically by the date each column was published.
For readers who are interested in more subject-matter groupings, we present just such an index. Please note that many columns are cross-listed and appear in multiple subject sections.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT:
The Roots of Sprawl: Why We Don't Live Where We Work
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
Sprawl: What Happens When You Legislate Against Vibrant Streets
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Survey Says: How Thomas Jefferson Made the Streets of L.A.
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
Teddy Roosevelt's Signature Let Los Angeles Grow
How The Westside Became So Crowded
The End of the Road: The Idea That Took A Toll on How We Travel
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
My Way or the Highway: Why Mega-Roads Rule The City
The Birth of Sprawl: How Ending the Great Depression Meant Inventing the Suburbs
How CEQA Allows Anyone to Thwart Development
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
DESIGN:
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
Why Automobiles Look The Way They Do
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
Street Food is Not A Crime
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
ECOLOGY:
How Los Angeles Began to Put its Soggy Days Behind
Don't Bury Your Head in the Sand: Why The Clean Water Act Matters
When It Comes To Water, Why L.a. is Better Off Than Texas
When the Eco Zeitgeist Changed
Power Play: California, Electricity and Climate Change
How Yellowstone Led to Los Angeles
Teddy Roosevelt's Signature Let Los Angeles Grow
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
How CEQA Allows Anyone to Thwart Development
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
ECONOMY:
Proposition 13: The Sacred Cow That Won't GO Away
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
The Birth of Sprawl: How Ending the Great Depression Meant Inventing the Suburbs
Street Food is Not A Crime
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
ELECTIONS:
Dr. Strangevote, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Ballot Initiatives
ENERGY:
Power Play: California, Electricity and Climate Change
EQUAL RIGHTS:
Title IX: Why So Many More Women and Girls Play and Win at Sports
When California Decided Who Could Have Kids and Who Could Not
How World War II Era Internment Camps Changed Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and America
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
Skid Row's Toilet Woes: Where Going to the Bathroom is Illegal
FOOD:
Street Food is Not A Crime
When This Law Ended, What Happened to Mexican Immigration?
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
FREE SPEECH:
Los Angeles and the First Amendment
Why is Civic Activism and Journalism Legal and Who was Jerry Schneiderman?
HOMELESSSNESS:
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
Skid Row's Toilet Woes: Where Going to the Bathroom is Illegal
IMMIGRATION & ETHNICITY:
When This Law Ended, What Happened to Mexican Immigration?
The Under-Appreciated 1990 Immigration Law That Changed Koreatown
The Immigration Law That Changed Postwar Chinatown
Street Food is Not A Crime
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
How World War II Era Internment Camps Changed Little Tokyo, Los Angeles and America
The Immigration Law That Shaped Postwar Chinatown
LABOR:
When This Law Ended, What Happened to Mexican Immigration?
PUBLIC HEALTH:
How Los Angeles Began to Put its Soggy Days Behind
Why Automobiles Look The Way They Do
Street Food is Not A Crime
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Don't Bury Your Head in the Ground: Why The Clean Water Act Matters
When the Eco Zeitgeist Changed
Behind California's Ban on Assault Weapons
When California Decided Who Could Have Kids and Who Could Not
When The Olympics and L.A. Youth Sports Changed Forever
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
PUBLIC SAFETY:
Why Los Angeles Isn't A Beach Town
Behind California's Ban on Assault Weapons
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
Skid Row's Toilet Woes: Where Going to the Bathroom is Illegal
SPORTS:
When The Olympics and L.A. Youth Sports Changed Forever
Title IX: Why So Many More Women and Girls Play and Win at Sports
TAXES:
Proposition 13: The Sacred Cow That Won't Go Away
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
TRANSPORTATION:
My Way or the Highway: Why Mega-Roads Rule The City
Why Automobiles Look The Way They Do
Free The Jitney! When Buses, Bicycles, Light Rail and Feet Aren't Enough
The End of the Road: The Idea That Took A Toll on How We Travel
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
How The Westside Became So Crowded
Survey Says: How Thomas Jefferson Made the Streets of LA
Bland 1976 Downtown skyline. Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library
URBAN PLANNING
Why Los Angeles Isn't A Beach Town
The Roots of Sprawl: Why We Don't Live Where We Work
The Birth and Growth of City Planning
Why is the Los Angeles Skyline So Bland?
Does Zoning Matter in Los Angeles?
Sprawl: What Happens When You Legislate Against Vibrant Streets
How Bunker Hill Lost Its Victorians
How Downtown L.A. Became a Place to Live (Without Parking)
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Survey Says: How Thomas Jefferson Made the Streets of LA
How Yellowstone Led to Los Angeles
How The Westside Became So Crowded
The End of the Road: The Idea That Took A Toll on How We Travel
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
Proposition 13: The Sacred Cow That Won't Go Away
Prop 13's Hidden Effects on the Built Environment
How Rancho Owners Lost Their Land and Why That Matters Today
My Way or the Highway: Why Mega-Roads Rule The City
The Birth of Sprawl: How Ending the Great Depression Meant Inventing the Suburbs
Free The Jitney! When Buses, Bicycles, Light Rail and Feet Aren't Enough
How Prop 84 Helped the Homeless and Added Affordable Housing
How CEQA Allows Anyone to Thwart Development
In Defense of CEQA, the 'Bill of Rights' for Environmental Democracy
Channelizing the L.A. River. Image courtesy USC Digital Archives
WATER
Why Los Angeles Isn't a Beach Town
The Law That Killed The L.A. River
Don't Bury Your Head in the Ground: Why The Clean Water Act Matters
Why California's Beaches are Open to Everyone
When the Eco Zeitgeist Changed
Teddy Roosevelt's Signature Let Los Angeles Grow
Why Buildings Turn Their Backs on the L.A. River
When It Comes To Water, Why L.A. is Better Off Than Texas
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Metropolitan Policy Program
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.www.brookings.edu/about/programs/metro
www.urban-decay.livejournal.com
The Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings is redefining the challenges facing metropolitan America and identifying assets and promoting innovative solutions to help communities grow in more productive, inclusive, and sustainable ways.
Why metropolitan areas? They are the heart of the American economy. They are also our hubs of research and innovation, our centers of human capital, and our gateways of trade and immigration. Metropolitan areas drive the economy, and American competitiveness depends on their vitality.
More than ever, this is a national imperative as our global competitors move aggressively down this path — boosting exports, investing in innovation, scaling up clean technology, and embarking on large scale transformative projects.
In its fifteen years, the Metro Program has become the nation's go-to organization for chronicling the dynamic demographic, economic, and social forces sweeping our country and interpreting what these forces mean for metropolitan areas.
It has worked closely with states and metropolitan areas to design a new metropolitan agenda that matches the pace and intensity of demographic change and economic restructuring. It has partnered with corporate, civic, community, environmental, and political leaders to implement this agenda, either in whole or in part through the enactment of meaningful initiatives and fundamental change.
This includes work in a diverse array of states such as Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and a diverse array of metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
While the Metro Program conducts most of its work outside of the Beltway, it led a successful federally-focused initiative known as the Blueprint for American Prosperity, which promoted an economic agenda for the nation that built on the assets and centrality of its metropolitan areas.
The Blueprint’s research (MetroNation) and policy ideas (MetroPolicy and the Blueprint Policy Series) informed over ten federal initiatives since 2009.
Over the past few years, the Metro Program has continued to influence policy and practice across the country. Anticipating the toll that the Great Recession would take on metropolitan areas and states, as well as the shifts necessary to move from a consumption-oriented economy to a more productive and sustainable economic growth model, the program realigned its research, policy ideas, practice development, and network-building activities in service of the next economy.
This is an economy that is fueled by innovation, powered by low carbon, driven by exports, rich with opportunity, and fundamentally metropolitan in form and function.
It will also produce more jobs and better jobs, as well as more accessible jobs and opportunities for more metropolitan residents. It will also build smarter and more sustainable places that embrace demographic change, technological progress, and a better quality of life for all citizens.
Led by co-directors and founders Bruce Katz and Amy Liu, the Metro Program helps metropolitan leadership apply the next economy framework by:
- economically situating metropolitan areas through rigorous trend and empirical research on the top economic, social and demographic issues;,
- innovating locally through co-designing metropolitan economic development strategies that build on distinct assets,
- advocating nationally by producing state and federal policy ideas and platforms that are in service of metropolitan areas, and
- networking globally by linking decision makers to a global network of trading metropolitan areas.
Website: www.www.brookings.edu/about/programs/metro
www.urban-decay.livejournal.com
The Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings is redefining the challenges facing metropolitan America and identifying assets and promoting innovative solutions to help communities grow in more productive, inclusive, and sustainable ways.
Why metropolitan areas? They are the heart of the American economy. They are also our hubs of research and innovation, our centers of human capital, and our gateways of trade and immigration. Metropolitan areas drive the economy, and American competitiveness depends on their vitality.
More than ever, this is a national imperative as our global competitors move aggressively down this path — boosting exports, investing in innovation, scaling up clean technology, and embarking on large scale transformative projects.
In its fifteen years, the Metro Program has become the nation's go-to organization for chronicling the dynamic demographic, economic, and social forces sweeping our country and interpreting what these forces mean for metropolitan areas.
It has worked closely with states and metropolitan areas to design a new metropolitan agenda that matches the pace and intensity of demographic change and economic restructuring. It has partnered with corporate, civic, community, environmental, and political leaders to implement this agenda, either in whole or in part through the enactment of meaningful initiatives and fundamental change.
This includes work in a diverse array of states such as Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and a diverse array of metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisville, Miami, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
While the Metro Program conducts most of its work outside of the Beltway, it led a successful federally-focused initiative known as the Blueprint for American Prosperity, which promoted an economic agenda for the nation that built on the assets and centrality of its metropolitan areas.
The Blueprint’s research (MetroNation) and policy ideas (MetroPolicy and the Blueprint Policy Series) informed over ten federal initiatives since 2009.
Over the past few years, the Metro Program has continued to influence policy and practice across the country. Anticipating the toll that the Great Recession would take on metropolitan areas and states, as well as the shifts necessary to move from a consumption-oriented economy to a more productive and sustainable economic growth model, the program realigned its research, policy ideas, practice development, and network-building activities in service of the next economy.
This is an economy that is fueled by innovation, powered by low carbon, driven by exports, rich with opportunity, and fundamentally metropolitan in form and function.
It will also produce more jobs and better jobs, as well as more accessible jobs and opportunities for more metropolitan residents. It will also build smarter and more sustainable places that embrace demographic change, technological progress, and a better quality of life for all citizens.
Led by co-directors and founders Bruce Katz and Amy Liu, the Metro Program helps metropolitan leadership apply the next economy framework by:
- economically situating metropolitan areas through rigorous trend and empirical research on the top economic, social and demographic issues;,
- innovating locally through co-designing metropolitan economic development strategies that build on distinct assets,
- advocating nationally by producing state and federal policy ideas and platforms that are in service of metropolitan areas, and
- networking globally by linking decision makers to a global network of trading metropolitan areas.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Cities Today
Location: International
Website: www.cities-today.com
Cities Today is the leading magazine on sustainable development of cities. PFD Media launched the magazine as United Cities in 2010 at the Third UCLG World Congress of Mayors and Local Governments in Mexico City and at the Mayors’ World Summit on Climate.
Having worked on publications focusing on urban development for the World Bank, UN-HABITAT, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank, PFD’s editorial team saw the opportunity to launch the first global publication dedicated to city leaders.
Bringing together the experience of the multilateral sector with that of the private sector and the local governments themselves, the magazine focuses on the challenges and solutions for city leaders and local governments.
Analysis, case studies and features cover transport, energy, construction, public safety, infrastructure, planning, finance, and the use of Information and Communication Technology in urban development and management.
The magazine was rebranded as Cities Today in 2012 to reflect that the magazine was being produced with a new and diverse editorial board that includes not only members of UCLG but also all of the key intergovernmental agencies and city associations active in urban development. Cities Today’s editorial advisory board includes experts from the World Bank, UNEP, UN-HABITAT, ICLEI, C40, FLACMA, ISOCARP and UCLG ASPAC.
Website: www.cities-today.com
Cities Today is the leading magazine on sustainable development of cities. PFD Media launched the magazine as United Cities in 2010 at the Third UCLG World Congress of Mayors and Local Governments in Mexico City and at the Mayors’ World Summit on Climate.
Having worked on publications focusing on urban development for the World Bank, UN-HABITAT, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank, PFD’s editorial team saw the opportunity to launch the first global publication dedicated to city leaders.
Bringing together the experience of the multilateral sector with that of the private sector and the local governments themselves, the magazine focuses on the challenges and solutions for city leaders and local governments.
Analysis, case studies and features cover transport, energy, construction, public safety, infrastructure, planning, finance, and the use of Information and Communication Technology in urban development and management.
The magazine was rebranded as Cities Today in 2012 to reflect that the magazine was being produced with a new and diverse editorial board that includes not only members of UCLG but also all of the key intergovernmental agencies and city associations active in urban development. Cities Today’s editorial advisory board includes experts from the World Bank, UNEP, UN-HABITAT, ICLEI, C40, FLACMA, ISOCARP and UCLG ASPAC.
American Urbex
Location: Nationwide
Website: www.americanurbex.com
The main goal of American Urbex is to mashup three categories of research material: rich visual media, geolocation, and information. This website began as a project for a Library Media Sciences course at UW-Whitewater. The site is operated by Ken Fager – grad student, Wisconsin licensed instructor, photographer and adventurer.
America has a rich tapestry of historical places throughout the nation. Some are pretty difficult to find, but most are hidden in plain sight.
Every day people walk past them without bothering to ask questions. Why are they there? What function did they serve? Who were the people that dwelled here? Why did they leave? Beyond the main goal this website advocates the exploration of urbex locations in the interest of education, adventure, and preservation.
All legitimate requests can be sent to the administrator. American Urbex reserves the right not to divulge location information.
Website: www.americanurbex.com
The main goal of American Urbex is to mashup three categories of research material: rich visual media, geolocation, and information. This website began as a project for a Library Media Sciences course at UW-Whitewater. The site is operated by Ken Fager – grad student, Wisconsin licensed instructor, photographer and adventurer.
America has a rich tapestry of historical places throughout the nation. Some are pretty difficult to find, but most are hidden in plain sight.
Every day people walk past them without bothering to ask questions. Why are they there? What function did they serve? Who were the people that dwelled here? Why did they leave? Beyond the main goal this website advocates the exploration of urbex locations in the interest of education, adventure, and preservation.
All legitimate requests can be sent to the administrator. American Urbex reserves the right not to divulge location information.
Friday, March 8, 2013
The Architecture Foundation
Location: Great Britain
Website: www.architecturefoundation.org.uk
The Architecture Foundation is a non-profit agency that advances architecture and urbanism to enrich life now and in future. We are independent, agile and influential.
We bring together the public and professionals to cultivate new ideas and talent, stimulate discussion, and improve the quality of the built environment.
Established in 1991 as the UK's first independent architecture centre, The Architecture Foundation has organised hundreds of design initiatives, events, exhibitions and education programmes in public venues across Britain and internationally.
The Architecture Foundation is a registered charity, with a Board of Trustees composed of individuals from a wide cross-section of interests and professions including architecture, art, business, policy, media, engineering and law. The AF is proud to be an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
Before moving to its current Carmody Groarke-designed headquarters in Southwark (including the David Kohn-designed Skyroom), The Architecture Foundation has occupied high-profile and publicly-accessible venues across London including the Yard Gallery in Clerkenwell, and its original premises in the Economist Building, St James's.
The Architecture Foundation's diverse and cross-disciplinary programme includes:
- Events from film screenings to lectures and debates,
- Exhibitions that experiment with representations of architecture,
- Competitions and commissions for buildings and public spaces,
- Awards that celebrate excellence in contemporary architecture and urbanism,
- Education projects, focusing on young people considering further built environment study, and
- A wide range of other Projects including the New Architects international exchange programme and the London Festival of Architecture.
Website: www.architecturefoundation.org.uk
The Architecture Foundation is a non-profit agency that advances architecture and urbanism to enrich life now and in future. We are independent, agile and influential.
We bring together the public and professionals to cultivate new ideas and talent, stimulate discussion, and improve the quality of the built environment.
Established in 1991 as the UK's first independent architecture centre, The Architecture Foundation has organised hundreds of design initiatives, events, exhibitions and education programmes in public venues across Britain and internationally.
The Architecture Foundation is a registered charity, with a Board of Trustees composed of individuals from a wide cross-section of interests and professions including architecture, art, business, policy, media, engineering and law. The AF is proud to be an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.
Before moving to its current Carmody Groarke-designed headquarters in Southwark (including the David Kohn-designed Skyroom), The Architecture Foundation has occupied high-profile and publicly-accessible venues across London including the Yard Gallery in Clerkenwell, and its original premises in the Economist Building, St James's.
The Architecture Foundation's diverse and cross-disciplinary programme includes:
- Events from film screenings to lectures and debates,
- Exhibitions that experiment with representations of architecture,
- Competitions and commissions for buildings and public spaces,
- Awards that celebrate excellence in contemporary architecture and urbanism,
- Education projects, focusing on young people considering further built environment study, and
- A wide range of other Projects including the New Architects international exchange programme and the London Festival of Architecture.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Metropolitan Research Center
Location: Utah
Website: www.metroresearch.utah.edu
The first decade of the 21st century witnessed a tipping point: For the first time in human history, more people live in metropolitan areas than outside them. The world’s population, which doubled from 3 billion in 1960 to 6 billion in 2000, is projected to reach about 9 billion by 2050 before leveling off. Two-thirds of the world’s population will then live in metropolitan areas. This will stress on the world’s ecological, economic and political systems more so than presently.
The mission of the Metropolitan Research Center is to conduct basic and applied research on the built environment at the metropolitan scale, focusing on key forces shaping metropolitan form such as demographics, environment, technology, design, transportation, arts and culture, and governance. It seeks to expand knowledge in city and metropolitan affairs to improve policy and practice, and educate the general public on important issues facing communities.
The Metropolitan Research Center shares knowledge through events, presentations, publications, a website and media outreach.
The Center is part of the strategic plan of the College of Architecture + Planning. That plan includes reshaping the undergraduate planning degree to be more inclusive of units across the University, launching a nationally accredited Master of City and Metropolitan Planning degree, creating a new Ph.D. in Metropolitan Planning, Policy and Design, and initiating the Metropolitan Research Center.
The Center engages faculty and students from all three degree programs and other units across the University that are natural partners.
Development in the US between 2005 and 2040 will further stress systems. More than 100 million new Americans are expected along with about 60 million new jobs. Two million homes will need to be built each year and non-residential construction may top two billion square feet annually.
The Wasatch Front may double to more than four million people holding 2.5 million jobs. More than three-quarters of all non-residential space existing in 2000 will be rebuilt, as will a quarter of all homes. Nationally, development during this period is projected to exceed in volume two-thirds of everything built today, at a cost of more than $50 trillion; development in the Wasatch Front will exceed $500 billion.
Website: www.metroresearch.utah.edu
The first decade of the 21st century witnessed a tipping point: For the first time in human history, more people live in metropolitan areas than outside them. The world’s population, which doubled from 3 billion in 1960 to 6 billion in 2000, is projected to reach about 9 billion by 2050 before leveling off. Two-thirds of the world’s population will then live in metropolitan areas. This will stress on the world’s ecological, economic and political systems more so than presently.
The mission of the Metropolitan Research Center is to conduct basic and applied research on the built environment at the metropolitan scale, focusing on key forces shaping metropolitan form such as demographics, environment, technology, design, transportation, arts and culture, and governance. It seeks to expand knowledge in city and metropolitan affairs to improve policy and practice, and educate the general public on important issues facing communities.
The Metropolitan Research Center shares knowledge through events, presentations, publications, a website and media outreach.
The Center is part of the strategic plan of the College of Architecture + Planning. That plan includes reshaping the undergraduate planning degree to be more inclusive of units across the University, launching a nationally accredited Master of City and Metropolitan Planning degree, creating a new Ph.D. in Metropolitan Planning, Policy and Design, and initiating the Metropolitan Research Center.
The Center engages faculty and students from all three degree programs and other units across the University that are natural partners.
Development in the US between 2005 and 2040 will further stress systems. More than 100 million new Americans are expected along with about 60 million new jobs. Two million homes will need to be built each year and non-residential construction may top two billion square feet annually.
The Wasatch Front may double to more than four million people holding 2.5 million jobs. More than three-quarters of all non-residential space existing in 2000 will be rebuilt, as will a quarter of all homes. Nationally, development during this period is projected to exceed in volume two-thirds of everything built today, at a cost of more than $50 trillion; development in the Wasatch Front will exceed $500 billion.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Energy Efficient Buildings Hub
Location: Philadelphia , PA
Website: www.eebhub.org
The Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub) was established in Philadelphia by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as an Energy-Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC) on February 1, 2011 with a unique dual mission of improving energy efficiency in buildings—literally re-energizing them for the future—and promoting regional economic growth and job creation from our headquarters in Philadelphia's Navy Yard, one of the nation's largest and most dynamic redevelopment opportunities.
Federal funding for the EEB Hub’s first five years of operation comes primarily from the Department of Energy (DOE), with additional contributions from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Small Business Administration (SBA). The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is providing separate funding for EEB Hub facilities, while EEB Hub participants will also make cost-sharing contributions.
Our energy efficiency goal is ambitious: to reduce energy use in the regional-Philadelphia commercial buildings sector by 20 percent by 2020.
To reach this goal, our efforts are concentrated on accelerating the adoption of Advanced Energy Retrofits of average size commercial buildings. An Advanced Energy Retrofit is one that makes use of new but proven technologies, systems and processes to achieve significant energy and, ultimately, economic savings.
We must therefore design, demonstrate, and deploy customized retrofits that are both technically sound and financially feasible in the Greater Philadelphia region. That is why a major initial activity of the EEB Hub is the Advanced Energy Retrofit of Building 661 at the Navy Yard, a former U.S. Navy recreation building.
This project will demonstrate that innovative energy saving technologies will:
- Achieve high performance outcomes,
- Save considerable money over time,
- Create value for building owners, and
- Enhance the comfort and productivity of occupants.
The EEB Hub will achieve its goal through informed people, validated information, and proven technologies.
Our objectives are:
- To develop and deploy to the building industry a state-of-the-art modeling platform to integrate design, construction, commissioning, and operation
- To demonstrate the market viability of energy saving technologies for whole building system solutions at the Navy Yard and elsewhere in the region
- To identify policies that accelerate market adoption of energy efficient retrofits of commercial buildings and support policy makers in the development of such policies in the Greater Philadelphia region
- To inform, train, and educate people about proven energy saving strategies and technologies whether they design, own, construct, maintain, or occupy buildings
- To help launch business ventures that will exploit market opportunities for providing whole building energy saving solutions
- The EEB Hub will also help foster job creation in the commercial building energy retrofit sector in the Greater Philadelphia region. In addition, our work will further develop the Navy Yard as a global center for energy efficient building research, development, demonstration, and deployment.
As the EEB Hub’s consortium of leading scientists and engineers collaborate to overcome critical energy challenges, we will identify new retrofit service and technology opportunities and support emerging business models for new ventures that leverage these opportunities for providing new and comprehensive retrofit solutions.
As initially configured, the EEB Hub included 22 performer organizations made up of research universities, DOE laboratories, industrial firms, economic development agencies, and community and technical colleges. Rather than a closed consortium, however, we are a dynamic association of members unified by the vision and mission of enabling the nation to reach the national goal of cutting energy usage in commercial buildings by “20 percent by 2020."
The EEB Hub is responsive and performance-driven, so we have the flexibility to modify and refine objectives, and reset milestones to provide the nation’s building sector with the best set of deliverables possible.
The EEB Hub is engaging key stakeholders in the retrofit decision process to serve as an informational, motivational, and practical resource for the various constituencies that will help carry our vision forward.
We facilitate education, cross-pollination and collaboration among:
- Commercial building owners, operators and occupants,
- Architects, engineers, construction firms and building system suppliers,
- Policy-makers and economic development organizations, and
- Workforce development organizations and educational institutions.
Energy independence is a goal widely supported for both economic and security reasons. Just imagine: the commercial building sector uses approximately 20 quadrillion BTUs annually. (1 quadrillion BTUs is equal to the annual energy output of forty 1,000 megawatt power plants!) A 20 percent reduction can dramatically and quickly help move the nation closer to its energy independence goal. The strategies and programs of the EEB Hub can have a transformative effect on how energy in this country is used, allowing energy management to become an operating reality for the commercial real estate sector. We are part of the solution. And we invite you to take part with us.
Website: www.eebhub.org
The Energy Efficient Buildings Hub (EEB Hub) was established in Philadelphia by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as an Energy-Regional Innovation Cluster (E-RIC) on February 1, 2011 with a unique dual mission of improving energy efficiency in buildings—literally re-energizing them for the future—and promoting regional economic growth and job creation from our headquarters in Philadelphia's Navy Yard, one of the nation's largest and most dynamic redevelopment opportunities.
Federal funding for the EEB Hub’s first five years of operation comes primarily from the Department of Energy (DOE), with additional contributions from the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Small Business Administration (SBA). The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is providing separate funding for EEB Hub facilities, while EEB Hub participants will also make cost-sharing contributions.
Our energy efficiency goal is ambitious: to reduce energy use in the regional-Philadelphia commercial buildings sector by 20 percent by 2020.
To reach this goal, our efforts are concentrated on accelerating the adoption of Advanced Energy Retrofits of average size commercial buildings. An Advanced Energy Retrofit is one that makes use of new but proven technologies, systems and processes to achieve significant energy and, ultimately, economic savings.
We must therefore design, demonstrate, and deploy customized retrofits that are both technically sound and financially feasible in the Greater Philadelphia region. That is why a major initial activity of the EEB Hub is the Advanced Energy Retrofit of Building 661 at the Navy Yard, a former U.S. Navy recreation building.
This project will demonstrate that innovative energy saving technologies will:
- Achieve high performance outcomes,
- Save considerable money over time,
- Create value for building owners, and
- Enhance the comfort and productivity of occupants.
The EEB Hub will achieve its goal through informed people, validated information, and proven technologies.
Our objectives are:
- To develop and deploy to the building industry a state-of-the-art modeling platform to integrate design, construction, commissioning, and operation
- To demonstrate the market viability of energy saving technologies for whole building system solutions at the Navy Yard and elsewhere in the region
- To identify policies that accelerate market adoption of energy efficient retrofits of commercial buildings and support policy makers in the development of such policies in the Greater Philadelphia region
- To inform, train, and educate people about proven energy saving strategies and technologies whether they design, own, construct, maintain, or occupy buildings
- To help launch business ventures that will exploit market opportunities for providing whole building energy saving solutions
- The EEB Hub will also help foster job creation in the commercial building energy retrofit sector in the Greater Philadelphia region. In addition, our work will further develop the Navy Yard as a global center for energy efficient building research, development, demonstration, and deployment.
As the EEB Hub’s consortium of leading scientists and engineers collaborate to overcome critical energy challenges, we will identify new retrofit service and technology opportunities and support emerging business models for new ventures that leverage these opportunities for providing new and comprehensive retrofit solutions.
As initially configured, the EEB Hub included 22 performer organizations made up of research universities, DOE laboratories, industrial firms, economic development agencies, and community and technical colleges. Rather than a closed consortium, however, we are a dynamic association of members unified by the vision and mission of enabling the nation to reach the national goal of cutting energy usage in commercial buildings by “20 percent by 2020."
The EEB Hub is responsive and performance-driven, so we have the flexibility to modify and refine objectives, and reset milestones to provide the nation’s building sector with the best set of deliverables possible.
The EEB Hub is engaging key stakeholders in the retrofit decision process to serve as an informational, motivational, and practical resource for the various constituencies that will help carry our vision forward.
We facilitate education, cross-pollination and collaboration among:
- Commercial building owners, operators and occupants,
- Architects, engineers, construction firms and building system suppliers,
- Policy-makers and economic development organizations, and
- Workforce development organizations and educational institutions.
Energy independence is a goal widely supported for both economic and security reasons. Just imagine: the commercial building sector uses approximately 20 quadrillion BTUs annually. (1 quadrillion BTUs is equal to the annual energy output of forty 1,000 megawatt power plants!) A 20 percent reduction can dramatically and quickly help move the nation closer to its energy independence goal. The strategies and programs of the EEB Hub can have a transformative effect on how energy in this country is used, allowing energy management to become an operating reality for the commercial real estate sector. We are part of the solution. And we invite you to take part with us.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
African Centre for Cities
Location: Africa
Website: www.africancentreforcitiess.net
The ACC seeks to facilitate critical urban research and policy discourses for the promotion of vibrant, democratic and sustainable urban development in the global South from an African perspective.
In mid 2007, UCT Signature Theme funding was awarded to the Cities in Africa Project, which was a collaborative venture between the Faculties of Engineering and the Built Environment (EBE), Science and Humanities. The initiative is located within the EBE Faculty.
The Signature Theme builds on an interdisciplinary network of academics across these three faculties, which emerged during 2005 and 2006, and which was supported in 2006 by EBE funding.
This network in turn, had emerged as a result of an initiative by the Ove Arup Foundation, which had committed funds towards the establishment of an interdisciplinary masters programme in EBE (Urban Infrastructure Design and Management) in 2005, on the understanding that faculty staff would raise further funding for a related research initiative.
In 2007, the proposed new director of the Theme was also granted an NRF Research Chair in Urban Policy, allowing the alignment of these two initiatives.
Professor Edgar Pieterse was appointed to lead the Theme and take up the Chair, and he took up office in August 2007. Since then, there has been a process to rename the initiative as the African Centre for Cities to denote the focus on urban research in the global South but from an African perspective.
The ACC is a response to the growing recognition world-wide of the importance of cities, and particularly cities in the developing world. In South Africa this is reflected in the increasingly urban emphasis in policy documents at both national and provincial level.
The sense is one of impending crisis, with the realisation that rapid urbanisation also raises issues of adequate food supply, affordable shelter, employment opportunities, water and waste management, public transportation, crime and disease, and environmental degradation and climate change. These challenges intertwine with critical social processes such as exclusion and conflict, which require effective socio-political management institutions and processes.
Achieving well governed and sustainable cities is becoming increasingly important to the future health of the planet. And yet most policy 'solutions' continue to be generated by the large aid and development agencies of the global North, with a generally poor track-record of successful interventions in the very different context of Africa and the global South.
The central objective of the African Centre for Cities is to provide a base from which critique and alternatives in relation to urban issues can be launched. In Africa, South Africa and across UCT, urban-related research is highly fragmented.
The aims of the Centre are therefore two-fold to partner closely with policy-making centres in the public sector in South Africa (national, provincial, local) and subsequently more widely to provide an alternative perspective on dealing with critical urban issues; secondly to provide an intellectual base and home for interdisciplinary, urban-related research at UCT, from which relations can be established with selected international funders and think-tanks.
Website: www.africancentreforcitiess.net
The ACC seeks to facilitate critical urban research and policy discourses for the promotion of vibrant, democratic and sustainable urban development in the global South from an African perspective.
In mid 2007, UCT Signature Theme funding was awarded to the Cities in Africa Project, which was a collaborative venture between the Faculties of Engineering and the Built Environment (EBE), Science and Humanities. The initiative is located within the EBE Faculty.
The Signature Theme builds on an interdisciplinary network of academics across these three faculties, which emerged during 2005 and 2006, and which was supported in 2006 by EBE funding.
This network in turn, had emerged as a result of an initiative by the Ove Arup Foundation, which had committed funds towards the establishment of an interdisciplinary masters programme in EBE (Urban Infrastructure Design and Management) in 2005, on the understanding that faculty staff would raise further funding for a related research initiative.
In 2007, the proposed new director of the Theme was also granted an NRF Research Chair in Urban Policy, allowing the alignment of these two initiatives.
Professor Edgar Pieterse was appointed to lead the Theme and take up the Chair, and he took up office in August 2007. Since then, there has been a process to rename the initiative as the African Centre for Cities to denote the focus on urban research in the global South but from an African perspective.
The ACC is a response to the growing recognition world-wide of the importance of cities, and particularly cities in the developing world. In South Africa this is reflected in the increasingly urban emphasis in policy documents at both national and provincial level.
The sense is one of impending crisis, with the realisation that rapid urbanisation also raises issues of adequate food supply, affordable shelter, employment opportunities, water and waste management, public transportation, crime and disease, and environmental degradation and climate change. These challenges intertwine with critical social processes such as exclusion and conflict, which require effective socio-political management institutions and processes.
Achieving well governed and sustainable cities is becoming increasingly important to the future health of the planet. And yet most policy 'solutions' continue to be generated by the large aid and development agencies of the global North, with a generally poor track-record of successful interventions in the very different context of Africa and the global South.
The central objective of the African Centre for Cities is to provide a base from which critique and alternatives in relation to urban issues can be launched. In Africa, South Africa and across UCT, urban-related research is highly fragmented.
The aims of the Centre are therefore two-fold to partner closely with policy-making centres in the public sector in South Africa (national, provincial, local) and subsequently more widely to provide an alternative perspective on dealing with critical urban issues; secondly to provide an intellectual base and home for interdisciplinary, urban-related research at UCT, from which relations can be established with selected international funders and think-tanks.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
University of California Transportation Connection
Location: California
Website: www.ictc.net
Our consortium focuses on three themes identified by USDOT in its strategic plan—environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability—and, importantly, the connections between them.
Advancing each of these objectives is important in and of itself; however, our UTC recognizes that the three are closely inter-twined and oftentimes co-dependent. Our UTC will thus give particular attention to the synergies that can be created and cross purposes that are served when working in a coordinated fashion on all three fronts.
The choice of these three themes reflects the breadth, depth, and wealth of knowledge and research capacities found across the six core members of our consortium. There is no better intellectual environment for conducting cutting-edge research and advancing basic and applied knowledge in these areas than across the campuses of the University of California.
Our three themes are also highly relevant to the multitude of contemporary policy and technological challenges currently facing the transportation sectors of California and other southwestern states. We aim to be the “Go To” organization for federal modal administrations, California agencies, and policy-makers throughout Region 9 seeking well-informed advice, carefully designed research investigations, and rapid-response studies on these and related topics.
California is a particularly appropriate setting for focusing on the three strategic themes chosen by our consortium. Currently, California makes up 12 percent of the nation’s population and contributes to 13.3 percent of its GDP, exceeding the economic output of all of Italy. The state’s ecological footprint is also enormous.
Only the US as a whole and China consume more oil than California. Presently, the typical Californian produces 11 tons of carbon dioxide per year, nearly half coming from the transport sector, making California the world’s 12th largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The state is also home to the six smoggiest air basins in the nation.
California, however, is also internationally known as an incubator of innovation and progressive change. It has long been a national leader in enacting legislation that protects natural environments, promotes clean-fuel technologies, and shrinks the transportation sector’s carbon footprint. California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (Assembly Bill 32), passed in 2006, calls for reducing carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
A companion bill, Senate Bill 375, specifically targets the integration of transportation and land-use systems as a tool for achieving AB 32 GHG-reduction targets. Under the bill, metropolitan areas throughout the state must introduce strategies that curb sprawl and promote less carbon-intensive built forms like transit-oriented development (TOD). Both the marketplace and public policies are responding.
Today, California has more plug-in hybrids, CNG buses, miles of High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV), Toll (HOT), and management lanes, and weekly vanpoolers than any state. What we do in California is of huge importance, not just to Californians, but also the nation and entire world.
As the gateway to the Pacific Rim, California is also a vital link in the movement of freight and goods throughout America. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the nation’s busiest.
The state’s two largest airports, LAX and SFO, rank in the top 10 of total annual enplanements. Expediting the flow of freight and materials in and out of ports in ways that promote economic growth without harming natural and built environments or disadvantaged communities poses both logistical and public-policy challenges.
Intra- and interstate commerce will only pick up if and when the planned High Speed Rail through the spine of the state gets built. Our consortium is up to the task of tackling the kinds of technological and public-policy challenges posed by large-scale infrastructure investments, now and in the future.
Below, we elaborate on the three strategic themes and the kind of attention and focus our consortium plans to give them.
Environmental sustainability is vital for creating clean, healthy, and functional cities and regions of the future. The transport of people and goods consumes nearly three-quarters of the nation’s petroleum, emits around a third of greenhouse gases, and is responsible for around half of urban air pollution.
Fossil fuel-based travel also negatively impacts air quality, water quality, and habitat quality, with serious implications for economic well-being, human health, natural ecologies, and the long-term environmental sustainability of the planet. Finding ways to shrink the sector’s ecological footprint are national, state, and local priorities.
Our consortium is well-positioned to take on these challenges. As one of the world’s preeminent loci for advanced research and education on environmental sustainability, UC campuses have provided critical knowledge and modeling tools that underpin an array of transport-related GHG-reduction policies and laws. In the case of low-carbon fuel standards,
California’s governor formally requested assistance from UC via an Executive Order to develop a policy to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. A team of UC Berkeley and UC Davis researchers carried out original scientific research and then designed a draft low-carbon fuel standard to meet a host of economic, social equity, legal, and administrative objectives. It was adopted in nearly identical form to what was recommended and is now being imitated by a large number of states and countries, including British Columbia, the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, and the European Union.
California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) also requested UC to evaluate the design of a fee-bate program (whereby consumers pay a fee when buying a gas guzzler car and receive a rebate for an efficient car). That analysis, headed by ITS-Davis, is now under consideration by the State.
Technological advances, such as clean-fuel vehicles and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that improve traffic flows, are part of the solution for creating sustainable futures. However, so are strategies that moderate the growth in vehicular travel without reducing the nation’s continually growing demand for social and economic interaction.
More policy-oriented strategies that complement technological ones include demand management techniques, such as improved pricing and management of parking, eco-driving, as well as land-use approaches, such as TOD, that promote alternative means of travel. UC researchers have been providing support to the California ARB and other agencies on synthesizing the evidence and developing tools for forecasting the effectiveness of such strategies.
The pitting of technological and more policy oriented strategies as an “either/or” proposition is, we believe, a false dichotomy. Advances are needed on both fronts. Electric vehicle (EV) technologies and smart growth communities, for example, are wholly compatible.
Limited-range EVs/plug-in hybrids are particularly well-suited to compact, mixed-use communities that shorten travel distances. Modern technologies (e.g., global positioning systems and automatic vehicle location) enable real-time dynamic pricing tied to vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) and congestion levels and at the same time can strengthen the social, economic, and cultural vibrancy of core cities.
Central London, Singapore, and Stockholm have not suffered from the introduction of higher peak-period tolls. Or take the case of smart-parking technologies. An estimated 25 percent of all traffic in some districts of San Francisco and Los Angeles is made up of motorists cruising for parking. Smart technologies (e.g., sensors in parking spaces that monitor occupancy) can reduce such cruising, inform motorists of the closest available space, and allow dynamic pricing of parking (i.e., higher fees in congested times; lower ones in slack periods).
Such technologies not only shrink parking’s enormous footprint, but also improve the quality of urban environments and in so doing encourage less carbon-intensive modes of travel, including walking and cycling.
Economic competitiveness has always been a core focus of transportation planning and engineering since efficient transportation systems and operations are vital toward sustained economic growth and prosperity. The nation’s economy relies crucially on its systems of highways, ports, and mass transportation to swiftly and safely move raw materials, labor, manufactured products, component parts, and ideas to produce and exchange goods and services.
Bottlenecks on highways leading to and from ports, unreliable mass transit systems, and deteriorating traffic conditions can strangle economic growth and, if left unchecked, place America’s cities and regions at a global economic disadvantage. In 2009, the congestion “invoice” for the extra time and fuel spent moving people and goods in America’s 439 urban areas reached $115 billion. Policy-makers well understand this.
The Economist Intelligence Unit Global Survey, released in September 2010, reported that 61 percent of mayors worldwide believed that “improving public transport and roads” is the most important way “to make their cities more competitive for businesses.” As home to the busiest port in the nation and four of America’s 22 most congested urbanized areas,
California has a vested economic stake in planning, designing, operating, managing, and pricing multi-modal transportation facilities and services in the most efficient, resourceful way possible.
The University of California has established itself as an intellectual leader in such areas as traffic operations, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and transportation/land-use integration. Major advances in the field of traffic flow theory originated at UC Berkeley, which has over the years spawned the world’s leading systems for traffic measurement through loop detectors (Caltrans Performance Measure System-PeMS) and video surveillance (developed at the Berkeley Highway Laboratory) as well as freeway traffic control through ramp-metering (Tools for Operational Planning-TOPL).
UC campuses also have an established track record at integrating travel-demand models in ways that inform and shape public policies. For example, UC Santa Barbara’s GIS-based travel forecasting tools (SimAGENT) and UC Irvine’s advanced traffic simulation models are being integrated to predict regional transportation flows, and in turn are being linked to UC Davis’s urban land-use model PECAS (Production Exchange Consumption Allocation System) to estimate impacts on fuel consumption and GHG emissions.
Another successful collaboration has been the integration of advanced traffic monitoring technologies (based on GPS-enabled cellular phones) developed by UC Berkeley researchers with vehicle emission measurement tools developed at UC Riverside (and certified by USEPA and the California Air Resources Board as the gold standard for on-road testing).
Economic competitiveness is not just about moving people and freight swiftly, safely, and cleanly. Desirable and therefore competitive places are also socially inclusive and diverse. Equity concerns have been especially prominent in the research of UC scholars. UCLA researchers have examined the equity of road and transit pricing in comparison with other finance techniques commonly used to pay for transportation infrastructure and services.
Studies have also shown that efforts to curb automobile use may help to clean the environment, but for many segments of society can lead to social exclusion and negative economic outcomes. Scholars from UCLA and UC Berkeley have published among the most widely cited work to date on topics like impacts of transportation programs on welfare-to-work, spatial mismatches and employment outcomes, and equity consequences of alternative road, parking, and transit pricing schemes.
Livability continues to gain importance as a national, state, and local goal because it is intimately related to social well-being, peoples’ attachment to community and place, and healthy living. Livable communities feature well-designed streetscapes, attractive civic spaces, the inter-mixing of land uses, “complete streets” that promote walking and cycling, and Safe Routes to School.
Such environments are increasingly in high demand. We know this not only from public opinion polls but also real-estate markets. High-quality urban and suburban districts and well-designed places often command sizeable rent and land-value premiums. Importantly, the livability movement elevates accessibility, i.e., the ability of people to reach the places they wish to go, as an overarching goal in transportation planning and investment.
Expediting traffic flows is certainly critical to creating accessible cities and regions, but so are urban designs that bring trip origins and destinations closer and information-technological advances that allow social and economic interactions without necessarily physical movements.
Scholars from several UC campuses, notably Santa Barbara, Irvine, Berkeley, and Davis, have developed state-of-the-art transportation land use models and other planning tools that gauge impacts of livability-sustainability scenarios on accessibility, community well-being, and social equity.
The SimAGENT model, an activity-based forecasting model, was developed by scholars from UC Santa Barbara with the help of UCTC funding, and is being used to test GHG-reduction scenarios by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) in response to California’s SB 375. Urban design work by scholars on the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses has led to streetscape designs and multi-dimensional evaluation tools that enhance pedestrian and bicyclist comfort, safety, and connectivity.
Over the years, seminal work on multi-way boulevards, complete and livable street designs, and freeway-to-boulevard/freeway-to-greenway conversions has come from UCTC-funded research. The effects of more efficient pricing on the quality of urban districts have also been studied.
Widely cited research by UCLA scholars showed that parking policy reforms can have a strong positive effect on community betterment and local economic development, and are often the lynchpin to successful redevelopment investments. Researchers at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC Irvine are international leaders in the study of the effect of community design and urban land-use patterns on travel behavior. Seminal and highly influential research on the travel-demand, environmental, and community development impacts of TOD, jobs-housing balance, neo-traditional community designs, urban containment policies, and other growth-management strategies has been carried out by scholars of our consortium.
Synergies exist and are waiting to be tapped into across the spheres of environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability. Our consortium will conduct the kinds of rigorous, grounded research that advances knowledge and trains future generations of transportation professionals not only within these domains but across them as well.
Creating clean, livable cities, towns, and regions, for example, can be an effective economic development strategy—attractive and healthy living and working environments can attract and help retain high-skilled, high value-added firms, and workers of service-based economies. Cities and regions whose economies rely heavily on creative, knowledge-intensive industries, studies show, must design and build attractive cityscapes that promote active forms of mobility (e.g., walking and bicycling) and improve environmental conditions such as air quality if they are to successfully compete in the 21st century global marketplace.
Similarly, relieving traffic congestion not only makes cities and regions more economically competitive but also enhances livability. Public opinion polls routinely show that worsening traffic congestion is the number-one reason cited for the perceived declining quality of urban living in the eyes of the American public. Well-designed cities and efficient pricing of infrastructure that helps slow the growth in VMT can also promote economic growth.
The recent report on Growing Wealthier, for example, founded that states with lower VMT per capita tend to have higher GDP per capita. While correlations do not prove causality, and other researchers have reached opposite conclusions,5 most would agree that the aim should be less about encouraging physical movement and more about designing communities and pricing resources to maximize economic and social interactions.
The linkages between environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness, we believe, are especially important. Besides attracting high-skilled firms and creative classes of workers, global cities with clean air, generous amounts of public spaces, attractive urban designs, and functional transportation and infrastructure systems are excellent incubators for growing the green economy. Advances in the production and distribution of clean-fuel vehicles that operate on renewable energy sources can stimulate private investment and create new employment and vocational opportunities.
Website: www.ictc.net
Our consortium focuses on three themes identified by USDOT in its strategic plan—environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability—and, importantly, the connections between them.
Advancing each of these objectives is important in and of itself; however, our UTC recognizes that the three are closely inter-twined and oftentimes co-dependent. Our UTC will thus give particular attention to the synergies that can be created and cross purposes that are served when working in a coordinated fashion on all three fronts.
The choice of these three themes reflects the breadth, depth, and wealth of knowledge and research capacities found across the six core members of our consortium. There is no better intellectual environment for conducting cutting-edge research and advancing basic and applied knowledge in these areas than across the campuses of the University of California.
Our three themes are also highly relevant to the multitude of contemporary policy and technological challenges currently facing the transportation sectors of California and other southwestern states. We aim to be the “Go To” organization for federal modal administrations, California agencies, and policy-makers throughout Region 9 seeking well-informed advice, carefully designed research investigations, and rapid-response studies on these and related topics.
California is a particularly appropriate setting for focusing on the three strategic themes chosen by our consortium. Currently, California makes up 12 percent of the nation’s population and contributes to 13.3 percent of its GDP, exceeding the economic output of all of Italy. The state’s ecological footprint is also enormous.
Only the US as a whole and China consume more oil than California. Presently, the typical Californian produces 11 tons of carbon dioxide per year, nearly half coming from the transport sector, making California the world’s 12th largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The state is also home to the six smoggiest air basins in the nation.
California, however, is also internationally known as an incubator of innovation and progressive change. It has long been a national leader in enacting legislation that protects natural environments, promotes clean-fuel technologies, and shrinks the transportation sector’s carbon footprint. California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (Assembly Bill 32), passed in 2006, calls for reducing carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.
A companion bill, Senate Bill 375, specifically targets the integration of transportation and land-use systems as a tool for achieving AB 32 GHG-reduction targets. Under the bill, metropolitan areas throughout the state must introduce strategies that curb sprawl and promote less carbon-intensive built forms like transit-oriented development (TOD). Both the marketplace and public policies are responding.
Today, California has more plug-in hybrids, CNG buses, miles of High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV), Toll (HOT), and management lanes, and weekly vanpoolers than any state. What we do in California is of huge importance, not just to Californians, but also the nation and entire world.
As the gateway to the Pacific Rim, California is also a vital link in the movement of freight and goods throughout America. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the nation’s busiest.
The state’s two largest airports, LAX and SFO, rank in the top 10 of total annual enplanements. Expediting the flow of freight and materials in and out of ports in ways that promote economic growth without harming natural and built environments or disadvantaged communities poses both logistical and public-policy challenges.
Intra- and interstate commerce will only pick up if and when the planned High Speed Rail through the spine of the state gets built. Our consortium is up to the task of tackling the kinds of technological and public-policy challenges posed by large-scale infrastructure investments, now and in the future.
Below, we elaborate on the three strategic themes and the kind of attention and focus our consortium plans to give them.
Environmental sustainability is vital for creating clean, healthy, and functional cities and regions of the future. The transport of people and goods consumes nearly three-quarters of the nation’s petroleum, emits around a third of greenhouse gases, and is responsible for around half of urban air pollution.
Fossil fuel-based travel also negatively impacts air quality, water quality, and habitat quality, with serious implications for economic well-being, human health, natural ecologies, and the long-term environmental sustainability of the planet. Finding ways to shrink the sector’s ecological footprint are national, state, and local priorities.
Our consortium is well-positioned to take on these challenges. As one of the world’s preeminent loci for advanced research and education on environmental sustainability, UC campuses have provided critical knowledge and modeling tools that underpin an array of transport-related GHG-reduction policies and laws. In the case of low-carbon fuel standards,
California’s governor formally requested assistance from UC via an Executive Order to develop a policy to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels. A team of UC Berkeley and UC Davis researchers carried out original scientific research and then designed a draft low-carbon fuel standard to meet a host of economic, social equity, legal, and administrative objectives. It was adopted in nearly identical form to what was recommended and is now being imitated by a large number of states and countries, including British Columbia, the northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, and the European Union.
California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) also requested UC to evaluate the design of a fee-bate program (whereby consumers pay a fee when buying a gas guzzler car and receive a rebate for an efficient car). That analysis, headed by ITS-Davis, is now under consideration by the State.
Technological advances, such as clean-fuel vehicles and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) that improve traffic flows, are part of the solution for creating sustainable futures. However, so are strategies that moderate the growth in vehicular travel without reducing the nation’s continually growing demand for social and economic interaction.
More policy-oriented strategies that complement technological ones include demand management techniques, such as improved pricing and management of parking, eco-driving, as well as land-use approaches, such as TOD, that promote alternative means of travel. UC researchers have been providing support to the California ARB and other agencies on synthesizing the evidence and developing tools for forecasting the effectiveness of such strategies.
The pitting of technological and more policy oriented strategies as an “either/or” proposition is, we believe, a false dichotomy. Advances are needed on both fronts. Electric vehicle (EV) technologies and smart growth communities, for example, are wholly compatible.
Limited-range EVs/plug-in hybrids are particularly well-suited to compact, mixed-use communities that shorten travel distances. Modern technologies (e.g., global positioning systems and automatic vehicle location) enable real-time dynamic pricing tied to vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) and congestion levels and at the same time can strengthen the social, economic, and cultural vibrancy of core cities.
Central London, Singapore, and Stockholm have not suffered from the introduction of higher peak-period tolls. Or take the case of smart-parking technologies. An estimated 25 percent of all traffic in some districts of San Francisco and Los Angeles is made up of motorists cruising for parking. Smart technologies (e.g., sensors in parking spaces that monitor occupancy) can reduce such cruising, inform motorists of the closest available space, and allow dynamic pricing of parking (i.e., higher fees in congested times; lower ones in slack periods).
Such technologies not only shrink parking’s enormous footprint, but also improve the quality of urban environments and in so doing encourage less carbon-intensive modes of travel, including walking and cycling.
Economic competitiveness has always been a core focus of transportation planning and engineering since efficient transportation systems and operations are vital toward sustained economic growth and prosperity. The nation’s economy relies crucially on its systems of highways, ports, and mass transportation to swiftly and safely move raw materials, labor, manufactured products, component parts, and ideas to produce and exchange goods and services.
Bottlenecks on highways leading to and from ports, unreliable mass transit systems, and deteriorating traffic conditions can strangle economic growth and, if left unchecked, place America’s cities and regions at a global economic disadvantage. In 2009, the congestion “invoice” for the extra time and fuel spent moving people and goods in America’s 439 urban areas reached $115 billion. Policy-makers well understand this.
The Economist Intelligence Unit Global Survey, released in September 2010, reported that 61 percent of mayors worldwide believed that “improving public transport and roads” is the most important way “to make their cities more competitive for businesses.” As home to the busiest port in the nation and four of America’s 22 most congested urbanized areas,
California has a vested economic stake in planning, designing, operating, managing, and pricing multi-modal transportation facilities and services in the most efficient, resourceful way possible.
The University of California has established itself as an intellectual leader in such areas as traffic operations, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), and transportation/land-use integration. Major advances in the field of traffic flow theory originated at UC Berkeley, which has over the years spawned the world’s leading systems for traffic measurement through loop detectors (Caltrans Performance Measure System-PeMS) and video surveillance (developed at the Berkeley Highway Laboratory) as well as freeway traffic control through ramp-metering (Tools for Operational Planning-TOPL).
UC campuses also have an established track record at integrating travel-demand models in ways that inform and shape public policies. For example, UC Santa Barbara’s GIS-based travel forecasting tools (SimAGENT) and UC Irvine’s advanced traffic simulation models are being integrated to predict regional transportation flows, and in turn are being linked to UC Davis’s urban land-use model PECAS (Production Exchange Consumption Allocation System) to estimate impacts on fuel consumption and GHG emissions.
Another successful collaboration has been the integration of advanced traffic monitoring technologies (based on GPS-enabled cellular phones) developed by UC Berkeley researchers with vehicle emission measurement tools developed at UC Riverside (and certified by USEPA and the California Air Resources Board as the gold standard for on-road testing).
Economic competitiveness is not just about moving people and freight swiftly, safely, and cleanly. Desirable and therefore competitive places are also socially inclusive and diverse. Equity concerns have been especially prominent in the research of UC scholars. UCLA researchers have examined the equity of road and transit pricing in comparison with other finance techniques commonly used to pay for transportation infrastructure and services.
Studies have also shown that efforts to curb automobile use may help to clean the environment, but for many segments of society can lead to social exclusion and negative economic outcomes. Scholars from UCLA and UC Berkeley have published among the most widely cited work to date on topics like impacts of transportation programs on welfare-to-work, spatial mismatches and employment outcomes, and equity consequences of alternative road, parking, and transit pricing schemes.
Livability continues to gain importance as a national, state, and local goal because it is intimately related to social well-being, peoples’ attachment to community and place, and healthy living. Livable communities feature well-designed streetscapes, attractive civic spaces, the inter-mixing of land uses, “complete streets” that promote walking and cycling, and Safe Routes to School.
Such environments are increasingly in high demand. We know this not only from public opinion polls but also real-estate markets. High-quality urban and suburban districts and well-designed places often command sizeable rent and land-value premiums. Importantly, the livability movement elevates accessibility, i.e., the ability of people to reach the places they wish to go, as an overarching goal in transportation planning and investment.
Expediting traffic flows is certainly critical to creating accessible cities and regions, but so are urban designs that bring trip origins and destinations closer and information-technological advances that allow social and economic interactions without necessarily physical movements.
Scholars from several UC campuses, notably Santa Barbara, Irvine, Berkeley, and Davis, have developed state-of-the-art transportation land use models and other planning tools that gauge impacts of livability-sustainability scenarios on accessibility, community well-being, and social equity.
The SimAGENT model, an activity-based forecasting model, was developed by scholars from UC Santa Barbara with the help of UCTC funding, and is being used to test GHG-reduction scenarios by the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) in response to California’s SB 375. Urban design work by scholars on the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses has led to streetscape designs and multi-dimensional evaluation tools that enhance pedestrian and bicyclist comfort, safety, and connectivity.
Over the years, seminal work on multi-way boulevards, complete and livable street designs, and freeway-to-boulevard/freeway-to-greenway conversions has come from UCTC-funded research. The effects of more efficient pricing on the quality of urban districts have also been studied.
Widely cited research by UCLA scholars showed that parking policy reforms can have a strong positive effect on community betterment and local economic development, and are often the lynchpin to successful redevelopment investments. Researchers at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC Irvine are international leaders in the study of the effect of community design and urban land-use patterns on travel behavior. Seminal and highly influential research on the travel-demand, environmental, and community development impacts of TOD, jobs-housing balance, neo-traditional community designs, urban containment policies, and other growth-management strategies has been carried out by scholars of our consortium.
Synergies exist and are waiting to be tapped into across the spheres of environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability. Our consortium will conduct the kinds of rigorous, grounded research that advances knowledge and trains future generations of transportation professionals not only within these domains but across them as well.
Creating clean, livable cities, towns, and regions, for example, can be an effective economic development strategy—attractive and healthy living and working environments can attract and help retain high-skilled, high value-added firms, and workers of service-based economies. Cities and regions whose economies rely heavily on creative, knowledge-intensive industries, studies show, must design and build attractive cityscapes that promote active forms of mobility (e.g., walking and bicycling) and improve environmental conditions such as air quality if they are to successfully compete in the 21st century global marketplace.
Similarly, relieving traffic congestion not only makes cities and regions more economically competitive but also enhances livability. Public opinion polls routinely show that worsening traffic congestion is the number-one reason cited for the perceived declining quality of urban living in the eyes of the American public. Well-designed cities and efficient pricing of infrastructure that helps slow the growth in VMT can also promote economic growth.
The recent report on Growing Wealthier, for example, founded that states with lower VMT per capita tend to have higher GDP per capita. While correlations do not prove causality, and other researchers have reached opposite conclusions,5 most would agree that the aim should be less about encouraging physical movement and more about designing communities and pricing resources to maximize economic and social interactions.
The linkages between environmental sustainability and economic competitiveness, we believe, are especially important. Besides attracting high-skilled firms and creative classes of workers, global cities with clean air, generous amounts of public spaces, attractive urban designs, and functional transportation and infrastructure systems are excellent incubators for growing the green economy. Advances in the production and distribution of clean-fuel vehicles that operate on renewable energy sources can stimulate private investment and create new employment and vocational opportunities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)