Cityblog features daily posts from the Smarter Cities team and NRDC's Switchboard Blog.
How to start transforming sprawl with shared personal vehicles
WheelChange, an advocate for new, smart multi-modal transportation systems, asserts that a more sustainable future of personal transportation could be based on communications technology, smaller vehicles, and sharing: “By enabling a diverse set of existing and new transportation options to work... Kaid Benfield
February 3, 2012
The environmental building blocks of urban happiness
As regular readers may remember, I am fascinated by the relationship of our cities, and the way they are configured, to our mental and emotional well-being. The relationship of urban form to physical health is finally getting some of... Kaid Benfield
February 2, 2012
The geography of persistent unemployment contains some surprises
A bad economy hurts sustainability, in part because sustainability requires new approaches that must be funded, frequently with money from investors able and willing to take chances, or from local governments whose revenues are tied to declining property values or... Kaid Benfield
February 1, 2012
Blog post number 1000: A gallery of walkability
Hackescher Markt, Berlin I’m not sure there is any one word that describes my concept of a sustainable community place more than walkability. At least when it comes to describing the physical aspects of a place. Is it... Kaid Benfield
January 30, 2012
Can Ontario deliver the continent's best land-use plan?
I’m fond of saying that the best-conceived plan for managing growth and development in North America is the Places to Grow framework adopted by the province of Ontario, Canada. Constructed pursuant to enabling legislation adopted by the province in... Kaid Benfield
January 26, 2012
These news posts are brought to us, thanks to Planetizen, a public-interest information exchange provided by Urban Insight.
Friday Funny: New York vs Boston, Which is the Better Sports Town?
On the eve of the Super Bowl, Richard Florida attempts to answer one of the most critical debates concerning metropolitan vitality today -- which is the superior sports town: Boston or New York?
February 3, 2012
Who to Follow on Twitter for Your Transportation News Fix
Using a rather complex, scientific methodology, Robert Krueger, has compiled a list of the top 25 most influential transportation infrastructure sources to follow on Twitter.
February 3, 2012
Muscling Out the Car in NYC
Marc Santora pens a pity piece for the fate of the automobile in New York City. Whereas, once upon a time the car was doing the bullying, the 'once-exalted automobile is now under siege.'
February 3, 2012
Calgary Experiments With Crowdsourcing Its Budget
In order to educate its citizens on how budgeting decisions are made, and inform decision makers on the priorities of its citizens, Calgary has engaged in an ambitious outreach process to get citizens to participate in drafting the city's budget.
February 3, 2012
Zoning to Protect Mom & Pops on the Upper West Side
Joseph Berger reports on New York City's efforts to protect local retailers with new zoning in Manhattan's Upper West Side, where the proliferation of chain stores, banks, and pharmacies have caused consternation.
February 3, 2012
These posts are yours, our street beat reporters, filled with news, images and ideas from your city.
Warmer Winters Uproot Garden Planting Map. Could It Be ... Climate Change?
Last week, for the first time since 1990, the U.S. Department of Agriculture updated its Plant Hardiness Zone Map, one of the tools we gardeners use to decide what will thrive, and what won't, in our personal plots of earth.
The map divides the U.S. into zones based on average extreme low temperatures, and the big news for many gardeners is that they've been promoted -- that...
January 30, 2012
Craving Cabbage
I could have spent this past weekend, which was unseasonably warm and gloriously sunny, finishing the chore that never ends: garden clean up. Instead, I hiked every day in a nearby conservation area (safer than the state parks I usually frequent with my dogs and kids: it's hunting season in New York, and orange-clad or not, I prefer not to take chances).
I wasn't totally avoiding the garden, though. In between...
November 28, 2011
Hope and Cilantro Spring Eternal
The garden is nearly done, but still giving. Brussels sprouts and kale are still producing. The garlic is finally all planted, and on the dewy, sunny morning that I’m writing, the whole garden smells faintly of it (which I hope doesn’t mean it’s rotting, thanks to a few days of unseasonably warm weather. Yes, after the Halloween blizzard. Go figure.)
I went out this weekend to finish pulling and composting the remaining plants and harvest the last of...
November 23, 2011
New Satellite Photos Reveal Vast Extent of Lake Erie's Toxic Algae
In August, OnEarth ran a shocking article by Barry Yeoman about the spread of blue-green algae that is threatening to choke the life out of Lake Erie. It's an informative and truly sobering account of how the most fertile of Great Lakes was brought back from the brink in the early 1970s, only to be threatened once again by oxygen-devoid dead zones and invasive species.
This month,...
October 30, 2011
City Search
- Akron, OH
- Ann Arbor, MI
- Antioch, CA
- Arlington Heights, IL
- Arvada, CO
- Athens, GA
- Aurora, CO
- Austin, TX
- Beaverton, OR
- Bellevue, WA
- Bellingham, WA
- Berkeley, CA
- Bloomington, IL
- Boca Raton, FL
- Boise, ID
- Bolingbrook, IL
- Boston, MA
- Boulder, CO
- Bremerton,
- Burbank, CA
- Burnsville, MN
- Cambridge, MA
- Cape Coral, FL
- Carlsbad, CA
- Champaign, IL
- Charleston, SC
- Charlotte, NC
- Chesapeake, VA
- Chicago, IL
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Colorado Springs, CO
- Columbus, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Davis,
- Denton, TX
- Denver, CO
- Dubuque, IA
- Duluth, MN
- Edison, NJ
- El Cajon, CA
- El Monte, CA
- El Paso, TX
- Ellensburg, Washington
- Eugene, OR
- Everett, WA
- Fall River, MA
- Fayetteville, AR
- Flagstaff, AZ
- Fort Collins, CO
- Fremont, CA
- Fullerton, CA
- Gastonia, NC
- Grand Rapids, MI
- Greenville, SC
- Hayward, CA
- Hemet, CA
- Henderson, NV
- Hoffman Estates, IL
- Honolulu, HI
- Houston, TX
- Huntington Beach, CA
- Huntsville, AL
- Irondequoit, NY
- Irvine, CA
- Jacksonville, FL
- Jersey City,
- Kansas City, MO
- La Crosse, WI
- La Habra, CA
- La Mesa, CA
- Laredo, TX
- Las Vegas, NV
- Lincoln,
- Long Beach, CA
- Los Angeles, CA
- Louisville, KY
- Lowell, MA
- Madison, WI
- Maui, HI
- Merced, CA
- Mesa, AZ
- Milwaukee, WI
- Minneapolis, MN
- Mission Viejo, CA
- Mountain View, CA
- Naperville, IL
- Nashua, NH
- New Haven, CT
- New York, NY
- Newton, MA
- Norwalk, CT
- Oakland, CA
- Ontario, CA
- Orem, UT
- Palmdale, CA
- Petaluma, CA
- Philadelphia, PA
- Phoenix, AZ
- Portland, OR
- Redmond, WA
- Redwood City, CA
- Reno, NV
- Riverside, CA
- Rochester, NY
- Roseville, CA
- Sacramento, CA
- Salem, OR
- San Diego, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- San Jose, CA
- San Mateo, CA
- San Ramon, CA
- Santa Clara, CA
- Santa Clarita, CA
- Santa Cruz, CA
- Santa Fe, NM
- Santa Monica, CA
- Santa Rosa, CA
- Sarasota, FL
- Scottsdale, AZ
- Seattle, WA
- Spokane, WA
- Springfield, IL
- St. Paul, MN
- Stamford, CT
- Stockton, CA
- Sunnyvale, CA
- Tacoma, WA
- Tallahassee, FL
- Tampa, FL
- Tempe, AZ
- Thousand Oaks, CA
- Turlock, CA
- Union City, CA
- Union Township, NJ
- Urbana,
- Vallejo, CA
- Ventura, CA
- Virginia Beach, VA
- Warwick, RI
- Washington, DC
- Wayne, NJ
- Westminster, CA
- Westminster, CO
- Wheaton, IL
