Smart Cities
Defining and Designing Sustainable Landscapes
As land becomes scarce and ever more precious, outdoor spaces need to be designed to provide value in many ways, i.e., increasing land values, rewarding the senses, promoting environmental quality, and most importantly promoting healthy communities with a sense of...
What Cities Can Learn from Detroit’s Green Garage
Along some of the cozy cobblestone roads of Detroit, in an area with old brick homes and universities, you’ll find a business incubator on 4444 Second Avenue. [map width=”260″ height=”260″ zoom=”11″ type=”ROADMAP”]...
Judging the Success of Megaprojects
Megaprojects are invariably controversial. And they attract massive interest and, consequently, publicity, which means they are under constant scrutiny. Failures inevitably generate more attention than successes, and therefore schemes face an uphill task in gaining...
Risks of Job Sprawl and Progress on Regional Planning
Cities, People, and Jobs Sometimes cities are faced with disasters that strike unpredictably and quickly, leading to long recovery and many resources focused on future preparation. Other times cities create the conditions for disaster through a buildup of decisions...
Toronto Flooding Tests Green Design at Evergreen Brick Works
On Monday, July 8 around 5pm, just in time for rush hour, Mother Nature opened up her skies and hit the Greater Toronto Area with a deluge of rain. In some places, almost 130 mm of rain fell in just a matter of hours—a downpour that broke the previous record for...
Sustainable Urban Transportation: Smart City Driving
When we think about the cities of the future, we likely try to imagine some sort of revolutionary transformation of the way people get around. Whether it is in self-driving vehicles, ultra-efficient public transportation networks—or simply bicycles—may depend on who...
Parking: Can Technology Tackle the Great Unsolved Urban Challenge?
New technology now exists to tackle one of a city’s most pressing issues: parking. Communities large and small including Los Angeles, New York, Indianapolis, and Fort Lauderdale are among the first users of new sensing and guidance technology that is changing the way...
Nourishing Cities with Urban Micro Gardens
We all know that fresh, local produce is good for us. But it’s expensive to buy and hard to grow yourself – especially in cities. Whether it’s picking the right plants and seeds or matching it with the right spacing and planting times, gardening involves a lot of...
The Shifting Geography, Technology, and Politics of U.S. Energy Production
Most of us are accustomed to thinking about change, to anticipate it and be ready to bring new productivity to new opportunities. Many of us believe we understand the changes that information technology is bringing to organized society. But I think we are all just...
Building Integrated Vegetation
Mitigating Urban Environmental Challenges with Building Material Technologies The rapid urbanization around the globe during the last five decades has come at a heavy price to the environment with rising air pollution, urban heat-island effect, and loss of...
Mobility Will Transform Canada as It Is Transforming the World
The Taking Ontario Mobile report was prompted by a transformation that is occurring at a global scale—the exponential adoption of mobile technologies, networks and content—and by the need to understand the potential opportunities and challenges this change may bring...