city government
Empowering the City:
London / New York
Gerald Frug contrasts the structures and powers of city government in London and New York in order to ask a crucial urban question: what are our cities empowered to do?
, , , , ,
Active Design Guidelines: A new definition for sustainable cities
There’s a new, bright green poster that will be making an appearance around the city in the near future, encouraging people to take the stairs and ”Burn Calories, not Electricity.” In addition to reducing our carbon footprints, the city is offering us another way to help the environment and to help ourselves…
The Omnibus Roundup – eminent domain, NYC commissioners, affordable housing, and Bronx architecture
As you've probably heard by now, a state appeals court has barred the use of eminent domain for parts of a 17 acre site intended for development by Columbia University, ruling the condemnation unconstitutional. This on the heels of last week's more developer-friendly rulings for Atlantic Yards and…
The Immigrants & Parks Collaborative
For five years this collaborative has worked to address the challenge of increasing immigrant involvement in city parks. Check out their work and hear from two participants.
, , , , , , , , ,
The Omnibus Roundup – Smarter Cities, Phantom Cities, Green Cities
Yesterday we joined business and tech leaders from around the world (we were a little under-dressed, to say the least) at IBM's Smarter Cities forum. IBM's President and CEO Sam Palmisano kicked things off by explaining why cities are a focus area within IBM's broader Smarter Planet initiative. Sure, the…
“Any place can become a park” – thoughts from Adrian Benepe
Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe shares with Alec Appelbaum some thoughts on several recent and upcoming additions to the city's collection of parks created on unlikely sites.
, , , , , , ,
The Omnibus Roundup – Chinatown legos, Coney, Atlantic Yards, movies to see
This week we listened to some new strategies to involve community stakeholders in the design of public spaces, strategies tested in the parks of Manhattan's Chinatown and the Lower East Side. Meanwhile, across the country in LA's Chinatown, urban planner James Rojas has assembled an interactive city model from legos, blocks and…
People Make Parks
Anoo Siddiqi and Hillary Angelo explore participatory design processes in New York City's public spaces and introduce the People Make Parks initiative.
, , , , ,
One Size Doesn’t Retrofit All

Like most of my colleagues, I tip my hat to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council for devising a plan to make landlords retrofit older buildings. And like the cleantech advocates who stood beside me on a Rockefeller Center terrace to hear the mayor outline…

New New York: Fast Forward
Revisited
David Benjamin, Deborah Berke, Hugh Hardy, Gregg Pasquarelli, Marilyn Jordan Taylor, and Claire Weisz answer the question: “What does New York City need to do to sustain itself...
, , , , ,
Search