Harvard's Ed Glaeser weighs in with the first of three blog posts on the topic.  He urges serious cost benefit analysis, writing, "Large infrastructure projects are complicated things that all have hundreds of consequences, some good and some bad. It is easy to come up with good and bad… more

This article by Julia Levitt highlights an emerging trend with exciting potential for our cities – the creative infill, re-use and sharing of under-used spaces.

Using the example of the restaurant Everest Momo Shack that shares space with a burrito kitchen, Levitt challenges us to think about… more

It turns out that people need people.  Ah, yes.  That's why cities were invented.  And that's why urbanness makes increasing sense to the way we live today.

The Washington Post has a story on today's digital nomads that makes the point.  Clad in shorts, T-shirts and sandals, these nomads… more

What better excuse to get people out on the streets, enjoying each other’s company and reveling in what unites rather than divides them, than The Big Lunch?

This project launched nationwide in Britain by The Eden Project calls for people to stop what… more

This email came today and reminded me that you can create an asset out of anything -- in this case, street food.  (And notice the personal signatures after the "Yours in tacos" sign-off.)  Thought I would share...

Did you say street food?

Just six weeks to go until… more

The trend toward real estate that is accessible with alternative forms of transportation is evident in this entrepreneurial realtor’s approach: providing bike tours of ‘bike-able’ properties.

The innovative businesswoman who runs ‘Tour de Homes’ in Portland to show properties in neighborhoods that are bike and alternative transport-friendly… more

The Portland vibe is so cool.  Via Twitter and texting, thousands of Portlanders managed to gather in Pioneer Square after 1 a.m. Wednesday morning to see an impromptu performance by comedian Dave Chappelle.  He, indeed, showed up, with a makeshift stage and a too-small amp, which the audience replaced with… more

Take a look.

As I travel U.S. cities, it is unusual for public transit not to come up as a priority.  But buses are rarely mentioned.  Cities want the sexy stuff -- light rail, trolleys and trams.  I was reminded of this as I was reading again about Bogota's Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)… more

Alex Steffen questions the rankings of NRDC's Smarter Cities rankings.  Smarter Cities counts "easily-measured, but sort of pointless data," Steffen writes. 

Why doesn't NRDC measure a city's per capita greenhouse gas emissions, how many miles a day do its citizens drive, how large is their average home and how… more

Reviews of Monday's remarks by the president on his plans for urban America have been mixed.  Some have praised simply the attention he gave to the subject while other have criticized the apparent lack of muscular policy response on behalf of cities.

I read it this way.  It is still… more

Here’s another example of a city putting the challenge out to “interdisciplinary teams to think about the changing role of public spaces.”

This one asked those submitting proposals to rethink the hidden spaces and laneways of Sydney’s city center and bring vibrancy… more

The Washington Post has the story we weren't supposed to discuss.  Monday the White House convenes a meeting to push forward on a national urban policy agenda.  White House Office of Urban Affairs Director Adolfo Carrion promises a "bottom up" approach to help for cities. Not clear is how… more

You have to love Zipcar's latest promotion.  It's called the Low-Car Diet, and it kicks off in 13 cities  this month. In each city, a few dozen drivers will publicly gather and drop their keys into a lock box as they pledge to not drive their personal car for one… more

The NYT story on Brooklyn's outdoor dance floor on the Gowanus Canal reminded me how much I appreciate Chicago's commitment to "13 years of free dancing in Grant Park" called SummerDance. 

Bklyn Yard is a set of dance platforms frequented by electronica fans on summer Sunday afternoons.  It… more

Citygarden, a 2.9 acre sculpture park across 2 blocks of St. Louis’ central corridor known as the Gateway Mall, which just opened is a bold step forward for the city in its aspiration to bring the downtown back to life and give people reasons to engage with the area in… more

it's a trend the Chicago Tribune documented earlier. Now the NY Times has got the story of how families are making downtown Chicago their second home.  According to the NYT, "Chicago has become a second- and vacation-home hot spot, fueled by its market of new condos and converted high-rise… more

Cityspinning, an organization developing a platform to seed new ways of using public and unused spaces with a series of interventions in Bangalore and Delhi, is exploring how mobile cultural spaces might help make a city “less alienating and fragmented”.

The results of a competition, in which… more

Could the bicycle take over in the Motor City?  Could the emergence of a greater biking culture re-enliven and re-use the city’s landscape in new ways?

Toby Barlow in this article makes the case for Detroit as a biking city. “With the legendarily affordable real estate… more

Rob Walton (Walton Family Foundation/Wal-Mart) and Peter Seligman (Conservation International) are at the Aspen Ideas Festival offering insights on scaling sustainability.  These lessons (some stated, some embellished from their remarks) seem to apply to urban leaders working to get smart ideas for next generation cities to a tipping point:

1. … more

With young adults 30 percent more likely to live within 3 miles of central business districts today (up from 10 percent in 1980 and 12 percent in 1990), access to jobs, educational opportunities, people and ideas, and the fact that new research points to real estate in more walkable neighborhoods… more