OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 25

http://ctod.org/portal/

Center for Transit-Oriented Development
The Center for Transit-Oriented Development is the only national nonprofit effort dedicated to providing best practices, research and tools to support market-based transit-oriented development.

CTOD partners with both the public and private sectors to strategize about ways to encourage the development of high-performing TOD projects around transit stations and to build transit systems that maximize the development potential.

American cities have experienced significant employment decentralization over the last 60 years as jobs have shifted from urban downtowns to suburban communities.

This “employment sprawl” has helped to generate much of the traffic congestion experienced today, swelled infrastructure costs, consumed open space and increased the bite that transportation takes out of household incomes.

The Center for Transit-Oriented Development released a pair of studies exploring the impact of job sprawl and the importance of linking employment centers with transit.

Go to the site and read it, or suffer with $10 a gallon gasoline.


This concludes our top 25favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 24

WALKSCORE

Walkscore lets you plug in your address to see how walkable your neighborhood is.

Our Little Havana house scores 72 = very walkable.

Our day job workplace scores 62 = somewhat walkable.

Our former day gig scores 86 = very walkable.

Union Square in NYC scores 98 = walkers's paradise.

http://www.walkscore.com/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 23

STUNNING TIME-LAPSE URBANISM

Dominic Boudreault, a motion photographer, recorded five cities in over a year to create a time-lapse video showing the bustling nightlife of metropolitan areas.

From late 2010 to early 2011, the artist documented the cityscapes in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Manhattan and Chicago.

The video is a series of images from a high vantage point gathered to display the duality of city and nature.

http://vimeo.com/23237102

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 22

DawnTown Miami
DawnTown is the annual public international architecture ideas competition for Downtown Miami. DawnTown’s mission is to bring innovative architecture to Downtown Miami, and to tell the exciting urban story of Downtown Miami to the world.

Land use attorney and planner Andrew Frey founded Dawntown and has passed the role of Executive Director to architect and faculty member, Joachim Perez.

Perez is a great urban thinker.

http://dawntown.org/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 21

RECONNECTING AMERICA

"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."

We couldn't agree more.

http://reconnectingamerica.org/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 20

THE PRINCES' FOUNDATION FOR THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Prince Charles -- yes, dad to the prince who got all the coverage for marrying that Middleton gal -- has spent a quarter century improvign the built environment in England and all over the world.

The Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment is an educational charity which exists to improve the quality of people’s lives by teaching and practising timeless and ecological ways of planning, designing and building.

This is no hands off, idle charity for a royal.

No, the Prince of Wales has taken a very active role in conserving land and traditional archicture in the UK.

If only the U.S. would listen.

http://www.princes-foundation.org/


We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 19

The Victoria Transport Policy Institute

Todd Alexander Littman is one of the brightest thinkers and writers about transport that we have in the 21st century.

His Victoria Transport Policy Institute has volumes of information.

Think you will only need if if you are a traffic engineer?

Think again.

What if a charter school wants to develop in your neighborhood with no parking or student dropoff area?

VTPI.org may have facts and figures that will help you fight City Hall and win.


We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 18

DAVID BRUSSAT

David Brussat writes amazingly rationale articles about architecture, history, preservation, human scale, travel and what makes cities work.

Writing for the Providence Journal, he's a bit New England-centric.

But's he's just as likely to write about a tower in New York or Dubai (and what's wrong with star architects' buildings) as he is to muse over some building haunted by Lovecraft.

http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists/content/CL_brussat12_05-12-11_F1O0RRJ_v16.371ea9a.html

http://www.projo.com/opinion/columnists

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 17

THE INFRASTRUCTURIST

Walkability Plus Greenery Equals Greater Home Value

The World's 10 Greatest Large Urban Parks

Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell To The Wrecking Ball

Those are the headlines.

If you love cities and all things urban, this is your website

http://www.infrastructurist.com/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 16

ACCESS-ABLE TRAVEL SOURCE

Good information for disabled and mature travelers is hard to come by.

Access-Able has been providing quality site reviews and barrier-free travel tips for a decade and a half.

The writing is fun and personal.

Unfortunately, some of the posting are quite old, so one must approach the features stories as a jumping off point to get the feel for a destination -- before doing lots of net research, emailing and phone calling to confirm that information about attractions and accommodations listed in the stories is still accurate.

http://access-able.com/graphical_index.html


We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 15

ON COMMON GROUND

On Common Ground is published by the National Association of Realtors.

It features some of the best writers in America writing about smart growth issues in plain mom and pop language.

The graphics and photos are brilliant, the editing is crisp and the topics covered are essental.

http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs/smart_growth/on_common_ground_winter2011

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 14

WALK SAFE

Walk Safe works in Miami-Dade County to make it safer to get to school.

We love Miami, but we know it's one of the least safe places on earth for pedestrians.

Walk Safe is working to undo that.

http://www.walksafe.us/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 13

CITIWIRE/THE CITISTATES GROUP

Noted urban writers Neal Peirce and Curtis Johnson put out incredible urban information in their email updates and site postings through Citiwire.

The two, and there host of expert contributors, could make asphalt, infrascture budgets and housing forecasts riveting.

Making government the enemy is not the answer.

Readity the Citistates Group will start you on the pathway to finding solutions.

http://citistates.com/citiwire/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 12

NEW URBAN NETWORK

How can this site be free?

Gas prices are soaring (you really should be biking, walking and riding public transitmore) but here's a little giveback to the pocketbook -- some of the best and clearest writing on urban issues on the planet -- all for free!

http://newurbannetwork.com/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 11

WALKABLE COMMUNITIES

We met Dan Burden --an internationally recognized authority on bicycle and pedestrian facilities and programs, livability, sustainability and Smart Growth -- nearly a decade ago when the Congress for New Urbanism was in town.

He ordered paella at the famed Versailles Cuban Restaurant on Calle Ocho. While Arroz con Pollo or Ropa Vieja would have been much wiser calls....and we waited an hour for the kitchen to make unappealing fishy-smelling paella, we didn't hold his lack of culinary insights against him.

We did become converts of Dan's vision of communities where people can walk, bicycle and move about in wheelchairs safely between where they live, work and play.

Dan's health improved when he starting walking more we know he's onto a cure for what ails us as a car addicted people.

http://walkable.org/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 10

DETROIT -- YES (aka, Ruins of Detroit)

We grew up in Cleveland -- the Mistake on the Lake where the Cuyahoga River was so poluted, it caught fire when we were five years old.

No matter how many jobs left, no matter how many neighborhoods decayed and no matter how many games the hapless Indians baseball club lost, we could always make fun of our neighbors to the northwest -- Detroit.

Motown, once the 4th largest city in the U.S., has been on a downward spiral for nearly half a century.

The ironic part is, when we were fresh out of college, we tossed aside our parents' love of the 'burbs and fell deeply in love with cities -- warts and all.

Our eyes opened to a Motor City filled with brilliant skyscrapers, proud institutions and lovely old brick houses.

Sadly, most of them were dying then and even more have been abandoned or demolished by now.

The fabulous ruins of Detroit or chronicled in this website:

http://detroityes.com/home.htm

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 9

THE LITTLE HAVANA GUIDE

Little Havana is both the historic home of this blogger and an international destination for artists, visitors and more.

Visionary developer Bill Fuller and energetic marketer Corinna J. Moebius have joined forces to create the Little Merchant Alliance and the Little Havana Guide.

The Little Havana guide merits constant monitoring for updates on hip happenings en la pequena habana.

http://www.facebook.com/littlehavanaguide

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 8

LINCOLN INSTITUTE OF LAND POLICY

This blog wouldn't exist were it not for the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

Anthony Flint, the brilliant author of Wrestling with Moses (about Jane Jacobs' preservation battles against master builder gone mad Robert Moses), plucked this writer and urban policy advisor out of the doldrums and made a Harvard man out of him for a few heady days in old Cambridge Town.

The Lincoln Land Institute, which produces lots of meaningful work, more than earns its keep in our book simply for holding its annual spring pilgrimage for urban writers, editors, bloggers, artists etc. to learn from professors, planners, economists and other great urban thinkers.

http://www.lincolninst.edu/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 7

MID-OHIO REGIONAL PLANNING COMMISSION

Brian Williams, a a fellow former newspaper journalist friend of mine, put together this great guide about the benefits of density.

It serves as a wake up call to the people of Central Ohio -- where no natural boundaries and a love of exurbia has produced tons of sprawl in every direction.

Here's the link:
http://www.morpc.org/pdf/morpc_density_brochure_CS3.pdf

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 6

JAMES HOWARD KUNSTLER

James Howard Kunstler is vulgar, vile, acerbic, egotistical and mired in some kind of prophet of doom mode that creates annual prediction essays that make the reader darn near suicidal.

Kunstler also is a very prolific and gifted writer. He makes reading about transit, planning, density, energy, growth management and the like as much fun as reading a Rolling Stone interview back three decades ago when RS was relevant.

Not for the faint of heart, Kunstler's site is entertaining.

http://www.kunstler.com/index.php

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 5

PLANETIZEN

Wonks? Yes

Nerds? Yup

Creators of a website name that doesn't exactly roll of the tongue? Indeed.

Planetizen's creators and contributors might not be Madison Avenue slick, but they are an incredible resource for planning topics that speak to everyday people and our need to heal the places where we live.

http://www.planetizen.com/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 4

CONCRETE CHANGE

Eleanor Smith is not a slick insider.

She's an every day person on a one-woman mission to make universal design a part of the built environment.

She has earned her place in wheelchair-accessibility heaven for introducing the concept of making homes and other private buildings at least minimally "visitable" for people with disabilities.

http://www.concretechange.org/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES -- 3

NEW MOBILITY MAGAZINE

New Mobility has been the standard-bearer of slick, glossy, hard hitting magazine journalism on disability.

They don't shy away from sexuality, discrimination, in-your-face-humor, or uncomfortable subjects.

They also profile celebrities, publish travel stories and cover lifestyle issues like no other.

http://newmobility.com/

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES - 2

UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SOA

The University of Miami School of Architecture is leading the way toward teaching tomorrow's town planners and architects to build for human beings, not automobiles and sprawl. Our favorite unsung hero of teaching, human scale, rationale building and humanity -- Oscar Machado, is a professor as the UMSOA.
http://arc.miami.edu/


We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

OUR FAVORITE SITES

THE CONGRESS FOR NEW URBANISM

The Congress for New Urbansim has led the way toward rebuilding our cities and suburbs into walkable, transit-friendly and sustainable centers.

John Norquist, the head of CNU and the former Mayor of Milwaukee, is a brilliant speaker on the wealth of cities.

www.cnu.org

We will spend the next several days sharing our favorite websites, blogs & links that lead to great information on urbanism, planning, travel, sustainability, universal design, wheelchair access and travel. Our listings are in no particular order.

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 39

A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

To receive the "Universal Accessibility" point, the builder includes, in at least 20% of the single-family homes, the features required by federal law in apartment buildings:

a zero step entrance on an accessible route
wide interior doors, maneuvering space in bathrooms and kitchens
blocking in bathroom walls to allow future grab bars
reachable electrical controls, and
a step-free path of travel through the first floor of the home.

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 38

A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

LEED-ND awards a point for developments that build single-family homes with basic access.

Visitability is connected to green building practices. Basic access at the time of construction decreases the waste of energy and materials necessitated by retrofits, and makes neighborhoods more sustainable by enabling social interaction, "aging in place," and disability inclusion.

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 37

A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

The LEED-ND application document reads, in part,: "Enable the widest spectrum of people, regardless of age or ability, to more easily participate in their community life by increasing the proportion of areas that are usable by people of diverse abilities."

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 36

A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

The LEED for Neighborhood Development Rating System integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design.

LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development.

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 35

A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

Features also provide a basic shell of access to permit formerly non-disabled people to remain in homes if they develop a disability, rather than:
forcing them to do expensive renovations
relocate to a different house
live in an inaccessible home which endangers their health and safety, or
move from the community into a nursing home.

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT - 34

A GUIDE TO UNIVERSAL DESIGN

Although visitability allows for people with disabilities to access the homes of their nondisabled peers, it’s not the only way for people with disabilities to integrate into the built environment.

People with disabilities frequently share common ground with those who advocate the dense, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use developments that are the hallmark of New Urbanism. Auto-dependant urban sprawl creates a struggle for those with mobility and other disabilities.

However, when many New Urbanist developments are built, their housing is inaccessible as well. This is seemingly contradictory to the diverse intergenerational community that is the hallmark of the New Urbanism.

To its credit, the Congress for the New Urbanism has agreed to endorse a visitability agenda to make New Urbanist housing accessible.