As a city planner by education, I’m a big fan of Alex Steffen, since he talks all about reworking cities (especially U.S. cities) to be more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly, more efficient, more enjoyable. But this TED video of Steffen shared with me by Eat Drink Better and Feelgood Style director Becky Striepe talking about the place of sharing in greening our cities is beyond the typical talking points and is quite interesting. I highly recommend checking it out:
10 Most Climate-Ready Cities in the U.S.?
Boyd Cohen, Ph.D. recently came up with a methodology to rank large cities in the U.S. based on how much they are preparing for or trying to counter climate change. He then went on to create and publish a top 10 list of the most “climate-ready” cities. While I think the term “climate-ready” is sort of a mistake, since he focuses more on efforts to stop climate change not adapt to it (which is what I would assume “climate-readiness” would be about), I think the overall idea and methodology looks great.
“Plant This Movie” {Help Fund Great Urban Farming Documentary on Kickstarter}
The video on the next page does a great job presenting core food problems we are facing today but goes far beyond the problems and offers some great solutions to them. The filmmaker, Karney Hatch, is look to get $7,500 donated by Saturday, July 16 on Kickstarter to make a documentary on these problems and solutions.
How Does Your City Compare to Others in Bicycling, Walking and Transit?
An EcoLocalizer reader recently shared a great site of his, Modes of Transportation, that helps you find and compare the percentages of people that use varying modes of transportation to get to work in U.S. cities. That is, you can…
NYC, San Francisco, & Portland Leaders Talking about Bicycling Growth [SERIOUSLY AWESOME VIDEO]
![NYC, San Francisco, & Portland Leaders Talking about Bicycling Growth [SERIOUSLY AWESOME VIDEO]](http://zacharyshahan.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/126168981_640.jpg "NYC, San Francisco, & Portland Leaders Talking about Bicycling Growth [SERIOUSLY AWESOME VIDEO]")
Moving Beyond the Automobile: Biking from Streetfilms on Vimeo. New York City, San Francisco, and Portland leaders talking about transportation, bicycling, and improving quality of life.
Southern California Investing in Bike Paths!
Southern California is known for its beautiful weather and, ironically, for its auto-centric development patterns. Why not take advantage of that beautiful weather more, some have argued. And they are actually being listened to, finally,.. in Long Beach at least.…
How Perugia, Italy Said Goodbye to Traffic, Hello to Improved Quality of Life
If you want to see an idyllic, small Italian city, Perugia may be the place for you. It fits all the characteristics of those beautiful Italian towns from the movies. However, it hasn’t forever. It took visionaries with a green…
Cities Rock: Jon Stewart Interviews Harvard Economist Ed Glaeser [VIDEO]
I could write all about the many benefits of cities, which I’ve been doing nearly everyday on here lately it seems, but rather than do that again, I’ll just direct you to the awesome video above of Jon Stewart interviewing…
Searching for Parking: Enormous Waste of Time & Money (Note: Cars Don’t Fit in the City)
Parking, if only there were more of it your life would be easier, right? Not really. Look at the parking lot of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. It spreads everything out so much you “have to” drive from one side of the…
Big Cities Not Necessarily the Big Polluters
Big cities are often associated with pollution. However, if you look at pollution per capita, some of the world’s biggest cities are actually quite green. One key reason is that people in many big cities use efficient, public transportation more…