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Economic development certificate?
Cyburbia - urban planning community -
I know there have been other posts on here about certificates but I could find any about economic development certificates out there…
I know that the International Economic Development Council offers one and Penn State offers one online… I’m talking about certificates that are offered on their own, not those offered concurrently with Master’s degrees…
Has anyone here gotten one? Any thoughts on the different programs? How they are viewed in the workforce (as opposed to going for the whole turkey and getting the master’s)? Online v. in person? Worth the money?
Thanks!
Handling Growth in the Bay Area
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
A roundtable discussion on the projected growth in the Bay Area of California, and the planning tools being unveiled that will help mitigate the projected increase of an additional 2 million inhabitants to the region by 2035.
Suburban Home Comes to Venice
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
American artist Mike Boucher constructed a full-sized replica of a standard American suburban home to float outside the Venice Biennale art exhibition. Instead, the house sank, suggesting new meanings for the artwork.
What happens when the status of a use changes?
Cyburbia - urban planning community -
Here is a theoretical situation for everyone to comment on: Say your municipality allows use variances.
Said use in X zoning district requires a use variance at the time it is reviewed. It is approved. 10 years later the zoning code is amended to permit said use as a special use within X zoning district.
What’s is the zoning status of the use which was granted a use variance 10 years earlier?
Alternately, a use is a special use in X zoning district, but 10 years later is becomes a prohibited use (requires use variance).
What is the zoning status of said use after it becomes a prohibited use?
Let’s hear from the throbbing brain: What do you think or know you would do in these situations?
New Cesar Pelli LEED Certified Building at U of I
Cyburbia - urban planning community -
The following link shows a video of a tour of the new Business Instructional Facility at the University of Illinois that was completed in the past year. There are all kinds of green technologies employed in the design and I believe it is LEED Platinum certified. I’ve been in it and it really is impressive.
Chalk up a victory for Minnesota and neighborhood schools
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/images/sgalogosmall.jpg Smart Growth Around America
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| This view of a mega high school campus from the air shows the impact of location and size on a community. The parking lot is the size of the building, and even residents of an adjacent neighborhood (to the right) that should be able to walk, likely have to drive to the school. SGA Photo |
Huge, sprawling “mega-schools” built at the edges of town aren’t required by law in Minnesota.
But minimum acreage recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Education have forced local communities into a one-size-fits-all approach, resulting in new schools that are unwalkable and unconnected to the rest of their communities.
Historic neighborhood schools have been abandoned. Schools and families are burdened with excessive transportation costs of driving or busing kids to school, because it is impossible for kids to walk or bike to the new large schools on the edges of town.
On July 1st, this is going to change in Minnesota.
Due to the hard work of SGA coalition member 1000 Friends of Minnesota and other advocates, the new Minnesota Education Omnibus Law (HF 2), signed by Governor Tim Pawlenty two weeks ago, includes provisions to eliminate minimum acreage requirements for schools, and to remove the bias against renovating, rather than rebuilding, old schools. The law goes into effect at the end of the month.
John Bailey of 1000 Friends of Minnesota refers to the old rules as “arbitrary and outdated state-wide requirements.” These state rules required extraordinarily large lots for schools — 40 acres for a middle school, and 60 for a high school, for instance — no matter what the desire of the local community. And as schools aged, the laws were stacked in favor of constructing new schools on large lots rather than renovating the old ones, even if renovation was a cheaper option preferred by the community.
The acreage “recommendations” resulted in historic neighborhood schools in walkable locations often being shuttered in favor of new mega-campuses on the edge of town, removing the option of children walking and biking to a smaller school in their neighborhood.
The new provisions are part of a larger push to align transportation and land use policies with Minnesota’s green initiatives — something supported by a broad segment of the populace. But a more central issue at hand was the ability of localities to make school siting decisions on their own — without the state treating the issue the same regardless of the size, location or preference of the community.
“We had broad consensus across party lines that this requirement was an unwarranted intrusion on local control,” said Bailey. “Local communities are reasonably intelligent folks; they can figure out where to put a school.”
Does your state still have minimum acreage requirements?
The Council of Educational Facility Planners (CEFPI) revised their “bible” for school builders, “The Guide for Planning Educational Facilities,” in 2004, removing all minimum acreage requirements for schools. The American Planning Association pointed out that because “a one-size-fits-all approach is dated and can work counter to a variety of goals, the new guide encourages communities to analyze their needs in order to make appropriate siting decisions.”
Even though CEFPI has changed course, many states still have these outdated recommendations on the books.
Big Possibilities, Big Dangers
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
A new growth management law in Florida is both good news and bad news, says Jane Healy of the Orlando Sentinel.
New FHWA publication on cost recovery for managing special events
Cyburbia - urban planning community -
If you have to deal with large traqffic generating things like fairs, concerts, sports events, etc. This may be of value.
http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publicat…wahop09028.pdf
http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publicat…wahop09028.pdf
Architectural renderings - a subtle deception
Cyburbia - urban planning community -
Is it just me or does it seem to you that the people and places shown in architectural sketches and renderings often seem to evoke a cool or fashionable tone that somehow never translates into reality with the finished product? It has something to do with the stylization, I’m sure.
Look at the people’s sillohouettes particularly in the second image - why are so many folks striking hipster fashion poses? Are they so overwhelmed with the building’s sense of modernity they are unable to control the impulse? Why do I hear Brian Eno’s ambient ‘Music for Airports’ playing in my head when I look at that?
Has anyone else ever got this impression? Or are all the developments in your neighborhoods peopled by young, beautiful, slick, ambitious, soap opera lookalikes? Just curious.
Edit: I’m putting out a bounty - show us the most outrageous examples of architectural rendering whitewash you can find and you can win Big Cash Prizes and Rewards!
Sprawl Halted in New Jersey
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
The Morris County Planning Board indicates that no new residential subdivisions of 20 or more lots were received in 2008, which signals the end of large-tract developments.
