Friday, December 30, 2011

PhD in urban and regional planning, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Over fifty five students have received Ph.D.'s from the department with about fifteen students currently enrolled in the program.Generally students spend two years of full-time course work before being advanced to candidacy, and an additional two to three years in preparation and defense of a dissertation. The University's requirements for the Ph.D. which govern departmental policy are detailed in the Graduate School Bulletin, Social Sciences and Humanities. A summary of the department's requirements are outlined below; details are available in the Department's "Ph.D. Program Policies and Procedures."

Requirements for Admission

As the Ph.D. is an advanced degree, applicants are expected to already have a Master's degree in planning or a related field. And because planning is a practice-oriented field, applicants are also expected to have completed at least one year of full-time experience as a professional planner.

However, the Ph.D. program is flexible and is intended to appeal to individuals from diverse academic backgrounds. Therefore, it is possible to be admitted without having met the practice requirement. This deficiency may be made up once a student is in the program.

To be admitted a student must be sponsored by a regular member of the URPL faculty. Before final admissions decisions are made, student files are circulated among the faculty. Only when a faculty member agrees to sponsor an admissible candidate is a final admission decision made. The sponsor is the student's academic advisor, and it is expected that the sponsor will become the chairperson of the student's Ph.D. Committee.

Fall Semester Admission Deadlines

Applicants who wish to be included in the University’s fellowship competition must have their completed application to the Department by November 1. The application deadline for all applicants, including those who wish to be considered for an Advanced Opportunity Fellowship (AOF), is February 1. Late applicants will be reviewed on a space available basis. Applicants who meet the February 1st deadline will be notified no later than March 15.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Campus, by Wisconsin Historical Images

more PhD programmes in urban studies:

PhD in Design program in North Carolina State University

PhD in Urban and Public Affairs, University of Louisville

PhD in City & Regional Planning in Georgia Tech

PhD of urban planning in The University of Melbourne, Melbourne School of Design (MSD)

Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Texas, Arlington

Admissions Requirements

Applicants must meet the general requirements of the Graduate School. A personal interview with the Director, Graduate Advisor or members of the landscape architecture faculty is strongly recommended. Three letters of recommendation are required, and it is suggested that at least two of the letters come from former educators or academic contact. Applicants also are required to submit scores from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE). Average GRE scores of successful applicants since 1998 have been approximately 550 Verbal and 550 Quantitative. Also required is a grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 as calculated by the Graduate School.

Applicants holding first professional degrees in landscape architecture, or in some cases degrees related to landscape architecture (such as architecture, engineering, environmental design, horticulture, interior design, planning, and the like) are required to submit portfolios reflecting the applicants' professional and/or academic experiences and interests. Portfolios are assessed according to proficiency in design, presentation and layout, technical skills, and content, similar to criteria used in design studios.

Applicants who have a weakness in one of the criteria for admission can enhance their credentials with strengths in the remaining criteria.

Applicants can be admitted according to four conditions: Unconditional; Provisional; Probationary; and, Deferred. Applicants who do not meet the criteria of one of these conditions will be denied admission to the Program.

Unconditional Admission

Applicants must possess a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. Transcripts from all previous college or university work, along with scores from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), and three letters of recommendation are required of all applicants. In addition, applicants should have a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.0, as calculated by the Graduate School. Applicants holding the first professional degree in landscape architecture, or a related field, must submit a portfolio.

The Alamo at the University of Texas Arlington, by UT Arlington in Second Life

more master degrees in architecture and urban subjects:

Master of architecture, University of Sydney, Australia

Master in Urban Planning (MUP) in Harvard University

Urban Planning Master's Program in Rutgers University

M.A. in Town and Regional Planning the University of Liverpool

Ph.D. Program in Urban Studies and Public Affairs, Cleveland State University

Program Mission and Purpose

The Ph.D. in Urban Studies and Public Affairs program seeks to graduate scholars who are prepared to research, teach, and practice reflectively in positions related to urban studies and public affairs, in universities and public policy organizations. It aims for graduates to have a strong theoretical and methodological foundation within the field, together with the in-depth knowledge required to be able to recognize, identify and articulate the frontiers of scholarship within a specialization field. Successful completion of the degree means that the faculty has determined that you are able to construct, execute, and present scholastically sound, independent research of either a theoretical or applied nature that expands the frontiers of knowledge.
Many students in the program are returning to academia after significant experience in the workplace; many continue to work while pursuing their degree. Over half of our student body attends on a part-time basis. Nevertheless, the program places heavy emphasis upon continuing contributions by every student to the intellectual life of the program, the college, and the university. This includes participation in research projects, attendance at seminars, conferences, and workshops, and publication of ongoing research.

Academics

The program places a heavy emphasis upon theory, research methods and literature, effective professional communications to both expert and lay audiences, and an interdisciplinary approach that accounts for all of the significant dimensions of the issues and problems in the field of urban studies and public affairs. The student’s understanding is informed by political theory and philosophy, economics, statistical and mathematical model building, research methods, concentration in an important substantive domain of public concern, as well as real-world knowledge of specific circumstances, cases, and issues. The areas of specialization in the doctoral program include public administration, economic development, housing and neighborhood development, and environmental policy and administration.

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Cleveland State University, by syl13mec

more PhD programmes in urban planning:

PhD in urban planning in UCLA, School of Public Affairs

PhD of urban planning in The University of Melbourne, Melbourne School of Design (MSD)

PhD in Urban and Regional Sciences in Texas A&M University

PhD in Planning, University of Toronto

PhD in Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago

Prior Degrees Applicants must normally have a master’s degree in Urban Planning or related program.
Grade Point Average At least 3.00/4.00 for the final 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) of undergraduate study.
Tests Required GRE General. Applicants may substitute the GMAT or LSAT.
Minimum English Competency Test Score
- TOEFL 550 (paper-based); 213 (computer-based); 80, with subscores of Reading 19, Listening 17, Speaking 20, and Writing 21 (iBT Internet-based), OR,
- IELTS 6.5, with subscores of 6.0 for all four subscores.
Letters of Recommendation Three required.
Personal Statement Required. A research statement, including the applicant's educational and professional goals, and detailing relevant academic and employment experience.
Other Requirements Applicants must submit a recent paper, essay, or project of which they are the sole author or designer. This material may be of an academic, professional, or personal nature, and must be at least 1000 words in length. Applicants for research assistantship positions are encouraged to submit a resume.
Deadlines The application deadline for this program is earlier than the Graduate College deadline; check the Department or Graduate College webpage for information on application deadlines.

University of Illinois at Chicago, by davidwilson1949

more PhDs in urban planning:

The International Doctorate Programme European Urban Studies (IPP-EU), Bauhaus University, Weimar, Germany

PhD in Urban & Regional Planning, University of Sydney, Australia

PhD in Design program in North Carolina State University

PhD in Urban and Public Affairs, University of Louisville

PhD in Urban and Regional Sciences in Texas A&M University

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Graffiti photos of Boston

Boston graffiti, by Rob React

Boston graffiti, by sx413

Boston graffiti, by Rob React

Boston graffiti, by racheocity

Boston graffiti, by Rob React

more graffiti photos:

Graffiti photos of Vancouver 1

Graffiti photos of Melbourne, Australia (1)

Graffiti photos of Dallas, Texas

Graffiti photos, Atlanta 1

Graffiti in Paris 1

Cycle Tracks and the Evolving American Streetscape

by David Vega-Barachowitz

In the taxonomy of city streets, the cycle track is the platypus. Sandwiched between the sidewalk and the parking lane — neither a trail, a sidewalk, nor a travel lane — it defies the conventional spectra of classification and challenges where the sidewalk ends and the street begins.

In spite of their curious and (as of now) sporadic cameos on American city streets, cycle tracks have long tradition in Northern Europe, and have more recently emerged on streets from Seoul to Seville. Since 2007, when New York City cut the ribbon on its inaugural Ninth Avenue cycle track, the movement for separated bikeways has accelerated in the United States; and culminated in 2011, with the publication of the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ (NACTO) Urban Bikeway Design Guide, a catalogue of innovative bikeway design concepts for US cities.

The NACTO Guide heralds a new era of thinking about our streets and public spaces, discovering in the asphalt tundra of the American metropolis an unlikely well of creative potential. Along with a growing cadre of city street design manuals, the guide beckons the twilight of the motor century and upholds the growing sentiment that the antidote to traffic congestion is neither highway nor tunnel, but an imaginative repurposing and reallocation of the street itself. Today, as an emerging generation of designers and engineers rise to challenge the traditional rubric and protocol of traffic engineering, the first highly visible struggle will be that of the cycle track.

What follows contextualizes the cycle track in the lineage of transportation in the United States. Three persistent themes stand out: the tension between rural and urban transportation policy; the question of dedicating versus sharing road space; and the interpretation and limitations of conventional design standards and criteria.

photo by aprilshowers2462

more about bicycle planning:

The Case for Bike-Share

Tehran's "Bike House" Shines Green

Road hogs: Minneapolis cyclists don’t need to share

Walking, Bicycling, and Urban Landscapes: Evidence from the San Francisco Bay Area

Bike Shares Struggle To Work With Helmet Laws

Manhattan’s Master Plan: Why NYC Looks the Way it Does

by Gregory Wessner

New Yorkers take it for granted that we can say things like “meet me at 85th Street and Third Avenue” and know that regardless of whether someone has been to that intersection, they will easily be able to get there. It’s all thanks to Manhattan’s legendary street grid, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year.

In 1807, frustrated by years of uncontrolled development and a decade of public health epidemics attributed to lower Manhattan’s cramped and irregular streets, New York City’s Common Council (the predecessor to today’s City Council) petitioned the State Legislature to develop a street plan for Manhattan above Houston Street, at that time a rural area of streams and hills populated by a patchwork of country estates, farms and small houses. The adoption four years later of the Commissioners’ Plan established the grid of 12 north-south avenues and 155 east-west streets that, though it would take most of the 19th century to build, continues to fundamentally shape life in New York.

But is something so infrastructural, something that’s taken for granted every day, really worth celebrating?

The grid is definitely worth celebrating — without it, New York might not be the great city it has become. That’s why the Museum of the City of New York and the Architectural League of New York have organized a pair of exhibitions about its past and future. The first of these exhibitions, “The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2011,” curated by architectural historian Hilary Ballon, traces the creation, implementation and evolution of the plan from 1811 through the 20th century.

urban renewal plan for manhattan, from "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York" at the Municipal Art Society, by conbon33

more about NYC:

NYC Taxi Reform Doesn’t Go Far Enough

Short Skirts on Bicycles Celebration in New York City

How Public Housing Transformed New York City 1935-67

The Tragedy of Urban Renewal – The Destruction and Survival of a New York City neighborhood

How a Road Can Change a City, Even If It Never Gets Built

Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change

by Laura Kozak

Peter Calthorpe (Island Press, 2011)

With a methodology that is both academic and practical, Berkley scholar and designer Peter Calthorpe, a founder of the Congress for New Urbanism, establishes a powerful argument for the future of cities, citing transportation and urban design as the most significant opportunities for simultaneously improving quality of life and reducing carbon emissions. Calthorpe provides a big-picture snapshot of current and projected trends in global and American fuel consumption, carbon emissions and land use, with a tone that is decidedly absent of a dooms-day inevitability. Instead, we are offered an optimistic championing of urbanism; principles that harken back to the urban planning of pre-automobile America, with the added benefit of 21st century technology. The book also articulates a 21st century imperative: the world is urbanizing, and the organization of cities will be a key tool in addressing climate change.

Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change takes an interdisciplinary though non-holistic approach, both in its exploration of the problems cities face, and in its offering of solutions. Prioritizing quantitative analysis - that is, statistics and studies that look at the spatial organization of the city, measurable performance aspects and human statistics - Urbanism does not take an in-depth look at economics or socio-political factors, or their impact on the conditions of urban life.

read more

more urban planning book reviews:

The Heights: The Anatomy of a Skyscraper

Book - Architecture and Violence

Léon Krier discusses The Architecture of Community

The City Beautiful Movement by William H. Wilson

Book Review: Self Sufficient City Envisioning the habitat of the future

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Skyline photos of Barcelona 1

Barcelona skyline, by Dr.Flemming

Barcelona skyline, by yo DADA

Barcelona skyline, by UnorthodoxY

Barcelona skyline, by James & Vilija

Barcelona skyline, by zenilorac

Barcelona skyline, by goro

Barcelona skyline, by Anigwei

More skyline photos:

Skyline photos of Brussels, Belgium -1

Skyline photos of Copenhagen, Denmark 1

Skyline photos of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) 1

Skyline photos of Düsseldorf, Germany

Skyline photos of Manchester 1

Hopeful Footsteps in Mexico City’s Centro Histórico

by Ruth Samuelson

After years of steady deterioration, Mexico City’s Centro Histórico is finally showing signs of health.

Public and private efforts, especially by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú, have bulked up security, refurbished old parks and gathering spots and increased economic development in the area. But the renaissance’s defining feature is obvious: it’s the ground.

In recent years, the Centro has closed off three streets to vehicular traffic and has plans to convert more. Known for its museums, landmarks and busy markets, the area is now drawing more youthful crowds, thanks in part to shopping and nightlife on its pedestrian streets.

The street closure treatment has also deterred crime, according to local business owners. One of the zone’s biggest problems is residential vacancies. While Centro’s always bustling by day, it’s still desolate after dark in many spots.

The first walkway, Regina street, was inaugurated in 2008. Dubbed a "Cultural Pedestrian Corridor" by the government, it’s loaded with hip, laidback restaurants and mezcalerias.

Centro Histórico, photo by luigig

Centro Histórico, photo by teachandlearn

more about urban Mexico:

Mexico’s Proposed 2012 Budget Fails to Allocate Adequate Funding for Climate Change

Cycling in Mexico City, Aggressive Driving, Integrated Mobility Sharing

A modern-day ghost town A rural Mexican community is almost empty

THE URBAN SPRAWL: A PLANETARY GROWTH PROCESS? AN OVERVIEW OF USA, MEXICO AND SPAIN

MEXICO: Capital Badly in Need of Urban Regeneration

The World's Housing Bubble

by Richard Florida

America has suffered through a housing crisis for the past several years, with the average price falling 30 percent, and much more than that in some areas. So it may come as a surprise to many Americans that much of the world still appears to be in the throes of its own housing bubble. The chart below, from the Global Housing Monitor produced by the International Monetary Fund's Prakash Loungani, offers some perspective.

Housing prices have been falling in about half of the countries, but they're rising on the other half.

photo by jekemp

photo by YST (aka kryptos5)

more about housing:

A New Look at Germany's Postwar Reconstruction

AN EQUILIBRIUM MODEL OF SORTING IN AN URBAN HOUSING MARKET: A Study of the Causes and Consequences of Residential Segregation

Residential Location Decisions: Heterogeneity and the Trade-off between Location and Housing Quality

Subsidies in the Suburbs

What is the Effect on Affordability as Small Cities Invest in Market Rate Housing in their Downtowns?

Pop-up placemaking and next gen urban neighborhoods

by Neil Takemoto

Trendwatching.com reports that with 180,000 people moving into cities daily, a rising creative urban population they refer to as Citysumers are defining a new generation that’s more demanding, open-minded, connected, spontaneous and more try-out-prone than ever. What that means is if there ever was a time to experiment with forward-thinking placemaking, the time is now.

The current manifestation of that mentality is with ‘pop-up’ placemaking. It allow cities to try out innovative placemaking without much if any taxpayer commitment. What happens more often than not, however, is that the aforementioned citysumers see it as an opportunity to make it permanent. From Cities rethink urban spaces with ‘pop-up’ projects:

- Pop-up placemaking took off in Copenhagen in the 1950s when the City’s closing of its main downtown Strøget Street to car traffic turned public opposition into such a well-received experience, what was supposed to be temporary over the Christmas holiday has been permanent ever since.
- In 2009 New York City closed Times Square to cars temporarily and found that business revenue increased 71%, injuries to motorists and passengers dropped 63% and northbound west midtown trips were actually 17% faster. It’s been closed permanently ever since.
- Vancouver’s VIVA program began a roving street closing program in 2009 to test pedestrian-only places in neighborhoods throughout the city (see photo above).
- Bristol, Connecticut hosted a pop-up piazza festival in August, 2011 to test out its upcoming piazza on its future site, presently within a giant parking lot. Expecting 1500 people, it attracted upwards of ten times that many.

Restuarants in Queen West, Toronto, by LexnGer

Queen West, Toronto, by Danielle Scott

more about urban landscape:

The Heights: The Anatomy of a Skyscraper

Urban Ecological landscape of Tehran

The streets of central city of Aachen, Germany

Trees In Transit

New City Landscape - Seoul

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Norwegian poetics – 2nd life of the industrial city

By Emmy Laura Perez Fjalland

As is the case with many countries, Norway has its share of large, polluted industrial areas defined by monumental infrastructure, lack of permeability and complicated way-finding. These areas often feature a concentration of land uses that have been deliberately isolated from the surrounding city due to their unpleasant nature. Lin Skaufel, Associate at Gehl, is currently dealing with a project of this nature in Breivoll, Oslo. Together with Hans Martin Aambø, Project Manager, and his team at Planning & Building Authority of Oslo Municipality, they have investigated how these areas can become integrated within the city and methodologies for approaching city design can be used in industrial areas.

Breivoll is in the industrial area Groruddalen that stretches approximately 15 km north east of Oslo. Through lack of a coherent planning policy, the area has developed haphazardly over time along the beautiful river Alna. Breivoll is only 4 km from the center of Oslo and has the potential to become an urban generator for Groruddalen region.

more about urban revitalization and regeneration:

GENTRIFICATION: IS IT POSSIBLE TO AVOID IT?

A modern-day ghost town A rural Mexican community is almost empty

Abandoned residential units in Dessau, Germany

Boredom in a Globalized World

MEXICO: Capital Badly in Need of Urban Regeneration

A missed opportunity, and the shortcomings of regional planning

via Transbay Blog

Gearing up to prepare the next update to the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has been evaluating a new policy framework to determine when a transportation project is considered to be a regional commitment. Projects that are committed will be included in the next RTP. Projects that are not committed could be included, but they would first be subject to a benefit-cost analysis and would have to be approved separately by the Commission.

At what point is a project far enough along in the process to be “committed”? We looked before at the two policy choices that were being considered. There is more detail in that previous post, but the brief recap is that with “Option 1,” a project is committed if it has been environmentally cleared, e.g. the project has an EIR certified under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). With “Option 2,” a project is not committed until dirt has turned and construction is underway. Of these two options, I supported Option 2 because it would expose commissioners to a benefit-cost analysis for more projects, thereby empowering them with greater discretion to decide whether even older projects are still worthy of pursuit. The Planning Committee also supported Option 2 and voted to move it forward to the full Commission.

more about regional planning:

Governance of Tehran City - Region: Challenges and Trends

Research Methods in Urban and Regional Planning

Integration of landscape fragmentation analysis into regional planning: A statewide multi-scale case study from California, USA

Regional Development in the Philippines: A Review of Experience, State of the Art and Agenda for Research and Action

NYC Taxi Reform Doesn’t Go Far Enough

By Emily Washington

Next week, New York Governor Cuomo is likely to sign a bill that will marginally increase competition in the NYC cab market. The new rule will allow passengers to hail some livery cars in outer boroughs and add 2,000 additional medallions for yellow cabs with wheelchair access.

The auction of these medallions is projected to raise $1 billion. This figure might seem outlandish, but last month two medallions sold at auction for over $1 million. That’s right, it costs $1 million for the right to drive a cab in NYC, not accounting for any of the costs associated with owning and operating the vehicle.

The price tag of these medallions that are sold to the highest bidder demonstrates that in a free market, many more drivers would enter the cab industry. Artificially constraining the supply hurts both consumers and those who are not able to drive a cab because they are unable to purchase a medallion.

Unsurprisingly, the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade remains strongly opposed to this bill. The increase in the supply of medallions will lower the value of the medallions that cab drivers and larger medallion companies already own. Their lobbying efforts reflect their desire to profit through the political system.

New York Taxis, by b00nj

NYC Taxi, photo by PeterJBellis

NYC taxi, by Niamor83

more about NYC:

The Case for Bike-Share

sustainable transport

Short Skirts on Bicycles Celebration in New York City

IMPROVING THE PEDESTRIANS’ EXPERIENCE IN SoHo, NYC

NYC DOT Seeks Developer Feedback

Monday, December 26, 2011

The Heights: The Anatomy of a Skyscraper

via digitalurban.org

The skyscraper is perhaps the most recognizable icon of the modern urban landscape. Providing offices, homes, restaurants, and shopping to thousands of inhabitants, modern skyscrapers function as small cities- with infrastructure not unlike that hidden beneath our streets. At the time of year when your looking for a book on all things urban then The Heights by Kate Ascher, author of The Works: Anatomy of a City provides a great graphic tour through the inner workings of skyscrapers.

Exploring the interconnected systems that make life liveable in the sky Kate provides a unique illustrated view of the development, operation, safety and history of the skyscraper. Just how do skyscrapers sway in the wind, and why exactly is that a good idea? How can a modern elevator be as fast as an airplane? Why are skyscrapers in Asia safer than those in the United States and onwards....

read more

more urban and architecture book reviews:

Connecting Urban Sustainability to Wealth Creation

Book Review: Testimonies of the City. Identity, Community and Change in a Contemporary Urban World

Book Review: Self Sufficient City Envisioning the habitat of the future

Book - Architecture and Violence

via UrbanTick

Space for place defined by practice, where people live and breath is always contested. It is not just, it is to be made, remodelled and reshaped constantly through negotiation. The result is a mix of interests, desires and statements.
Aspects of violence as part of the social structure becomes an element of the process. With its imposing and shattering presence violence marks the territory, cutting lines and burning patches. It eats into the construction of place imposing its own kingdoms of subcultures.
Architecture as a form of spacial geometrification with functional provisions can be a driving ground for violence. Often architecture is the stage for violence, but it can also be a driving force in that it can be violent in itself. Violence might be part of architecture since it is always set in a cultural context which in turn is based on the same negotiation process.

Book Review: Waiting on a Train

Book Review: Instant City

History of Letchworth Garden City

Jane Jacobs was the seer of the modern city

Book Review: Cities for People

Can Designers Solve the Problem of Urban Wasteland?

A house with no furnace? You betcha

by: MATT McKINNEY

Sometime in the next few weeks, Paul Brazelton will move his family into a 1935 Tudor in south Minneapolis that has no furnace. He's just finished a massive renovation of the family home and even though winter's bearing down, he removed the boiler and plans to use that basement space for his daughters' home-school classroom.

He also took out the fireplace.

If this sounds like the most uninviting house (and classroom) in Minneapolis, there's something else to know: Brazelton, a software engineer and passionate environmentalist, has nearly finished a retrofit of his house to the stringent engineering standards of the Passivhaus model, a German system of homebuilding that uses insulation and highly efficient doors and windows to save energy.

The finished 2,000-square-foot home could be warmed even in the dead of winter with a pair of small space heaters, Brazelton said, though the family plans to piggyback on their hot water heater and use an in-floor heating system in the basement.

"We're really nervous," said Brazelton, half-joking, "because when it's 20 degrees below and you can feel your house contracting and cracking like it's just trying to resist the cold, it's hard to believe that two space heaters from Target will do the trick for us."

The finished project is on track to be certified by the Passivhaus institute of Darmstadt, Germany, as the first "EnerPHit" home in North America, according to their architect Tim Eian of TE Studio in Minneapolis.

The EnerPHit standard, designed for existing homes, has been used thousands of times in Europe, said Eian, a German native. Such homes see their energy use fall from 75 to 90 percent.

more about energy comsuption: