Architecture & Urban Planning

Fellow Story

Cohen quoted in article on Caltrans and induced demand

Stuart Cohen, executive director of TransForm, has spent a lot of time thinking about induced demand as well. “We know it exists,” he says. “That’s why we put up new transit routes—because we want to induce demand for transit. But we also know that new roadways induce more car trips.”
December 28, 2015
Fellow Story

Chen organizes conference on China's transformation in a global context

Is rural China dying? The recent redoubling of the Chinese state’s efforts to shift rural people to urban areas seems to confirm what many have sensed: that, at the head of a worldwide urbanizing surge, China is leaving its agrarian legacy behind. Rural communities seem fated to depopulate, while industrial farms, concentrated animal feeding operations, and tree plantations will replace the family farms that once underpinned China’s economy and culture. Watchers are spellbound by urbanization that seems a fait accompli.
December 21, 2015
Fellow Story

Chen organizes urban "Beyond Measure" conference

Global change science is by essence multidisciplinary: it grows from the cross-pollination between a broad range of natural and social sciences. But one group of disciplines, the humanities, is often left outside of this conversation. What is their place in the research on global change?
December 17, 2015
Fellow Story

Orenstein fulfilling ecological vision for Technion campus in Israel

Unbeknownst to most of the campus community of students, faculty, staff and guests, the actual biological community of the Technion campus is far greater than the thousands of humans that walk in and out of its gates every day. Members of this expanded community make their homes on or between the campus buildings, in the landscaped strips between the buildings, or in a great expanse of planted and natural forest on the southern slopes of the campus.
December 10, 2015
Fellow Story

McClintock says urban gardens plant seeds of activism

“Essentially, urban agriculture arises where there’s vacant land, cheap land, a low market rate or wherever food justice activity pops up,” McClintock says. “So many of these projects produce food to address the so-called food desert.” Read more
November 30, 2015
Fellow Story

Chen now at Penn State as Assistant Professor of Environmental Governance and Urban Systems

Jia-Ching Chen is now at Pennsylavania State University as an Assistant Professor of Environmental Governance and Urban Systems.
November 25, 2015
Fellow Story

Grove publishes new book on Baltimore school of urban ecology

The first “urban century” in history has arrived: a majority of the world’s population now resides in cities and their surrounding suburbs. Urban expansion marches on, and the planning and design of future cities requires attention to such diverse issues as human migration, public health, economic restructuring, water supply, climate and sea-level change, and much more.
November 20, 2015
Fellow Story

After a powerful sabbatical, a new beginning

Stuart Cohen reflects on his recent three-month sabbatical awarded to him by the O2 Initiatives Sabbatical Award.
November 20, 2015
Fellow Story

Charney key player in movement to preserve Nashville Highlands

Nashville conservationists won Thursday. Clad in lime green shirts with bright red stop signs on the front, more than a 150 Nashvillians swarmed Metro Planning Commission’s Thursday meeting to decry a development in West Nashville. And they were pleased with the outcome. ... Radnor2River director Noah Charney echoed several residents’ sentiment that the development proposed by Nashville Highlands could mean great harm for the ecosystem and nearby neighbors.
August 18, 2015
Fellow Story

Wheeler says it is time for leadership on local development project

By Stephen Wheeler: For six months I and others have been meeting with council members, city planning staff, and the landowner to encourage a development plan for the Nishi Gateway site that is truly sustainable and will enhance the city’s reputation as a cutting-edge green community. Many of the pieces of such a plan are tantalizingly close, and many good people are at work on the project. But the overall vision still hasn’t gelled. Since environmental review and project design are rapidly proceeding, now is the time for leadership to make that happen.
August 13, 2015