by Emily Badger – The Atlantic Cities

What are the issues with categorizing cities as ‘Post-Industrial?’ Emily Badger discusses how this categorization can impede on a city’s ability to develop for the future, and how formerly industrial cities such as Pittsburgh still have many components that bear relevance in today’s urban scope. Link to full story.

by Emily Badger – The Atlantic Cities

Segregated schools are an enduring problem in urban America. But with young affluent (often white) professionals flocking to cities, and enrolling their children in public schools, a historic opportunity exists to create diverse schools. Emily Badger examines how smart school placement policies could help improve educational outcomes for low-income and minority students in America’s cities, and facilitate the integration of entire neighborhoods. Link to full story.

by John Morris Dixon, FAIA - Architect Magazine

One way to combat social issues is through socially responsible architecture and planning. Davids Killory Architecture designed a development for needy Escondido, CA residents, identified as “Housing for Homeless Mothers and Children.” Read about their accommodating design for less fortunate mothers & their children. Link to full story.

by Alex Dodds – Smart Growth America

Communities across the country are making roads safer and more accessible for everyone who uses them, and more communities are using these strategies now than ever before.

The Best Complete Streets Policies of 2012 examines all the Complete Streets policies passed in the last year and highlights some of the best. The analysis also revealed that the Complete Streets movement grew in 2012, continuing a national trend since 2005. Link to full story.

Download the Executive Summary Here.

In 2010, IBM Corporate Citizenship launched the Smarter Cities Challenge to help 100 cities around the world over a three-year period become smarter through grants of IBM talent. The City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was selected, through a competitive process, as one of 33 cities to be awarded a Smarter Cities Challenge grant in 2012. Since the program’s inception in 2010, more than 60 cities have received Smarter Cities Challenge grants, and many of these have already made great progress on the road to becoming more instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. Link to Pittsburgh Profile.

Download the Pittsburgh Report Here.

By Willie Osterweil – Shareable

An interactive map from the bike-sharing consultancy Metrobike plots the world’s active, proposed, and failed bike-sharing services. Willie Osterweil draws some interesting lessons from the data. Link to full story.

by Lori Rotenberk -Grist

Lori Rotenberk reports on a new seven-acre urban “accelerator farm” announced yesterday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel that seeks to fill Chicago’s farmer drought and deepens the city’s investment in building its agricultural sector. Link to full story.

March 3^rd 2013

Urban design is a fresh, up-and-coming discipline that is being translated into a hands-on practice in schools across the country. Read how when collaborating with urban planning and landscape urbanism, design can be highly applicable when dealing with today’s challenges such as rapid urbanization, climate change, biodiversity loss, and population growth. Link to full story.

February 28^th 2013

Suburban Orlando is home to what might well be the best example of the absurd development patterns of post-war America. There you’ll find two houses with adjoining backyards whose front doors are separated by seven miles of roads. Read how these disconnected streets have many consequences for the environment, public health, and social equity. Link to full story.

The World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Architecture. Link to full story.