Planning Pool

Five of the most unwalkable places in the world

Denis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:25:57 +0000

For this final instalment of FAIL Week, we take a look at a few places that you would never want to set foot in. These cities and neighbourhoods are meant to be experienced in a bucket seat, and it shows! 1. Eagle Bend, Jacksonville, Florida (The entrance has no sidewalk.) View Larger Map According to Walkscore.com, this [...]

Hang’Em High for….rain barrels?

Nancy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:24:44 +0000

We all know that outdated legislation can often be one of the largest barriers change. Up until 2009, in the state of Colorado it was illegal to have a rain barrel and still is illegal for a majority of its residents. They would probably not hang you for it and it was mostly [...]

Food Policy Fail – British Columbia’s Meat Inspection Regulations (Editorial)

Vanessa — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:48:27 +0000

In tackling the subject of British Columbia’s meat inspection regulations, I must begin by admitting that I am not the likeliest author. For starters, I’m a vegetarian. Secondly, although someday I would love to keep urban chickens, my agricultural experience is pretty much limited to growing herbs and tomatoes on my apartment patio. However, the [...]

Editorial: Planning Journalism Fail in Vancouver

William — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:30:33 +0000

Planning fails are often the physical manifestation of misguided perceptions. Though well-intentioned, perpetuating outdated beliefs is irresponsible; green solutions should have green outcomes. The article ‘Green solutions come from many directions,’ published in the Vancouver Sun on March 9, 2010 refers to a survey in late 2009 that lists “sustainability issues in transportation” as Vancouver, BC’s [...]

Weekly Video

Mike — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:41:16 +0000

Having made many eastbound trips along I-8 from San Diego to other locations (sometimes Phoenix, other times further), I'm fairly familiar with the subject of this week's video...

transitFAIL: Using social media to make things better

Daniella — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:55:39 +0000

Welcome to Fail Week here on PlanningPool! All week we will be bringing you information about bad planning, lack of planning, and planning generally gone awry. At PlanningPool, we’re big fans of Twitter, because it’s a tool that combines the less high-tech (cell phones) with the more high tech (internet) and gets people in touch [...]

Liveblogging the UBC Resilience Symposium: Uncertain Water Supplies

Vanessa — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:57:27 +0000

Today, PlanningPool is coming to you live from the Symposium on Resilience at the University of British Columbia, where we just presented a lively panel discussion about Digital Media. (Our slides are online here.) Thanks to Karen Quinn Fung and Frances Bula for participating in the discussion! An interdisciplinary panel of graduate students and professionals are [...]

Edmonton’s new growth plan gets serious about food security

Vanessa — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:18:40 +0000

Thanks largely to a local alliance of citizen advocates, the City of Edmonton, Canada, is moving forward with a draft Growth Plan that gets serious about food security. The Greater Edmonton Alliance, composed mostly of churches and unions, has played a key role in shaping the draft plan, entitled The Way We Grow. (A giant [...]

Come see us present about Digital Media & Planning at UBC on Friday!

Daniella — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:15:32 +0000

If you’re in Vancouver on Friday morning and have some time, drop by the University of British Columbia’s Graduate Student Society building and see us present about digital media & public engagement! Registration is $25 for students and you can find out more information here. Hope to see you then! Edited to add: Our introductory slides for this [...]

Weekly Video

Mike — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:23:29 +0000

Gazing toward the future, and hopefully beyond these dismal economic times, what will cities look like? Though it's easy to get excited about the technologies that might shape the built realities of civilization, any sociologist will tell you that cities are at least equally defined by their inhabitants...