News

When you walk through a city, does it make you feel happy? That’s the question author and urbanist Charles Montgomery set out to answer while researching his book, Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design. Through various experiments and urban labs, Montgomery discovered that, yes, walking through certain parts of a city can indeed spark joy. But that discovery led to another, more impactful question: How can cities foster happiness through urban design

https://blueprint.cbre.com/how-urban-design-impacts-happiness/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Wallpost&utm_campaign=Native&utm_term=Urban%2BDesign%2BImpacts%2BHappiness

The Massachusetts Association of Consulting Planners is supporting the Smart Growth Alliance on their Campaign to advance zoning reform in Massachusetts. 

Tomorrow Thursday, September 28th at 10:00AM, planning professionals will be providing oral testimony before the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Businesses on Senate Bill #81-- An Act Promoting Housing and Sustainable Development. We encourage everyone to attend the hearing. 

Also, please sign the online petition at:

https://www.great-neighborhoods.org/petition

The petition signers will be asking the legislature to make Great Neighborhoods a top priority this term. 

Here is the link to more information about the bill: https://malegislature.gov/Events/Hearings/Detail/2733

Many world cities have a signature building or monument that makes their skylines recognizable, while others are more challenging. Are you smart enough to name all of these cities from only pictures of their skylines? Prove it :)

http://offbeat.topix.com/quiz/18598?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=18598&utm_term=230M8SALFQPM6UIT

 "Housing affordability is a vexing challenge and transit-oriented development is often a victim of its own success. These neighborhoods become sought after by buyers and renters of all ages, pushing up housing costs. The challenge now is to ensure that housing that is affordable to low- and moderate-income households, including older adults, is part of these new neighborhoods."

http://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/getting-around/info-2017/transit-oriented-development-senior-housing-denver.html?cmp=EMC-DSM-NLC-LC-HOMFAM-20170920_LivableCommunities_254800_406404-092017-F2-NoCarNeeded-Header-CTRL-2432044&encparam=%2BbUHUZ36YbpvM3joKy0j%2FTC%2BHO336rs01pL18F14eLY%3D

In an effort to improve pedestrian safety, the City of Regina has undertaken a two-year pilot project using a new style of crosswalk signage. 

http://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/city-hopes-to-improve-pedestrian-safety-with-new-crosswalk-pilot-project

After September 11, 2001, Lower Manhattan was a shell of its former self. New York City, deeply rattled by the attacks and mourning the thousands that died, was too. Just a few weeks later Michael Bloomberg was elected, and as his deputy mayor of economic development and rebuilding he appointed the investment banker Dan Doctoroff. His task? Repairing a city some thought would never again be a center of business or a desirable place to live.

Sixteen years later, New York is a changed city. Under Doctoroff’s leadership, the landscape of New York from Lower Manhattan to downtown Brooklyn has radically changed.

[Image: courtesy PublicAffairs]

https://www.fastcodesign.com/90139632/how-the-chief-architect-of-new-new-york-envisions-future-of-cities

UMASS BOSTON
Amherst Room, UMass Club 1 Beacon St., 32nd Floor, Boston
Petra Doan is Professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at Florida State University. In addition to her research on planning in the developing world, she conducts research on planning issues surrounding the LGBTQ community.  

RSVP by September 18  rochelle.hall001@umb.edu

Unless you fell off the Kindle truck yesterday, you understand Amazon probably knows already where it wants to build, meaning the winning jurisdiction will squander resources on a headquarters it would have gotten anyway, argues a Brookings Institution analyst...

http://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2017/09/21/corporate-welfare-and-the-amazon-stick-up-rich-barlow

The city has turned the data from its massive Climate Ready Boston report into an interactive map that allows you to explore many of the report's findings and projections.

The tool allows you to layer various data sets onto the map, including sea level rise and flood risk, as well as vulnerable populations and areas of high temperatures. You can zoom in to or search specific places within city limits to see effects there.

http://www.wbur.org/news/2017/09/21/boston-sea-level-flooding-map