"No one warns you that everything is more concentrated in a tiny house, that the natural life cycle of objects accelerates..."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/realestate/what-no-one-ever-tells-you-about-tiny-homes.html?mc=aud_dev&mcid=fb-nytimes&mccr=JuneMC910&mcdt=2017-06&subid=JuneMC910&ad-keywords=AudDevGate

Considering this pattern of urban design, what is the position of pedestrians and cyclists in a global sharing economy where Uber (the mobile app officially launched in 2011) serves 570 cities across the world? As we approach a future of autonomous, driverless, electric cars and buses, the conditions of walkable mobility will need to rely on smart mutations of existing roads and highways. These spaces are becoming obsolete in the cyborg city, where artificial intelligence and natural human flows (such as pedestrian movements) intensively interact.

https://intermittentcity.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/walking-in-times-of-uber-cities/

Affordable urban living for millennial families with children has the potential to become one of the largest market demands in the near future. 

http://www.moderncities.com/article/2017-jun-the-next-baby-boom-urban-millennials-with-children-

In 2017, for the first time, Deutsche Bank has included a ranking of the quality of life in 47 cities around the world. The ranking is based on eight sub-indexes compiled by crowd-sourced information database Numbeo, which create a broad picture of what it is like to live in different cities.

The indexes are: Purchasing Power, Safety, Health Care, Cost of Living, Property Price to Income Ratio, Traffic Commute Time, Pollution, and Climate.

Broadly speaking, the cities that rank highly are in the northern hemisphere in developed western economies, although several cities from nations like South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand make the list, with one even at the very top.

Check it out below:

http://www.businessinsider.com/world-cities-with-best-quality-of-life-deutsche-bank-mapping-the-worlds-prices-index-2017-5

Chinese railcar-maker CRRC on Jun. 2 unveiled a new product called Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, and the bus-rail combo rapid transit system is expected to speed up city’s public transportation.

http://en.people.cn/n3/2017/0602/c90000-9223523.html

Latinos account for virtually all of the population growth in Boston in the past 35 years.

http://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2017/06/07/report-latinos-boston-growth

Left Teams Up with Cambridge startup to bring Driverless Ride-hailing to the roads

http://www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2017/06/06/lyft-nutonomy-self-driving-cars-ride-hailing

"Even in the most crime-free of America's neighborhoods, people don't feel entirely safe when they're out and about.

Drivers, some of whom view the nation's roadways as their exclusive domain, are having to contend with growing numbers of bicyclists and pedestrians.

Bicyclists, who are largely focused on maneuvering through vehicle traffic and not getting sideswiped on shoulderless streets, sometimes don't realize how they imperil pedestrians.

People traveling by foot often feel under siege from both speeding cars and unpredictable bicycles.

Like many street-level conflicts, this one is about territory. Who owns the streets?"

http://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/getting-around/info-2016/why-bicycling-infrastructure-is-good-for-people-who-dont-ride-bikes.html?cmp=EMC-DSM-NLC-LC-HOMFAM-20170503_LivableCommunities_254800_336202-050317-F2-BicycleBenefits-Header-CTRL-2100002&encparam=%2BbUHUZ36YbpvM3joKy0j%2FTC%2BHO336rs01pL18F14eLY%3D

The Town of Acton is looking for a Planning Intern. 

Applications will be accepted until position is filled.

Thanks,
Robert Hummel
Assistant Town Planner
Town of Acton
978-929-6631

New app transports you through NYC's historic cityscape with archival photos!

https://archpaper.com/2017/05/urban-archive-app-nyc/