Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. Welcome to the Anthropocene - the era where human activity is the greatest single force shaping the surface of the earth. This video from Gizmodo charts the many ways we are changing the planet and the incredible connectivity we have achieved as a result. (LA Curbed) Image from ...

Weird Wednesdays on Urban Planet takes a look at obscure, absurd, and curious things about cities around the world. Parking garages usually don't make it very high on a city's list of urban beautification projects — most end up looking pretty similar to each other. Kansas City, MO is one of the citys who have broken the mould. The parking garage of city's downtown public library branch has a 25-foot tall "bookshelf" facade made from signboard mylar that features the spines of a number of local stories as well as many famous works.

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. Welcome to Sunset Triangle - LA's first pedestrian plaza. The street-to-plaza conversion opened in March, modeled after the successful installations in NYC. The street is demarcated with green polkadots and planters, and first reports suggest that LA residents are enjoying their new open space. ...

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. New York City's 10,000 street vendors face myriad rules and regulations. Add to that many first languages other than English and it becomes easy to see how cart owners could face steep penalties for simple infractions. To address this issue and empower the city's ...

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. It's well known that Detroit has experienced a large population decline leaving large swaths of land abandoned. The oft cited number is 40 square miles. But as Kate Davidson at Changing Gears reports, nobody is quite sure where that number came from. New ...

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. Hydro pylons can be a bit of an eyesore. In response, Russian creative collective Design Depot has proposed a set of creative approaches to beautify this challenging piece of infrastructure. Spacing asks: is there potential to use these modified pylons in the urban environment? ...

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. “You can’t get me for premeditated selling of a cupcake,” says Chicago truck vendor Lupita Kuri. A police officer noted her intended location from a Facebook post and ticked her for parking in a loading zone. Food trucks are very popular in the windy ...

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. Colossal reports on the artistic exploits of a group of garbagemen in Hamburg, Germany. By drilling a hole and suspending a sheet of photo paper inside, this group has turned dumpsters into pinhole cameras. The results are incredible - check them out at ...

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. Launched in 2007, Walk Score is a popular website for evaluating the walkability of a particular address or neighbourhood. Embraced (for the most part) by both the planning and real estate communities, Walk Score provides a single number which translates a variety of complex ...

Urban Planet is a daily roundup of  blogs from around the world dealing specifically with urban environments. We’ll be on the lookout for websites outside the country that approach themes related to urban experiences and issues. Google Maps has revolutionized the way we approach cartography, but really old specimens have a je ne sais quoi that is tough to replicate in digital form. Old Maps Online, an initiative of the The Great Britain Historical GIS Project and ...