The first post from our Agora Salon Series on the theme storytelling is by Nick Tobier a professor at the Stamps School of Design who demonstrates the power of simple drawings. While planners do not rely strictly on drawings like architects or urban designers, we can benefit enormously from practicing this skill--using simple diagrams to break down the complex issues we face when planning cities.
Check out how the size of American suburban malls compares to other major land uses worldwide!
Cinema has long been a projection of society’s dreams, fears, ambitions and prejudices, and planning is a major factor. Whether set in postwar Vienna or the lonely U.S. highway system, blockbusters and art-house films alike have demonstrated the complex, evolving ways people interact with—and react to—the modern world.
Promoting gender equity is a key component of urban planning. Although not as prominent as transportation planning or economic development, developing gender-inclusive cities must remain at the forefront of modern-day planning.
This blog summarizes my experience on the MUP Expanded Horizons trip to Pittsburgh in September. The city is experiencing a period of development that is paving the path toward a new identity - one that is full of vibrancy, yet preserves the history of how it became what it is today.
This article uses a recent encounter to raise a larger question: do experts have a responsibility to provide communities with guidance as they make hard decisions?
Business Improvement Zone(BIZ): A Short Synopsis. What it is, how it works, what it can do, and how I can get one.
It’s been 50 years since the first public bike share system was established inAmsterdam. With bike share experiencing rapid growth worldwide, in the twenty-first century, a key question has arisen: Is public bike share a mode of public transportation?
Photo By: Dan Sommerville
"Whether it’s a dystopian future where a crumbling former metropolis poses new and often terrifying challenges, or a documentary about a parking lot, planning has found its way onto the big screen. Here’s my list of ten planning-related films, shows and documentaries that planners and non-planners alike will find both interesting and thought-provoking."
Venice is a tourist's city. But unless you are a history or architectural buff, what are you going there to see? I observed that tourists flock to Venice to enjoy its ambiance, its culture, or as I see it: good urban planning.
Photo By: Michelle Bennett
Every year, Michigan’s political and business elite retreat to the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island. The island is a place where bicycles, not automobiles, are the dominant vehicle of transportation. With this setting for the state’s top policy conference, why are leaders not more inspired to make Michigan a more bikeable state?
Photo by: Bike Walk Lincoln Park
Over break, Agora sent out a call for submissions on the topic, “Why should planners care about police brutality” I thought to myself about how obvious that answer is: of course we should.
A diversity workshop was held February 9th, 2015 with high expectations from students that they would discuss the intersectionalities of race, class, and gender in the urban planning context, and have a larger dialogue of social justice and community. This blog piece highlights one MUP's reflection on the workshop.
Northfield Township is a rural community that promotes farming, open space and embraces the natural elements of the environment including Whitmore Lake. Through the years, there has been interest in development to grow and improve our community. However, the newest wave of development would violate several measures of our 2012 Master Plan.
Wajiha Ibrahim reflects on Dr. Ananya Roy’s discussion for the Taubman Lecture Series on slum governance in the Global South and the reproduction of social inequality.
Photo by Wajiha Ibrahim, courtesy of wajihaibrahim.com
Prisons have effectively broken families and left many low-income minorities in despair. The use of prisons into affordable housing units is insensitive and planners need to be more cognizant of affordable housing strategies and approaches.
What I do not miss from my career as a scientist is the “scientism," the belief that if what can’t be measured isn’t worth studying. Planning is an incredibly broad field that was originally a target for my scientism. Though planning lacks the scientific rigor of the natural sciences, I have realized that this is not necessarily a downside as I first thought.
Agora staff member Dan Sommerville reflects on the LunchUP panel "You Talkin' to Me? Writing for Your Audience."
AGORA staff member Matt Blain documents his experience at the 2014 People's Climate March in New York City.
Sonia Hirt, an alumnus of the University of Michigan MUP and Doctoral program, visited her alma mater last week to give a lecture titled, “Landscapes of Postmodernity: Changes in the Built Fabric of Central-East European Cities Since the End of Socialism.” This blog post is a summary of Hirt's lecture by AGORA staff member Michelle Bennett.
