Update: Exciting news! As of October 19th, 4 days after this blog was initially posted — our application is a semifinalist in this challenge!
Thank you for your support our City of Tomorrow Pittsburgh Challenge application to create a Safety Module that predicts best urban design street improvements that will eliminate road deaths! Please check out the app if you haven’t already! Please also check out our video overview!
Read MoreAs Winnipeggers get ready to vote on whether or not to reopen on of their most important intersections in Downtown on Oct 24th, we thought it would be timely to reprise the State of Place forecast analysis we ran last year to show how transforming auto-dominated places into a people-first places pays off in spades. Read and download the report showcasing how prioritizing place isn’t just good for people’s hearts and souls, it’s good for people’s pockets too - at a tune of 18X ROI.
Read MoreDesigning for the most vulnerable in mind...this is the first concept Michelle Woodhouse (COO) learned when she became a State of Place Trained Rater (Data Geek!). Recently she came across an opinion article that highlights what would happen if cities were designed by moms, so we outlined a few of the highlights from that piece to bring to life the State of Place data geekdom and illustrate why inclusive design matters and how data-driven citymaking can help make that a reality!
Read MoreMichelle, COO of State of Place here! Sooo…you might have heard that our fearless leader - Mariela - gave an awesome keynote about data-driven citymaking at the Oslo Urban Arena last week! But no worries, if you weren’t lucky enough to be in the Nordics, FOMO be gone! We were able to capture her Ted-style talk in (almost) all its glory! This is seriously a MUST-WATCH not merely because Mariela, ahem, Dr. Alfonzo, is one of the foremost thought leaders in the world in terms of quantifying place - and its value - she also tugs at your heartstrings with her very personal story, bringing to life why (smarter) data is a critical part of paving a way for more walkable (and livable and sustainable) cities!
Read MoreHey, hey! I’m famous! Well, um, in Norway. Errr, well, in Oslo. Ahem, ok, within the architecture, urban design, and development realm in Oslo! :) Seriously, this awesome Norwegian architectural magazine got word of my upcoming a talk at the Oslo Urban Arena and reached out to hear more about my story - what led me to be so passionate about data-driven placemaking, why I built State of Place, and what the heck a US-based company was doing in Norway! While the original piece is in Norwegian, we’ve translated and quoted an English version on today’s blog! Enjoy.
Read MoreRemember how we’ve been doing a whole blog series on Vision Zero (Design for Our Lives) and how that helped us land the City of Durham as one of the first to pilot a more holistic urban design approach using a data-driven evidence based framework to Get to Zero? Well, FOMO be gone! Now’s your chance to get geeky with us and save some lives!! Find out how to get involved in our Innovate Durham Vision Zero project (hint, it involves our fave - lots of DATA!).
Read MoreBy now, most of you are in "Back to School" mode. So I thought it might be fun to bring you our very first blog from nearly exactly 6 years ago (man, that's a lot of writing!) in which I brought you readers into my urban design classroom featuring my all-time favorite substitute teacher, William Whyte (and not just because his classic film, the Social Life of Small Urban Spaces served to "relieve" me of my lecturing duties! ;)). Presented below - with slight editorial content in brackets {} - is an overview of Whyte's simple yet fundamental principles of good urban design - and why I heart him so much!
Read MoreWe’re begging for road diets and complete streets? Aren’t we setting our standards a bit low? Let’s move beyond the diet to great places that everyone wants to devour.
Read MoreSooo...many of you guys know we've been devoting lots of blog time (and headspace) to Vision Zero over the past few months (you saw our totally essential guide to the movement, right?). And likewise, many of you know that in May, we were selected by the Joules program, which matches Smart City startups like us to amazing citymakers eager to use technology to make cities more walkable, livable and sustainable (perfect match, huh?). Well, yesterday, some very exciting news was officially announced: State of Place was chosen to help the City of Durham get to Zero as part of the Innovate Durham competition!
Read MoreSo Arendal, a tiny town in the south of Norway, is ironically the "hottest" place to be right now - literally (Norway and much of Europe's record breaking summers have been so extreme, the whole of Scandinavia is entirely sold out of fans!) and figuratively, placemaking-wise. Yes, this is partly due to the fact that Mariela is presenting at not one but two events on the power of data - both in terms of communicating the value of place and as a key tool in the fight against climate change. But also, Arendal famous for more than being the birthplace of Frozen's Elsa and Olaf’s hometown in Norway - is the epicenter of all that is participatory democracy...find out more and download Mariela's talk!
Read MoreJust past the summer midpoint (gasp), every citymaker you know's on vacay and you're feeling some major FOMO. If you get one more autoresponder...OMG! But don't worry, we've got you covered with your very own placemaking treat. We've pulled together 5 awesome videos and podcasts about the power of place that'll be sure to cure those summer blues (and if you're one of those lucky autoresponder senders, these are perfect accompaniments to that margarita or trek down whatever walker's paradise you're visiting too -- we promise!).
Read MoreIn this week's blog, our newest - and youngest - intern, 18 year-old Sebastian Wood writes about his beloved neighborhood, one of Boston's pinnacles of walkability, Brookline, Massachusetts. Read his first-hand account of what it’s like to grow up in a place that puts people first - and why we adults should do whatever we can to make sure all kids have the right to grow up in awesome, walkable, safe places that give children the life - and freedom - they deserve.
Read MoreWe’re now more than halfway through 2018! So you probably know what your citymaking challenges are. But do you know what kind of Citymaker you are? Take our quiz to pin down what keeps you motivated to keep creating awesome places people love! (Well, you probably know, but who can resist a Buzzfeed-like quiz?!) :)
Read MoreFinally, we bring you the third installment Design For Our Lives, Vision Zero Blog Series - and it is chuck full of data, visualizations, interactive maps, charts, word clouds - everything you ever wanted to know about Vision Zero! If you're a Vision Zero city, check out how you compare to your fellow peers and if you're NOT (get to it and) see how other cities are paving a safer path for pedestrians and bicyclists - and how data can help!
Happy 4th! Today we profiled five not-totally-obvious amazing walkable places were you can picnic, compete in hot dog eating competitions, enjoy some pretty cool pyrotechnics, and of course, get your steps on on our nation’s birthday :) Oh, and yeah, we ran their State of Place Index & Profile too so you know exactly how walkable - and overall awesome - they really are! (And citymakers, if your city didn't make this list, don't fret, call us, we'll get you your place quality deets, stat!)
Read MoreMichelle Woodhouse, State of Place COO and Metro Detroit resident, reports live from Ford's official public announcement of its 4-year plan to renovate the long-abandoned Michigan Central Station and its surrounding neighborhood, Corktown. We also couldn’t resist working our datageek magic to quantify the potential impact of Ford’s proposed vision - and provide a few recommendations, courtesy of our handy predictive analytics software.
The Brookings Institute recently published a report exploring a new planning and real estate model: catalytic development, which intends to jump-start redevelopment in languishing urban areas using a more place-based approach (yay for that!). As a former Brookings co-author of Chris Leinberger myself, I still tend to read his regularly seminal pieces, this one not excluded! But in case you haven't had the time to read through the 78-page report, we created a handy, TLDR guide highlighting the 10 things you need to know about Catalytic Development.
Read MoreOur tribute to Anthony Bourdain, the consummate Seeker and place-oholic: “Bourdain had a magical, hypnotizing ability to not just transcendently capture [the "intersection" between food, place, and people] but to exploit it to show us something deeper in ourselves, to inspire empathy for "the other," to connect us to communities far afield and familiar alike, to deliver unto us a sense of place(s), to embolden us to seek out and relish the unknown, to find joy in the simplicity of food - and the human experience.
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