Michelle 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.
Read MoreThis week, we take a break from our Vision Zero blog series, Design for Our lives (since we’re hard at work crunching the data on the various strategies cities are implementing to truly get to zero traffic fatalities) and discuss a seemingly more mundane aspect of urban design and planning - "nuisances..." Our CTO, Andy, outlines the various types of nuisances that degrade quality of life and argues that urban design can and should be used to mitigate their effects.
In the second installment of our Vision Zero blog series, Design for our Lives, we go on our Founder and CEO, Mariela’s exhilarating (for all the wrong reasons) trip down memory lane as she braves a 1.4 mile walk in the suburbs of Miami. With vivid illustrations of downright embarrassing at best, and unacceptably dangerous design (or lack thereof) features, we showcase why Vision Zero is indeed necessary, but bring to light various yet unanswered questions about the movement, which we will continue to explore throughout the series.
Read MoreToday we introduce the first installment in our Vision Zero blog series, with a helpful Vision Zero 101 infographic and a compelling personal message of why we must Design for Our Lives…
Read MoreGet your dose of M&Ms this week as Mariela and Michelle - our CEO and COO - take State of Place on a “sidewalk” show in Oslo and North Carolina. Tune in to watch Mariela pitch State of Place at the Katapult Accelerator Demo day OR register to see Michelle pitch to the Research Triangle economic development and sustainability community about how we use data to get SMART(er) (walkable, livable, and sustainable) places done!
Read MoreToday’s post is by State of Place’s CTO Andy Likuski. Andy argues that trams are integral to high quality urban life, not a nice to have that can be value engineered into just straightening out a few bus lines. Trams are certainly placemakers, but also have a near magically ability to enhance public life for both travelers and people on the street, and most amazing they can integrate nature into city streets.
Read MoreWhat do Oaks, Bulls, the Queen - and State of Place - have in common? North Carolina! Namely, Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham, and our COO, Michelle Woodhouse, respectively. And we're conquering all three of these amazing cities. Find out how State of Place is poised to make the Silicon Valley of the South Smart(er) and more walkable starting later this May!
Read MoreIn light of yet another vehicle-ramming attack in Munster, Germany - and now Toronto, are pedestrian barriers really the best way to protect the public realm from future attacks - or is this strategy merely akin to playing a real life version of whack-a-mole? Can walkability be the "silver-bullet" we've been looking for in the fight not only to keep people safe, but to make people, the planet, and dare we say, profits happy?
Read MoreLast week, in light of the most recent vehicle attack in Germany, we argued that we need to make fast strides toward walkability to well, save the world! So the question now is, how do we do that? While there's no secret, fool-proof recipe for creating walkable, livable places, there are five key factors you do need to consider - the "hierarchy of walking needs" - when putting together your redevelopment and planning strategies! Learn more about the Hierarchy of Walking Needs and get one step closer to saving the world! :)
Read MoreIn light of yet another vehicle-ramming attack in Munster, Germany, are pedestrian barriers really the best way to protect the public realm from future attacks - or is this strategy merely akin to playing a real life version of whack-a-mole? Can walkability be the "silver-bullet" we've been looking for in the fight not only to keep people safe, but to make people, the planet, and dare we say, profits happy?
Read MoreIn honor of International Walking Day, we're revisiting the FIU pedestrian bridge collapse, discussing a recent proposal by prominent Miami-based New Urbanists to reenvision 8th street, and offering a limited-time promo for a 14-day free State of Place trial!
Read MoreHow many times do we have to be disappointed by citymaking's next "panacea" before we realize there will NEVER be a silver bullet answer to solving the beautiful, chaotic mess that is a city organism? This might seem odd for a "tech" company to say, but tech alone will NOT save cities - in fact, no one thing alone will save cities! Today we discuss how the devastating FIU pedestrian bridge collapse and the fatal Uber autonomous car accident showcase how it's important to "KISS" our way to better places and use tech as a means and not an end.
Read MoreWe're more than four weeks into the Katapult program in Oslo, so ya know we couldn't resist our datageek selves much longer...so without further ado, we present how three Oslo hoods measure up on the State of Place Index, and how we can save at least two of those (and any of you who are fighting awful planning and development projects) from their fates!
Read MoreOn today’s blog, our Marketing Intern, Laura Schumacher, talks about the luck of the Irish and our lucky treat to all of you, our Ultimate Guide to Walkability Assessment Tools. This guide evaulates the top seven walkability assessment tools and helps you find the right one to use for your development project, neighborhood, or city.
Read MoreWhat do Mexico & Norway have in common? Plus we have exciting news to share...
Read MoreFor the past few years, our team has been working with Conservation Law Foundation to review and rate real estate development projects for the Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund (HNEF). One of their challenges is measuring all of the myriad factors that influence the neighborhood environment and the way these features interact with each other. That’s why CLF turned to State of Place. Learn how cities and investors can follow CLF's approach by using State of Place to measure the impact of redevelopment projects...
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