PLANNING
Urban Land Institute
http://www.uli.org
The Urban Land Institute has a very large website subdivided into research.uli.org, experts.uli.org, planet.uli.org, and urbanland.uli.org. A prerequisite for the site is to join them as a member, which gives one access to all its functions and all the information in full. The Research section houses valuable information such as development case studies and smart growth case studies. Its magazine, Urban Land, and the regional (European and Japan) Urban Land are also available in the archive. The Expert section gives members a contact list of more than 16,000 colleagues and experts. For those looking for opportunities to develop or redevelop lands and or buildings, this site may prove useful.
Planetizen: The Planning and Development Network
http://www.planetizen.com/
Urban planning news and resource for researchers, faculty, students, and professionals.
The American Planning Associations
http://www.planning.org/
An excellent general resource if you want to order books on planning topics
and review recent changes to US planning legislation. Also features an
"essential reading list of books and articles for planners". It has an
excellent summary of sustainable planning issues and principles.
Smart Growth Network
http://www.smartgrowth.org/
A widespread and well resourced NGO promoting greener urban development
in North America. It contains information on most all aspects of urban
planning and design.
Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide
http://www.sustainabledesignguide.umn.edu/
This is the site of the well-respected Minnesota Sustainable Design Guide
- hosted by the University of Minnesota. This is one of the better set
of overall planning and design guidelines.
Smart Communities Network --
US Department of Energy (previously The Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development)
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/
Contains a section on Land-use Planning including full-text articles on
sustainable planning principles and tools (such as GIS software, model
codes and ordinances and community surveys) for helping communities achieve
sustainability. It also has information on funding opportunities and coming
events.
SPECTRA:
Sustainability, Development and Spatial Planning
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/fbe/spectra/
It is a european-based website 9 (supported by the European Commission's
Environment and Climate RTD programme ) devoted to research on the link
between spatial planning and sustainability. Includes european government
papers and research articles.
Community
Sustainability
http://www.arch.wsu.edu/~sustain/home.html
This is a site hosted by Washington State University with a range of good
information on sustainable urban development at various levels of detail.
Much of it is focused around a project for the town of Pullman, but has
wide applicability.
Best Practices:
Local Leadership Program
http://www.sustainabledevelopment.org/blp/
This is the UNCHS's site on best practices for sustainable settlements.
It contains information on international initiatives, competitions, practices
and case studies.
Cyburbia.com:
Internet resources for the Built Environment
http://cyburbia.org/
This is a comprehensive directory of Internet resources, hosted by the
University of Buffalo, that are relevant to contemporary architecture,
planning, urbanism and other topics related to the built environment.
While not expressly devoted to sustainability, it has many relevant resources
and information on sprawl , pollution and overall good design. Cyburbia
also contains information about architecture and planning related mailing
lists, a planning news service and bulletin board with several interactive
message areas.
PatternLanguage.com
http://www.patternlanguage.com
Website of the author of "A Pattern Language" (Christopher Alexander).
While not expressly about sustainability, Alexander's work is widely respected
as a reference point for livable urban design. His Patternn Language is
a staple text in most all design schools. As well as giving an overview
of Alexander's unique approach to architecture and planning this site
enables members to follow a "generative sequence" and design their own
house or garden using Alexander's techniques. Also features a daily "coffee
break (column)" by Christopher Alexander himself.
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