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Speaking Engagement: Cynthia Nikitin to provide opening keynote for regional workshop in Blind River, ON for Ontarians Walking Now.

By dkitzes on May 13, 2009 | Add Comment

Cynthia Nikitin will kick off a full-day workshop with an inspirational keynote on the importance of everyday walking and walkable communities. Included in the presentation will be examples of communities who have embraced walkability and placemaking, with a special emphasis on small, rural communities.

This particular workshop, being hosted in Blind River, is to [...]

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Car-Free German Town Captures American Imagination

By Craig Raphael on May 13, 2009 | 2 Comments

Eliminating or heavily restricting cars would be impossible for nearly every city and suburb in America. Yet a small car-free town in Germany profiled in this week’s New York Times has intrigued and inspired Americans to consider a tantalizing possibility: what if we didn’t need cars to perform everyday tasks?

The #1 most [...]

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Thinking Within the Station

By Robin Lester on May 8, 2009 | 1 Comment

By now, you likely have seen the video footage from the Antwerp train station in Belgium, where at first one, then two, and eventually hundreds of people performed a choreographed dance to a well-known song from the Sound of Music.

One would hope that this amazing display of feelgood performance was some sort of [...]

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A Lesson in Complete Streets, from 17th-century Holland

By jgalef on May 4, 2009 | 1 Comment

A recent exhibit at the National Gallery of Art called “Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age” kept reminding me of the principles PPS espouses. First there was this great look at the role of the stoop in Dutch public life.
And then I happened upon this 1615 painting by [...]

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High-Speed Rail: Thinking Beyond the Station

By Aurash Khawarzad on Apr 30, 2009 | Add Comment

By: Renee Espiau and Aurash Khawarzad

“Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 miles an hour, walking only a few steps to public transportation, and ending up just blocks from your destination,” was a visionary statement made by President Obama during the April 17th announcement of America’s first [...]

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An Environmentally Sensitive Transportation System Begins with Places

By Aurash Khawarzad on Apr 23, 2009 | 1 Comment

According to the scientific community, our society is at an ecological tipping point. Humanity is faced with urgent decisions that will determine the health and well-being of future generations, and the window for action is closing fast. One key opportunity we have is to make better decisions about how we invest in our [...]

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The Story of Sprawl

By Craig Raphael on Apr 17, 2009 | 2 Comments

An increasing number of signs have been pointing to a sea change in the patterns of sprawl that have shaped modern America: The burst of the housing bubble; a growing awareness of global warming; a relative shift in development away from the exurbs and towards center cities; and the new administration’s commitment to [...]

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Featured Network Group: Great Transit Systems / Routes

By Robin Lester on Apr 9, 2009 | 1 Comment

PPS founder and president Fred Kent has recently started a social network group dedicated to the best transit systems in the world.  An interesting discussion has sprung up about transit in San Francisco — how the bus’ cable lines indicate a route, and how successful the schedule information release has been in encouraging locals to [...]

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A new vision for Savannah’s streets and squares

By Craig Raphael on Apr 2, 2009 | 2 Comments

Savannah is known for the beauty of its tree-canopied streets, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. Clearly, its citizens agree. A recent survey that invited people to name the city’s best and worst streets drew four times as many responses for “worst” as for “best.”

The survey was conducted on [...]

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Book Signing, Reception, and Discussion: Introducing Three New Books about Streets

By dkitzes on Mar 31, 2009 | Add Comment

Please join us April 2 at 6:00 pm at our office for a special Reception and Discussion to celebrate the release of three new PPS publications about streets and transportation. PPS staff, both past and present, who were responsible for putting the publications together will be with us to sign the books, [...]

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Prioritizing Stimulus Funding: If It Is Broke, Let’s ‘Fix it First’

By Robin Lester on Mar 26, 2009 | 1 Comment

Gary Toth, Senior Director of Transportation Initiatives at PPS, has recently authored a new article for Smart Growth America and T4 America titled, “Why Fast Track ‘Fix it First’ Projects are a Better Stimulus.”

Gary has been reviewing State DOT spending proposals for Stimulus funding and has found many proposals [...]

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Pedaling a New Protocol in Public Spaces

By Craig Raphael on Mar 9, 2009 | 1 Comment

Streets are a city’s most prevalent public space, yet they are also among its most contested. Nowhere is this more evident than in New York City, where cars, bikes and pedestrians fight daily for dominance on crowded avenues and narrow side-streets.

The sheer volume of city traffic and a deeply ingrained culture of aggression [...]

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