Research Guides: Urban Design: Websites

Evaluating Websites

Author
Who wrote the page? What organization sponsored the page? Can you verify the author's credentials?

Purpose
What is the purpose of the page? Who is the intended audience? Websites can be for information or sales purposes, sometimes both.

Currency
Is the information up to date? Is the webpage dated? Recent updates do not necessarily indicate current information.

Objectivity
Relates to purpose. Is the intent of the website to inform or persuade? Are facts completely and accurately cited?

Support
Does the author provide footnotes or citations for the information provided? Does it provide a variety of support sources?

Websites

American Planning Association
The American Planning Association brings together thousands of people — practicing planners, citizens, elected officials — committed to making great communities happen.
Cities and Buildings Database
The Cities and Buildings Database is a collection of digitized images of buildings and cities drawn from across time and throughout the world, available to students, researchers and educators on the web.
Cyburbia
Cyburbia, established in 1994, is the Internet's oldest portal and social networking site for urban planners and others interested in cities and the built environment.
Planetizen
A public-interest information exchange provided by Urban Insight for the urban planning, design, and development community. It is a one-stop source for urban planning news, commentary, interviews, event coverage, book reviews, announcements, jobs, consultant listings, training, and more.
APA Library
The Planners Bibliography Web Tool is an online resource for planners and researchers seeking a comprehensive, interdisciplinary bibliography of pertinent literature.
Congress for the New Urbanism
New Urbanism makes shared space the organizing element of a community. Architecture physically defines streets as places of shared use. Care for the public realm adds character, builds value, promotes security, and helps residents feel proud of their community. Plazas, squares, sidewalks, cafes, and porches provide rich settings for interaction and public life.
UNC Charlotte Urban Institute
The Institute is one of the non-partisan applied research and community outreach centers of UNC Charlotte. Founded in 1969, the Institute provides a wide range of services, including technical assistance and training related to operations and data management; public opinion surveys; land-use and natural resources consulting; economic development research and community planning to meet the needs of the Charlotte region and its citizens.
Urban Land Institute
As the preeminent, multidisciplinary real estate forum, ULI facilitates an open exchange of ideas, information, and experience among local, national, and international industry leaders and policy makers dedicated to creating better places.

Blogs

BLDG Blog
Architectural Conjecture Urban Speculation Landscape Futures BLDGBLOG ("building blog") is written by Geoff Manaugh in Los Angeles, California.
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Architectural Conjecture, Urban Speculation, Landscape Futures

BLDGBLOG ("building blog") is written by Geoff Manaugh in Los Angeles, California.
James Kunstler
James Howard Kunstler says he wrote The Geography of Nowhere, "Because I believe a lot of people share my feelings about the tragic landscape of highway strips, parking lots, housing tracts, mega-malls, junked cities, and ravaged countryside that makes up the everyday environment where most Americans live and work."
Richard Florida and the Creative Class Exchange
CreativeClass.com is the source for everything creative in work, life, and play. A unique online magazine convening global thought leaders and thinkers who generate highly innovative and intellectual content as well as an authentic, organic place for community exchange.
The Naked City: exploring urban life in the Charlotte region and beyond
Mary Newsom is a lifelong journalist and observer of city life in the Charlotte region and beyond, with a focus on urban design, sustainable development, growth and city planning.
This Big City
This Big City’s blogs feature content from urbanism writers and organisations all over the world. Features articles on architecture, planning, culture, transportation, bicycling, and technology.