UrbDeZine

Urban Design + Development + Economics + Community

WCAG 2.0 (Level AA)

Jodie D. Sackett

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About Jodie D. Sackett

Jodie D. Sackett, AICP is an urban planner with the County of Los Angeles and a member of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

Anecdotes on the Urban Design of Utopia: Part II of III of the Utopia 500th Anniversary Series

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Map of More's Utopia
Map of Utopia by Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598). Source: Wikimedia Commons – public domain

Welcome back to the Island of Utopia! Part I began the first installment of a three-article series commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the publishing of St. Thomas More’s classic book, Utopia. In Part I, the word “Utopia” was defined and several of the key geographic features of More’s fictional Island of Utopia were described. In Part II, we’ll delve into the some of the urban design characteristics of Utopian cities.Continue Reading Anecdotes on the Urban Design of Utopia: Part II of III of the Utopia 500th Anniversary Series

What makes a Utopia? – a review of Thomas More’s classic on its 500th anniversary

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A Depiction of the Utopian Cities
Figure 1: A Map of Utopia from the original book printing (1516). The top inscription in Latin reads, “A Depiction of the Utopian Cities.”

The year 2016 marked the 500th anniversary of the publishing of Thomas More’s book Utopia. Much has been written about the idea of Utopia and Utopian societies, stretching all the way back to ancient times. Since Thomas More gifted us a detailed physical description of his “good place,” I thought it would be fun to walk-through his land, 500 years later, give some simple measurements and compare it to some real places today.Continue Reading What makes a Utopia? – a review of Thomas More’s classic on its 500th anniversary

Are You an Urban Scientist?

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DuanyTesla

You may consider yourself an urban planner, but are you an urban scientist?

Many of us planners in our daily jobs are busy helping the public in creating, understanding, and implementing plans and ordinances, or otherwise, helping clients with development proposals. Fewer of us are actually “in the lab,” conducting experiments and testing hypotheses. Continue Reading Are You an Urban Scientist?