Urban Planning Continuing Education Courses

Missing the days of school? Here are some places that you can continue your education:

Coursera offers a Designing Cities course taught by professors from University of Pennsylvania. It's extremely well done. A little beginner but still enlightening.

If you haven't checked out Coursera there are plenty more courses to take that apply to urban planning and are all free! (Model Thinking, Introduction to Sustainability, Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society, Making Better Group Desicions)

Planetizen also offers courses, they aren't free but seem affordable. 

ESRI is holding an event Sharpen Your GIS Skills Seminar, November 5, 8:00 AM- 12:00 PM, free!

City of Chicago Colleges also offers classes that could be interesting. Here is an Architectural CAD class.

Youtube is also a great place to look first before paying for courses, here is a tutorial for Google SketchUp.

Have fun!

Dress Inspired By Chicago Urban Planning

WPD Blog wants to focus on urban planning, Chicago, and women and when you have all three combined it's magic. When it's all three combined and involves fashion? Even more magic. I loved this fashion line The Cityzen by Azin:

In 2012 Azin founded Cityzen by Azin, a luxury fashion brand with a global consciousness. Inspired by stunning views of cities from above while doing research for an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art...

The Cityzen by Azin collection incorporates highly customized satellite imagery of cities from around the world on the finest silks, satins and leather creating beautifully crafted apparel and accessories. 

What do you think of the Chicago dress? 

What do you think about the list Azin Valy has created to be a true Chicagoan?

BECOME: A Cityzen of CHICAGO and……

SMELL: The scent of fresh flowers at A New Leaf

TOUCH: Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate at Millennium Park

SHOP: Through the treasure trove of Robin Richman’s boutique

VISIT: The world’s first shopping atrium at The Rookery

TASTE: The food at Avec, where Chicago’s finest chefs go to eat

APPRECIATE: Modernist design at the world-renowned Wright Gallery

LISTEN: To Jazz at the House of Blues in the historic Marina City

REST: At The Peninsula Spa, an enticing urban retreat

DRINK: Fresh-brewed coffee at Intelligentsia

SLEEP: In a Penthouse Loft at The James Hotel

READ: The Adventures of Augie March

WALK: Along the Magnificent Mile to Lake Michigan

SEE: The Robie House by Frank Lloyd Wright

WATCH: The Untouchables

TAKE: A souvenir from the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Archicenter Shop

GIVE: To the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund http://www.dmsf.org/

Tehran is stunning and only $1,080!

Harvard Department of City and Regional Planning Program Denies Admission to a Woman

In 1961 Phyllis Richman applied to the Harvard Department of City and Regional Planning. 

The department responded "...our experience, even with brilliant students, has been that married women find it difficult to carry out careers in planning, and hence tend to have some feeling of waste about the time and effort spent in professonal education. (This is, of course, true of almost all graduate professional studies.)" The full letter from Harvard in 1961.

Richman never finished her application to Harvard and pursued a career in writing. She found the old letter going through her attic recently and thought that it was time to finally respond, "The problem, I suspect, was the narrowness of your time frame. Google tells me that your wife earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate, and built an impressive resume in research, conference planning and social action. Do you still think of her graduate studies as a waste of time?" Her full response.

I can't decide if reading the APA's Salary Survey Summary is hopeful or still a little frustrating?

The gender gap in earnings still exists, though it has changed slightly for the better in the last four years. For example, in 2008, females earned 85 cents on the dollar, whereas earnings in 2012 are up to 88 cents on the dollar. The gender gap grows with increasing experience.

Women On A Roll - Biking

When I'm in a skirt and heels with my hair in a bun, the train makes a lot more sense than the bike. Bringing extra clothes and changing in the bathroom? No thanks. But I still would like to be more motivated to bike!

The League of American Bicylists Report of Current Data came out with a report on August 6, 2013 called Women On A Roll by Carolyn Szczepanski.

"Seattle women who do not ride on a daily basis cited higher levels of fashion and equipment concerns, including:

1. It’s difficult to bring spare clothes (44%).

2. Clothing/grooming are a problem (36%).

3. I hate arriving somewhere all red and sweaty (34%).

4. Helmets mess up my hair (31%)."

The report defined 5 ways to getting more "women on wheels":

Comfort

Convenience 

Confidence 

Consumer products 

Community

Click here for the full report!