This is a large photoset of old New York.

See also, A Little More New York in Black and White.

New York in Black and White

This seems like something we've talked about before.

Citysense was built to show you where the action is, right now.

When the Mission or Soma is busier than normal – you'll know immediately.

Citysense is an application that operates on the Sense Networks Macrosense platform, which analyzes massive amounts of aggregate, anonymous location data in real-time. Macrosense is already being used by business people for things like selecting store locations and understanding retail demand. But we asked ourselves: with all this real-time data, what else could we do for a city? Nightlife enhancement was the obvious answer. This release is just a test, and we're interested in your feedback on how to make the application better. You'll find a feedback button in Citysense.

Citysense - Powered by Sense Networks

In my experience, many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans, and this may actually be true. ... New Yorkers are people who left another place and came here, looking for something, which suggests that the population is preselected for higher energy and ambition.

I think it's possible that New Yorkers just appear smarter, because they make less separation between private and public life. That is, they act on the street as they do in private. In the United States today, public behavior is ruled by a kind of compulsory cheer that people probably picked up from television and advertising and that coats their transactions in a smooth, shiny glaze, making them seem empty-headed. New Yorkers have not yet gotten the knack of this. That may be because so many of them grew up outside the United States, and also because they live so much of their lives in public, eating their lunches in parks, riding to work in subways. It's hard to keep up the smiley face for that many hours a day.

You got a problem with that?

A black bear is being sought by New Jersey police on suspicion of stealing a minivan.

A Worrisome Precedent

Just months ago, Northern Virginia residents and elected officials were expecting hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to such roads. Now, because of budget cuts and state lawmakers' failure to reach a deal on regional transportation funding, drivers can expect only more misery.

Little Relief For Choked Secondary Roads in Virginia

Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released estimates of personal income at the county level for 2006 based on newly available source data. Personal income is a comprehensive measure of the income of all persons from all sources. In addition to wages and salaries it includes employer–provided health insurance, dividends and interest income, social security benefits, and other types of income.

Local Area Personal Income, 2006

The New America Foundation and the American Security Project are proud to co-sponsor a special lunchtime panel featuring leading experts sounding their urgent call for the United States to end the practice of torture.

For those in the DC area, the New America Foundation is hosting a luncheon today with Peter Bergen.

No Torture, No Exceptions | The New America Foundation

Ultimately, you're just as hosed as Munich, but the next five years look good, apparently.

These cities, large and small, promise the best economic growth over the next five years.

Top 3
1) Austin, TX
2) Cape Coral-Ft. Myers, FL
3) Atlanta, GA

See also the slide show.

America’s Fastest-Growing Metros

Something of a follow-up to the post on Walk Score.

It is clear from all of our work that the public spaces of cities, towns and villages -- the streets and roads, parks and plazas, waterfronts and commercial districts -- are the source of this country's greatest potential to create livable, walkable, healthy and sustainable communities as well as its greatest challenge.

With this idea in mind, PPS will be offering "Streets as Places," a two-day transportation/placemaking training course on November 29-30, 2007. The goal of the course is to introduce participants to new ways of thinking about streets as public spaces and how placemaking can be used to build great streets and great communities. It is intended for anyone who is interested in creating a great street, including transportation professionals who want to learn more about how streets can help to build communities, civic and elected officials who realize that greater economic impact can result from changing the way that roads are designed, and citizen activists who understand that the time to change is now.

Presentations and discussion will center on how streets, roads, and transit facilities can be designed and managed to benefit communities, in addition to serving mobility needs. Practical tools for assessing a variety of street typologies and case studies of cities which have moved beyond solving mobility problems to community building will be presented, and participants will be encouraged to discuss their own projects as well as share experiences and ideas with each other.

Streets as Places: A Training Seminar

The following imagery was taken on October 26th.

San Diego 2007 Wildfires