Last Minute Halloween Costume Ideas

Source: Planetizen

Big Box

This one is incredibly straightforward. Just find yourself a big cardboard box, cut some arm holes and bam! You’re a 150,000 square-foot mega-retailer ready to crush local business and drain the traditional downtown! And look! There’s a sale on candy corn on aisle 29!

Bike Lane

Here's an easy one. Just get some black clothes and some white tape. Make two strong lines from each foot to each shoulder and tape out a simple bike on your torso in between. Fashionable and bikeable.

Sprawl

This costume is more of a role-playing challenge. Try to take up as much room as possible. Drink a lot of water. Bring two cars. And wherever you go, make sure it's at least 20 miles away.

New Urbanism

Go all-pastel. Invite someone to sit on your lap –er, front porch. 

Urban Growth Boundary

This is a good one for making friends. Get yourself a hula hoop and see how many people can fit inside. How many people can your region support?

Public Transit

You'll need a good back for this one. Just slap a bus number on your chest and offer piggy-back rides. You can call yourself a carpool if you want, but public transit is much more inclusive.

Historic Preservation

Requirement: you have to be old for this one. All you have to do is find some old clothes in your closet (preferably from at least 20 years ago), and wear them. You're probably wearing them already, so you're good to go. Thanks for keeping the past alive!

Blight

This costume pretty much requires you to make other people's costumes worse. You can choose your own method, but you might find it easiest to spill drinks on people, dishevel some wigs, or just break some nose.

Green Roof

Just get a hat, find some leaves, add glue and you're done. Be sure to tell people how much energy you’re saving by cooling yourself from the top down.

Transit Oriented Development

This is the ideal costume if you're going out with a group. One person dresses up like a bus and everyone else goes as buildings. Just remember to stay close to each other. But if you do get separated, you can still be transit adjacent development.

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Written by Nate Berg an assistant editor of Planetizen.

Fellowship: Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship

The fellowship is a leadership development opportunity for motivated individuals seeking to make a difference in the struggle to eliminate hunger and poverty. Fellows are placed for half their term of service with urban and rural community-based organizations all over the country involved in fighting hunger at the local level, such as food banks, economic development agencies, local advocacy groups, and faith-based organizations. They then move to Washington, District of Columbia to complete the year with six months of work at national organizations involved in the anti-hunger and poverty movement, including national advocacy organizations, think tanks, and federal agencies.

This program develops effective leaders with a deep understanding of hunger and poverty at both the local and national level that enables them to find innovative solutions and create the political will to end hunger.

Click Here for More

Friday Forum: Discusson on Mixed Use Development

Friday Forum

Where: Room 110 Cuppa Hall

When: Noon

Free Pizza and Soda

What:
The USX South Works site on Chicago's southeast side was once the site of one of the country's largest steel plants. In the mid 1950's, the 600 acre facility employed over 20,000 workers. Fundamental changes in the steel industry and the gradual obsolescence of this manufacturing
plant, brought about the decline and eventual closure of steel making operations in the early 1980's.


McCaffery Interests is responsible for managing Lakeside Development, the transformation of the former 600 acre U.S. Steel mill site located in south Chicago into a mixed-used LEED-ND Platinum new community. The site has over 800 feet of frontage on Lake Michigan and is one of the largest single tracts of land available for redevelopment in the city. Factors that have hindered redevelopment include the lack of easy access to the expressway system and blighted conditions in the surrounding neighborhood.


Nasutsa Mabwa, MUPP is Project Manager-Development at McCaffery Interests. Mainly focused on strategic and operational management, Nasutsa interfaces with municipal government and leads the development team to ensure successful completion of Lakeside Development. She was formerly Director of Development at Mayor's Office of Workforce
Development, GIS Manager at Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, and City Planner at Dept of Planning and Development, City of Chicago.

The Burnham Plan featured at this years Chicago Humanities Festival.

Sit in on two key lectures centered around planning at the 19th Annual Humanities Festival. Details are as follows;

The Plan of Chicago: 100 Years of City-Building

Sunday November 2nd. 12:00-1:30PM. Harris Theater @ 205 E Randolph

Northwestern University historian Carl Smith, author of the prize-winning The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City, will lay the groundwork for a discussion with innovative Chicago architect/designer Jeanne Gang, former director of World Business Chicago Paul O’Connor; and Gerald Adelmann, champion of regional open spaces. Their conversation will be moderated by architecture and urban affairs writer Lee Bey, the executive director of the Chicago Central Area Committee.

 

The Global City of the Future

Sunday November 2nd. 2:30-4:00PM. Harris Theater @ 205 E Randolph

How are cities around the world facing the challenges of the 21st century? Are the lessons of Burnham and Chicago relevant to shaping a more liveable and more fulfilling metropolis? This second program about the Burnham Plan and its legacy will tackle challenges facing Chicago and other global cities in the coming century.

Tickets can be acquired by clicking HERE Tickets are FREE to students, but limited.

Meet your UPPSA Board APA Rep. Kathryn Bowman

Katie is a first year graduate student in the MUPP program with a concentration in physical planning. She is interested in the creative ways that planners can involve communities in land use planning and resource allocation. Katie is from Oklahoma City and graduated from Boston College with a degree in Political Science. She has recently moved to Chicago from the Napa Valley, California, where she worked as a small town municipal planner. At UIC, Katie is working with the Vorhees Neighborhood Center, assisting with housing and neighborhood research. She is excited to serve as an APA Representative for UPPSA, helping to connect students to the resources and networks of the APA organization. Katie is happy to be in Chicago and enjoys checking out the many great restaurants and events.

Networking Event Tonight

UPPSA members,

Please be reminded that TONIGHT at Jak's Tap at 6pm, the UPPSA board is providing an opportunity for UPPSA members and REG (Real Estate Group) members to meet and discuss where our interests intersect.

Plus, you get FREE drinks (beer and/or soft drinks), pizza, & wings!!! (First 25 in the door only - so get there early - but good conversation is always free :)

As an urban planner it is vital that your network includes real estate developers, engineers, architects, landscape architects, and many more. Part of what UPPSA is providing its members with is multiple opportunities to increase their interdisciplinary network. Come find out about upcoming spring events that UPPSA, REG, and EWB are planning.

If you are an UPPSA member you are invited and should take advantage of what your dues go towards funding. I know some of you have class but you should stop by after and see if we are still there. I will be there and I look forward to seeing you all there too!

Cindy Pritzker Lecture on Urban Life and Issues

Date: Tue. November 18, 2008

Time: 6:00 pm

Location:
Harold Washington Library Center
Cindy Pritzker Auditorium
400 S. State Street
60605

About this event:

Please join us for the 3rd annual Cindy Pritzker Lecture on Urban Life and Issues. The 2008 Pritzker Lecture will be delivered by Martha Lavey, Artistic Director of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Ms. Lavey will discuss how the arts are integral to a thriving city and its people. This annual lecture series was created by the Chicago Public Library’s Board of Directors to honor the dedication and generosity of Cindy Pritzker, former Library Board President and founder of the Chicago Public Library Foundation.

Metropolitan Planning Council Regional Policy & Sensible Growth Intern

About the Internship 
Supports Regional Policy program staff with research and writing on transportation, urban development issues, and sensible growth.  An understanding of transportation and urban development policy, regional and state government, and community development is preferred. Strong research, writing, and analytical skills are a must.

Responsibilities

• Research best practices and analyze policy recommendations.
• Assist with writing and editing of MPC written material, including content for Web site and print publication
• Assist with outreach.

Campaigns and Projects

• Placemaking

Transportation Capital Investment Criteria

Tollway best practices

Public Private Partnerships

Skills and Qualifications

• Strong research, writing, and analytical skills
• Strong computer skills, especially Microsoft word, Adobe Illustrator, the Internet and computerized databases
• Ability to juggle projects, stay organized, and adhere to time tables
• Ability to work well independently as well as with others
• Familiarity with regional planning policy issues and/or the ability to distill concise, accurate descriptions of complicated policy issues a plus
• GIS experience a plus

Interns at MPC have exposure to a broad range of regional policy issues and the opportunity to connect with a variety of planning agencies, community groups and officials.

Hours: Minimum 15 hours a week, maximum 30 hours a week, beginning ASAP.

Compensation: $12/hour. 
To apply: Please forward a cover letter and resume to Jackie Diaz atjdiaz@metroplanning.org. 
Location: 25 E. Washington, Suite 1600
                 Chicago, IL 60602
                 (312) 922-5616

The Inaugural CUPPAH Cup

On Sunday, October 19, CUPPA students met for the kickball event at the South Campus Athletic Fields to decide the first winner of the CUPPAH Cup. The original match-up was PASA (the Public Administration Student Association) vs. UPPSA. Only three MUPPs made it to the game, so UPPSA was forced to forfeit the title. However, in the spirit of sportsmanship and in appreciation of the great fall weather, the participants reorganized the teams for a goodwill game. It was a great time. Special thanks to Lauren and Grace (PASA Chairs) for suggesting and organizing the event. Special thanks also go to Danielle, Dean, and Reggie of PASA for joining forces with the UPPSA members to win the goodwill game. More pictures may be found on the UPPSA group on Facebook.

Le Projet Triangle, Paris, France

New policy paves way for first inner city tower since 1977

Source: WorldArchitectureNews.com

A historic shift in the French capital’s strict planning rules this summer has opened the way for the first of a series of dramatic new towers. For over thirty years Paris has laid low in the building stakes with a ban on buildings over 37 m in height brought in under Jacques Chirac’s rule when he was Mayor of Paris in 1977. But on Thursday the first tower to be built in the French capital’s inner city, following the lifting of the ban in July, was revealed.

Officials in Paris voted to lift a ban on high rise buildings in the French capital in a bid to combat the city’s housing shortage and invigorate the city’s economic status. This decision has left the path clear for 20 high-rise designs, first flaunted by the current Mayor Bertrand Delanoe in November last year and following the inauguration of President Sarkozy, to be approved.

The first of these designs to be approved is Herzog & de Meuron’s Le Projet Triangle which will stand at Porte de Versailles in Southern Paris. The design was showcased by Deputy Mayor, Anne Hidalgo yesterday who said in her blog: “Paris is indeed now part of the first world capitals in tourism business, trade fairs and exhibitions. Since 2001, the City of Paris has always radiated at the heart of its priorities economic development, employment and innovation. In a context of European and global competition increased, this ambition must now be translated in concrete by reinforcing its economic attractiveness.”

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