Infrastructure
Our friends at Streetsblog are hunting for the worst intersection in America. Help them decide from among a host of qualified entries.
DC.Streetsblog
Kaid Benfield spotlights an innovative federal program that is "not very well known but deserves to be." The "Greening America’s Capitals" program aims to make America's state capitals showpieces for green infrastructure and green building practices.
NRDC Switchboard
Patrick Kennedy proposes an elegant and cost-effective way to deal with Dallas's aging elevated freeway and the city's "massive pent-up demand for walkable urban housing" - tear the sucker down.
D Magazine
CA Gov. Jerry Brown stated he had big plans in his State of the State speech on Jan 24. Thanks to temporary tax increases under Prop 30 and spending cuts, the budget is finally balanced. Yet he also called for 'fiscal constraint' - contradictory?
Calbuzz
From a giant dam across the Golden Gate to a dozen "ventilated levees," the options proposed for protecting San Francisco Bay from rising seas are neither cheap nor subtle. But with sea level rise "around the corner," hard choices must be made.
San Francisco Chronicle
As Barack Obama takes the oath of office for his second term, Places editor Nancy Levinson argues for an intensified political agenda for architects and urban designers.
Places Journal
Not usually regarded for their outside the box thinking, transportation engineers have nevertheless come up with some radical ideas for improving the flow of traffic and reducing the potential for collisions at busy intersections.
The Atlantic Cities
Roberta Brandes Gratz examines the many differences, and few similarities, between the two most devastating urban storms of recent memory. Among the most elemental differences: one devastated neighborhoods, one a city; one was man-made, one natural.
Citiwire
Jonathan Watts reports on the transformation of the Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro. With drug gangs kicked out, wealthy buyers have moved in, and rental prices have surged. But has the neighborhood changed for the better?
The Guardian
A recent survey gives statistical heft to what many already believe - that despite the rhetorical exuberance of anti-bicycle and anti-transit types, the supposed "war on cars" is just a tired trope that is "wearing a bit thin."
The Atlantic Cities
A draft long-range Strategic Plan for Washington D.C.'s Metro aims to adapt one of the nation's busiest transit systems to the needs of a growing region, at a cost of $26 billion.
The Washington Post
"Canada is getting hotter faster than ever before and at a faster rate than almost any other country," reports Anna Mehler Paperny, and the country's infrastructure, public health, and economy are vulnerable to unforeseen impacts.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Advocates of inclusionary zoning have something to smile about. A new report from the Rand Corporation confirms that the housing produced by these zoning policies does in fact create or preserve affordable housing in areas of low poverty.
Shelterforce Online
Although Britain's sporting successes make it out to be a nation of cyclists, only 2.2% of Britons use a bike as their main mode of transportation. Peter Walker looks at how a pioneering parliamentary inquiry hopes to get more people on bikes.
The Guardian
Last week saw the second major groundbreaking on the west side of midtown Manhattan in the last two months, as the $4.5 billion "Manhattan West" project’s first phase officially began.
A/N Blog
The old cool: Sealing yourself inside suburban air conditioning. The new cool? According to Howard Blackson, it's the joy to be found outside, connecting with one another and the world we share.
PlaceShakers
The Rockefeller Foundation unveils its innovative plan to incentivize private investors to provide the infrastructure solutions for eight U.S. cities most vulnerable to extreme storms and rising seas.
The Washington Post
"America is renewing itself from the bottom up." That is the premise underlying the second annual “Innovations to Watch” list just released by The Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Brookings
So said Thomas Donohue, CEO of the world's largest business organization, in calling for raising the gas tax at a press conference following the annual State of American Business address to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Governing
The EPA has released plans for how it intends to clean up Brooklyn's Gowanus Canal Superfund site. Branden Klayko reports on the $500 million, two pronged approach.
The Architect's Newspaper
