Land Use

As part of a larger parks plan, one Atlanta suburb wants to use its bonds to build a sports complex where housing already exists. Adding to the controversy, the idea doesn't seem to have gone through a proper public review. Melissa Weinman reports.

November 5, 2011 - Reporter Newspapers

The new edition of the Grand Theft Auto series will parody LA, including its idiosyncratic planning landscape, which will feature avaricious developers, activist NIMBYs, and a oceanside dwelling starchitect.

November 4, 2011 - Curbed LA

Manuel "Matty" Moroun has spent millions cleaning up Michigan Central Depot, cleaning out debris and hiring architects and feasibility experts to figure out how much of the building is worth saving.

November 4, 2011 - The Detroit News

In downtown Chicago, the parking lots add an extra $2 "congestion" tax for parking the whole day. Instead, many park illegally at Metra Station receiving parking tickets just to avoid the congestion pricing.

November 4, 2011 - Chicago Tribune

"Redfields to Greenfields," a project currently being developed at Georgia Tech in partnership with City Parks Alliance advocacy group, would convert empty commercial sites into parks, writes Nate Berg for The Atlantic Cities.

November 3, 2011 - The Atlantic Cities

In Washington, D.C., a huge parking lot that parallels the southwest waterfront is slowly being transformed into a 4.2-acre park. Developers and architects are "turning community input into actual park concepts and designs," said to The Dirt.

November 2, 2011 - THE DIRT

Environmental criminology may not be the most well-known field, but in this profile of Nikki Filipuzzi and her work throughout Calgary, Tamara Gignac shows how even the right amounts of shrubbery and light can make the city safer.

November 2, 2011 - The Vancouver Sun

A.O. Scott reviews the final installment of Gary Hustwit's design trilogy, "Urbanized," and concludes that even those with a deep knowledge of urban planning are likely to learn something from the carefully selected images and interviews.

October 31, 2011 - The New York Times

In an another nuance of the ownership laws that govern New York's parks and plazas, the modernist masterpiece Lever House will close today to keep its plaza privately public.

October 31, 2011 - The New York Times

Eric Brown of Brown Design Studio proposes some solutions for retrofitting cul-de-sacs to reconnect them with the urban grid.

October 31, 2011 - New Urbanism Blog

Created in 2003, a pact between rural Imperial Valley to provide water to San Diego has become mired in litigation due to its potential effects on the Salton Sea. But just nixing the deal isn't so easy, as Tony Perry reports.

October 30, 2011 - Los Angeles Times

New York City already has low parking maximums in place in much of Manhattan, but those maximums are riddled with loopholes. A set of reforms being developed by the Department of City Planning would tighten those regulations further.

October 29, 2011 - Streetsblog

At the Urban Land Institute conference this week, Donald Bren, Chairman of the Irvine Company, cites lack of capital and government and environmental regulation as reasons for this.

October 29, 2011 - Bloomberg

The Milan apartment building will feature a tree on each balcony, at only 5% of the construction costs. Christopher Woodward takes us deeper into the project and others in the "living architecture" movement.

October 29, 2011 - Financial Times

In Vancouver, B.C., a newly approved plan to increase density along the Cambie corridor is sending housing prices skyrocketing and causing concern among residents about the character of their neighborhood.

October 28, 2011 - CBC News

Blair Kamin uses Columbus, Ohio's retail development on the Cap at Union Station as a success story. What can Chicago learn from this design strategy that at once addresses economic development and the enrichment of the cityscape?

October 28, 2011 - Chicago Tribune

Creating livable streets starts at the grassroots level by gathering support from the community. Better Blocks Philly was a project that created temporary changes to streets, promoting the concept of the "complete street" for the residents.

October 27, 2011 - Project For Public Spaces

The results of our crowdsourcing project, in collaboration with the Project for Public Spaces, reveal not an objective Top 100 but instead a handful of communities passionate about their own local public spaces.

October 27, 2011 - Tim Halbur

Internet server farms suck up enormous amounts of energy keeping all those mainframes cool. So Facebook has announced it will build in Northern Sweden and use only the natural air to chill their facility.

October 27, 2011 - The Telegraph

Pollution has caused the Anacostia River to suffer, writes Ryan Donahue, and efforts to revitalize the area were put on hold just as the recession began. Since then, the District has implemented programs to help restore this neglected area.

October 26, 2011 - City Parks Blog