The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Shannon Mattern argues that as we enter the era of so-called “smart” cities, we need to consider the point of engagement where citizens interface with the city’s operating system.

May 11 - Places Journal

If Congress can't agree how to fund the Highway Trust Fund shortfall, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx warned state DOTs that he will be unable to reimburse them for funds already spent. The redline is the $4 billion mark projected to come July.

May 11 - The Wall Street Journal - Politics and Policy

Public health was one of the many topics to merge from the American Planning Association's recent national gathering. Here's a look at the proceedings from the conference's Planning Healthy Communities Symposium.

May 10 - APA Conference Blog

After a recent report questioned the value Portland's light rail investments, a local journalist and a TriMet representative provide countering metrics of success.

May 10 - The Oregonian

A California state law that allowed temporary property tax reductions to homeowners during the housing crash is now swinging back the other way. Some homeowners have seen 20 percent increases in property tax bills.

May 10 - Capitol Alert (Sacramento Bee blog)

Proposals for light rail, streetcar, and BRT lines spread in every direction from Washington D.C. into nearby climes. Although some are more realistic than others, one blog dares to dream about what the full extent of the proposals would look like.

May 10 - Greater Greater Washington

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) is controversial all over the country. Controversy can often lead to compromises, such as mixing the buses into traffic. A recent article makes the case for overcoming controversy and committing to BRT in downtowns.

May 10 - Atlantic Cities

BLOG POST

Suburbanization has not led to shorter commutes—except perhaps for residents of the most job-rich, affluent suburbs.

May 9 - Michael Lewyn

A writer points to surprising statistics about Brooklyn—mainly that much of the borough is growing poorer as real estate prices fall—to make a point about how the common gentrification narrative fails cities.

May 9 - City Notes

Two writers share the secrets to Arlington County's multi-modal success—especially with regard to the importance of well-designed bike parking at locations residential and commercial.

May 9 - Mobility Lab

Beset by a large budget deficit and overwhelming poverty, Newark's local government services director has warned that the city might require state supervision.

May 9 - Al Jazeera America

An uptick in the Los Angeles housing and lending markets has precipitated the return of mansionization. A 2008 citywide ordinance adopted to prevent outsized homes on small residential lots is proving inadequate to the task.

May 9 - Los Angeles Times

Ten years ago, Chicago held a design competition for pedestrian bridges at five locations on the lakefront. As the projects have languished, so has improved access between neighborhoods like North Kenwood and Oakland to nearby Burnham Park.

May 9 - Chicago Tribune

Artist Luke Jerram recently installed a 300-foot waterslide on Park Street in Bristol, UK. The "Park and Slide" event was massively attended and wildly popular.

May 9 - Sustainable Cities Collective

The same week that the New York Police Department released a boat load of data about traffic collisions comes news that exercise app Strava will sell its data on the how, where, and when bikers and runners use streets.

May 9 - Wall Street Journal - Digits

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will deliver $10.2 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury next month, but Congress could soon "wind down" the companies by approving the significant Johnson-Crapo bill.

May 9 - Forbes

In what is being billed as the first emergency order of more to come, the Department of Transportation (DOT), the federal regulator of transporting crude oil by rail, hopes to quell the growing national furor over what some call 'ticking time bombs'.

May 9 - The Tribune

Recent commenters have described cities as the locus for a new type of liberalism that benefits a broader swath of demographics. Dissenters wonder whether certain progressive cities, enabled by privilege, are merely drivers of inequality.

May 9 - New York Times

The Eastside Trail of the Atlanta BeltLine is immensely popular. With funding still in question and construction behind schedule on some of the transit that would integrate with the BeltLine, one writer re-examines the trail's vast potential.

May 8 - Atlantic Cities

Inspired by a recent death-defying trip to the polls, a blogger lists some of the basic facilities that should be accessible to all pedestrians.

May 8 - The Black Urbanist