The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

$1 Billion Miami Beach Convention Center Plans Back to the Drawing Board

A new mayoral administration in Miami Beach has cancelled a $1 billion plan to redevelop 52-acres around the city’s convention center, scrapping the plans of a design-build team that included Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas.

January 16 - Miami Herald

Might Virginia's New Governor Halt a Controversial Highway Project?

Depending on who you're asking, Virginia's proposed Bi-County Parkway is either critical to supporting the state's growth or a sprawl-inducing gift to developers. With a key milestone in limbo, Governor Terry McAuliffe will have a chance to weigh in.

January 16 - WAMU

Congress Pressing to Mitigate L.A.'s Helicopter Noise

Los Angeles congressional representatives are leveraging the federal appropriations bill to advance legislation requiring the U.S. DOT and the FAA to develop ways to lessen the impact of helicopter noise on residential neighborhoods.

January 16 - San Fernando Valley Business Journal

New Series: In the Urban World, Juxtapositions Matter

In an ongoing series, Urbanism Without Effort author Chuck Wolfe argues the importance of the overlaps, overlays and convergence points that define city life, and emphasizes the importance of reading and interpreting their everyday expression.

January 16 - myurbanist

Predictions for Austin’s Real Estate Boom

With a whole portfolio of positive indicators about the health of the real estate market in Austin, a group of local industry leaders recently made predictions about what 2014 will bring for one of the country’s fastest growing metros.

January 16 - Austin Business Journal


North America's Largest Bike Parking Facility Planned for Portland

Portland has a well-earned reputation as a mecca for cyclists. But a new mixed-use development with 657 housing units will set the standard for the U.S. by providing 1,200 bike parking spaces in underground garages.

January 16 - Bike Portland

Accounting for the Port Authority’s Failures

The recent George Washington Bridge lane closure controversy, clouded by the presidential aspirations of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, is only the most recent failure of management by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

January 16 - Next American City


residential downtown in Singapore

So Much for the Environmental Benefits of Urban Density

For urbanists who have reduced their carbon footprints by driving less and living more densely in smaller homes, researchers from UC Berkeley have some bad news. Your reduced emissions are canceled out by those in the suburbs ringing your city.

January 16 - Los Angeles Times - Science Now

BLOG POST

Greetings from TRB!

Each January Washington DC hosts a huge gathering of the transportation planning tribe. What do we do? Read about it here.

January 16 - Todd Litman

De Blasio Outlines Plan to Eliminate NYC Traffic Deaths

Yesterday, Mayor de Blasio launched “Vision Zero”, a multi-agency effort to eliminate NYC's traffic deaths within a decade. With eleven deaths (seven of them pedestrians) already recorded in the new year, progress can't come soon enough.

January 16 - Streetsblog

March Construction Targeted for Charlotte Blue Line Extension

Preparations for the $1.6 billion Blue Line extension project in Charlotte, North Carolina, are nearing completion. Officials have penciled in March to begin construction on the 9.3-mile light rail line.

January 15 - Charlotte Observer

L.A. Developing Big Plans to Prepare for the "Big One"

Nearing the 20th anniversary of the last large earthquake to strike the L.A. region, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a year-long effort to identify ways to protect the city's vulnerable buildings and critical infrastructure from the next rumbler.

January 15 - Los Angeles Times

Revising Urban History: the Interstate Highway Road Not Taken

From Denver to Syracuse, U.S. cities are looking to heal neighborhoods torn apart by the construction of the Interstate Highway System. Could an alternative way of envisioning and financing such a system provide lessons for the developing world?

January 15 - The Atlantic Cities

How Oil Turned Every Norwegian Into a Theoretical Millionaire

The publicly held and managed wealth generated by Norway’s taxation of oil and gas extraction now equates to one million Crowns (about $162,000 USD) per capita. Norwegian law only allows the government to draw minimally from this fund every year.

January 15 - Reuters

Ray LaHood Takes on New Role

From Republican congressman from Ill. to President Obama's first Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood now takes on a new role as a co-chair of the bipartisan coalition, Building America's Future, to advocate for increased infrastructure investment.

January 15 - AASHTO Journal

East Coast Planners Ask: How High Will the Water Rise?

It's not just melting ice that threatens to submerge communities along the East Coast of the U.S. Several other factor are conspiring to raise sea levels. Scientists are racing against time to predict how bad things are going to get, and how fast.

January 15 - The New York Times

London Property Values Tied to Global Events

A new study out of Oxford’s Saïd Business School provides evidence of the influence of external factors, such as foreign wars and environmental crises, on the London housing market.

January 15 - Quartz

Accommodating D.C.'s Rapid Growth; Heat Map Shows Permits and Construction

Adding 1,100 people every month, Washington D.C. is in the midst of one of the nation’s most powerful examples of population growth. A recently developed heat map shows where supply is being built to meet the new demand.

January 15 - Greater Greater Washington

Central Park - Manhattan, New York

Urban Green Spaces Will Make You Happier than Winning the Lottery

A new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology finds that moving to a more-green area can have a long-lasting positive effect on mental health, unlike the short-term jolt from pay rises, promotions or winning the lottery.

January 15 - BBC News

Buffalo Light Rail

TIGER Wins and High-Speed Rail Loses in New Federal Spending Bill

For the first time since 2011, Congressional negotiators have agreed on a $1.012 trillion omnibus budget bill to fund the federal government. Tanya Snyder examines the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development winners and losers.

January 15 - DC.Streetsblog

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