The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Three hundred thousand residents in nine counties in W.Va, including the state capital have gone without tap water since Thursday due to a massive chemical spill into the Elk River. All uses except flushing are off-limits. How much longer is unknown.

January 13 - The New York Times

The city of Miami is constructing its first tunnel, which will ease traffic congestion in the area, at a price of $1 billion.

January 12 - The 305

In the wake of Toronto’s unprecedented ice storm - which saw 300,000 residents loose power for as long as 12 days - Christopher Hume argues that cost-cutting contributed to the extent of havoc wreaked by the city’s under-maintained tree canopy.

January 12 - The Toronto Star

Improvements in governance and quality of life in Lagos stand in sharp contrast to the political squabbling and mismanagement that plague the rest of Nigeria. Seth D. Kaplan argues that Lagos can provide a model for other fragile states.

January 12 - The New York Times

The murder rate in Ciudad Juárez is in sharp decline: from 3,075 in 2010 to 487 in 2013. Juárez officials are launching initiatives to revitalize the city and attract visitors from across the border in Texas and New Mexico.

January 12 - WFAA Channel 8 Dallas/Ft. Worth

A new documentary from Streetfilms explores how open streets events–which repurpose public spaces for people, rather than vehicles–have grown over the past several decades throughout South and North America.

January 12 - Streetfilms

Housing construction hasn't kept up with Britain's robust population growth. The Economist floats several ideas for spurring development: relax permissions for developing greenfields, incentivize building on brownfields, and tax the value of land.

January 11 - The Economist

Like many cities built on the old economy of steel and automobile manufacturing, Baltimore is struggling to attract and retain citizens. Recent population growth bears examination.

January 11 - Comeback City

The opponents of New York University's controversial expansion plan for Greenwich Village owe their recent court victory to the legacy of Jane Jacobs' legendary fight against the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway.

January 11 - The New York Times

The new paradigm of poverty is playing out in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania: the majority of individuals in poverty live the suburbs, where the impacts of poverty are harder to identify.

January 11 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

BLOG POST

We have compiled a list of mobile apps to support planning, as part of our annual update. Learn about exciting new ways to explore cities and enhance planning via mobile apps. Please feel free to add your own favorites.

January 11 - Jennifer Evans-Cowley

The admission is the first from a Chinese official that puts a human cost on the country's huge air pollution problem, largely stemming from coal-burning power plants. But Shanghai had good news this week too. Rain brought blue skies and clean air.

January 11 - Marketplace

Barry Blitt makes light of the "Bridgegate" scandal that enveloped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration in his cartoon for the cover of the next New Yorker magazine. If you play politics with traffic, you risk getting run over.

January 10 - The New Yorker

This week, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) announced how it aims to spend $12.4 billion on road and transit projects over the next five years. Expansions of Boston's Fairmount Indigo Line and Green Line are planned.

January 10 - Boston Magazine

The diverging diamond interchange system planned for an exit off Interstate 70 in Grand Junction, west of Denver in Colorado, has been delayed so officials can educate the public about the new traffic pattern.

January 10 - Denver Post

BART and Bombardier Transportation have completed a two-part, $1.5 billion deal to modernize the BART fleet. The new cars are expected to test in 2015 and commence operation between 2017 and 2021.

January 10 - The Press Republican (Northeastern New York)

A growing body of scientific research shows that open office plans harm wellbeing and job performance.

January 10 - The New Yorker

California's Office of Planning & Research has been tasked with moving environmental analysis away from standards based solely on level of service. The agency has released its preliminary evaluation of alternative methods of transportation analysis.

January 10 - California Planning & Development Report

New fault maps could change the game for developments in Hollywood and nearby neighborhoods according to a 1972 law known as Alquist-Priolo Act, which forbids building directly atop active earthquake faults capable of rupturing the surface.

January 10 - Los Angeles Times

The National Journal speaks with demographer William H. Frey, with the Brookings Institution, about the three most meaningful trends that emerged in the U.S. last year, and their significance for the future.

January 10 - National Journal