The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

This week, San Diego's City Council voted to resurrect the city's moribund Planning Department. A government-wide reorganization and energized leadership seem certain to ensure the department won't become a zombie.

October 31 - The San Diego Union-Tribune

Jonathan Hull, a 37-year-old graphic designer from Salt Lake City, has assembled an horrific catalog of America's "demonic, hellish, and Satan-flavored" appellations.

October 31 - The Atlantic Cities

Could a 1,300-mile bike path along the length of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline quell the concerns of environmentalists? A "tongue-in-cheek" design put forth by SWA group doesn't appear to have won admirers on either side of the debate.

October 31 - Bloomberg

Once again, the fine people at the real estate web portal Zillow have assembled their top 20 cities for trick-or-treating. This year they've gone one step further and identified the top 5 neighborhoods in each city for enterprising candy collectors.

October 31 - Zillow

BLOG POST

Contrary to popular assumptions, large, transit-oriented cities have lower crime rates than smaller, automobile-oriented cities. Jane Jacobs was right! This column discusses this phenomenon and its implications for transport and land use planning.

October 31 - Todd Litman

Visionary developer James W. Rouse always wanted his planned community in Howard County, Maryland to be a "real city". As Columbia nears 50, a 30-year plan and new development seeks to fill in the community's "doughnut hole" with walkable density.

October 30 - The Baltimore Sun

In 25 of the 27 European Union members for which data is available, bikes are outselling new cars, research conducted by National Public Radio has found. Though many European cities are known for their bikeability, the buying pattern is a new trend.

October 30 - NPR

A new report sheds light on the costs of suburban sprawl that aren't well understood by officials and residents. If more knew the true financial costs they might reconsider their policies and priorities, believes author Dave Thompson.

October 30 - The Toronto Star

That's Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown and former Calif. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. In two unrelated L.A. Times articles, Gov. Brown credits the initiative system for making the state governable while former speaker Brown is opposed to direct democracy.

October 30 - Los Angeles Times

With urban populations growing, an interesting phenomenon is spreading in cities across the U.S. - the rise of the (often congested) reverse commute. It brings with it new challenges, like how to provide transit riders with last mile connections.

October 30 - NPR

Might a recent agreement to fund water projects pave the way for more transportation spending? That's what positive signals out of Washington seem to indicate. Just one small obstacle stands in the way: how to finance road and bridge projects.

October 30 - The Wall Street Journal

Are the grand plans for reviving Cleveland put forth by city leaders - and hyped by the architecture critic at the city's main newspaper - fantasies masking the city's elemental problems or goals worth pursuing?

October 30 - Cleveland Magazine

Citizens will attempt to do what the Missouri General Assembly narrowly rejected: raise the sales tax by one percent to fund state, county and city roads as well as public transit. If enough signatures are gathered, it will be on the ballot next year

October 30 - Kansas City Business Journal

In Rust Belt cities like Flint, Michigan, a loss of population translates to less cars on oversized streets. Angie Schmitt examines how Flint, and other cities like it, are trying to right-size their transportation infrastructure.

October 30 - DC.Streetsblog

On the 90th anniversary of the founding of modern Turkey, officials realized a vision dreamt by an Ottoman sultan by inaugurating a rail tunnel beneath the Bosporus to connect Asia and Europe. Critics have questioned the tunnel's safety.

October 30 - The New York Times

Regulations and a natural gas boom have helped reduce America's CO2 emissions to their lowest level since 1994. But CO2, and plenty of other toxic particles, continue to pollute our urban air. Brentin Mock looks at 5 highly polluted urban areas.

October 29 - Grist

The controversial construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct provided grist for famous books and movies, and conflicts that continue to this day. In a multimedia feature, Louis Sahagun explores the history of the project that helped birth modern L.A.

October 29 - Los Angeles Times

As New York and New Jersey continue to recover from Hurricane Sandy, some residents choose to preserve the watermarks left on their homes and businesses as a way to commemorate their survival.

October 29 - The New York Times

In desirable cities across America, home prices are well on their way back to pre-bust levels. But in areas like Chicago's southern suburbs, prices are down more than 40 percent from recent highs, and approaching were they were twenty years ago.

October 29 - Crain's Chicago Business

Though research has been piling up on the adverse health impacts connected with driving long distances every day, it turns out that no matter how you travel to work, "having a job far from home can undermine health."

October 29 - The New York Times