The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A team of Canadian MBA students has won $1 million to alleviate urban hunger with insect-based foods, reports Mary Jander.

September 29 - Future Cities

A Bloomberg administration effort to get New York's most polluting buildings to convert to cleaner heating fuels has provided remarkable results, a new study reports.

September 28 - The New York Times

The $300 million in federal and private aid announced Friday for Detroit is just a drop in the bucket compared to the city's $18 billion debt. While the aid is far short of a bailout, it represents a down payment on the city's recovery.

September 28 - Detroit Free Press

Depending on what media you're reading, Bay Area Bike Share is either off to a "fast start" or an "underwhelming start". We give both reviews - you judge. In addition, Sacramento looks toward BABS as a model, and expansion within SF will be proposed.

September 28 - Streetsblog San Francisco

The creator of a lauded guerrilla wayfinding project for Raleigh has launched a new website that allows users to duplicate his compelling signage for their communities.

September 28 - Pop-Up City

The increase in vehicular speeds, removal of street hawkers, and addition of gated neighborhoods are all seen as contributing to a rise in crimes against women in New Delhi and other Indian cities. How can planning and design reverse this trend?

September 28 - The New York Times

What do an upside-down White House, a toilet-shaped museum, and a planetarium shaped like Saturn and its rings have in common? All can be found in futurist website io9's collection of the world's most extreme buildings.

September 27 - io9

BLOG POST

Abu Dhabi is updating its strategic development plan. Consultant Todd Litman reports on the city's recent urban planning charrette.

September 27 - Todd Litman

With $11.2 million in federal, state and local funds, the US DOT is launching a National Center for Sustainable Transportation. The center aims to reduce the transport sector's contribution to climate change through research, education, and outreach.

September 27 - Next City

In exchange for a promise from a country club not to oppose the planned Purple Line, the Maryland Transit Administration has agreed to move tracks, build sound walls, and attend regular meetings. Residents aren't happy about the special treatment.

September 27 - The Washington Post

The synopsis of the IPCC's fifth major climate assessment was released today in Stockholm. With near absolute certainty, the panel identified humans as the cause of the dangerously warming planet. Could the report propel languishing negotiations?

September 27 - The New York Times

China's drive to reduce urban air pollution and increase energy security will unleash massive carbon and toxic emissions, almost tripling its current emissions over 40 years. The plan is to build 40 plants to convert coal to synthetic natural gas.

September 27 - Quartz

With a goal of improving the quality of life for the city's residents, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is embarking on a titanic task: using technology, transparency, and accountability to transform the city's "lumbering" bureaucracy.

September 27 - Los Angeles Times

Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer talks about the failures with federal natural disaster relief and how the country should build its resiliency to climate change with The Planning Report.

September 27 - The Planning Report

In the Toronto area, the region's suburbs have evolved in ways that make them fundamentally different from their outdated postwar image. Yet the ways we think and talk about the suburbs haven't kept up with this new reality.

September 27 - Toronto Star

With 12,000 docking stations, Paris' expansive Velib system is the envy of cities across the world. But last year it lost 9,000 bikes to theft or vandalism. Its admirable ambition is threatening the functionality of the entire system.

September 27 - The Atlantic Cities

This year's Stirling Prize, the highest honor awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects, has gone to Witherford Watson Mann architects for their deft renovation of historic Astley Castle, which was destroyed by fire in 1978.

September 27 - The Guardian

Innovative landscape architect James van Sweden, who along with Wolfgang Oehme created the “New American Garden” style of design, died last week at his home in Washington D.C.

September 26 - ASLA The Dirt

Montreal's Bixi is one of the most replicated bike-sharing systems in the world, but the publicly backed company has struggled with financial troubles since debuting in 2008. Outstanding payments due to Bixi are the latest threat to the company.

September 26 - CBC News

Singapore has built skywards and taken back land from the sea to accommodate its booming population. But as the city-state runs out of options for future growth, it's looking underground to build infrastructure, offices, and even public spaces.

September 26 - The New York Times