The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Chicago's Spire May Get Union Funding
The site of the Chicago Spire, now an undeveloped eyesore, may soon see progress, as its developer and AFL-CIO negotiate for funding.
HUD Homeownership Program Shows Promise
An ambitious HUD program promoting homeownership in troubled neighborhoods is, by some accounts, "one of the more intelligent things HUD has done in its history."
Government Boomtowns: The New Detroit?
While the number of private sector jobs shrinks, places with higher proportions of government workers are doing quite well. It's estimated that public servants will see wage increases of 2% or more this year.
San Francisco Plans Pedestrian Street
San Francisco is looking to follow New York City's lead as it moves forward with plans to convert a portion of street into a pedestrian plaza.
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And Let Tata Be A Lesson To You!
<p> Worldwide media coverage earlier this week of Tata Motors unveiling their Nano car-for-the-masses brings the argument over individual car ownership to the forefront yet again. Thanks to one hundred or so years of clever marketing, our society glorifies the bling of a shiny new car, demands auto ownership as a basic right, and proclaims its necessity to be (almost) as critical as water, food, and shelter.
Reinventing Infrastructure with Tech
According to Kazys Varnelis, architects should spend less time worrying about the little funding that the stimulus allots to highways and rail, and spending more time focusing on new technologies that supplement typical infrastructure.
"Communiversity": A Bond You Can't Break
College towns fare relatively well during a recession due to the stable, highly skilled work force colleges offer their communities.
Staten Island Rail on the Drawing Board
A year-long study of the proposed West Shore Light Rail finds that the borough could draw nine stations and about 13,000 riders traveling within Staten Island or to Manhattan.
The $2,200 Car
Tata Motors of India released their much anticipated $2,200 car yesterday, with 1m people already on the waiting list. Environmentalists fear that the surge in cars, even tiny ones, will make India's cities more autocentric.
Unbuilt Skyscrapers Mean Sky-High Unemployment
No work has been done on the Chicago Spire, the city's latest planned skyscraper, since the credit market froze up in January. A brief look at the blow to the building industry, in which joblessness is at a rate of 21.4%.
Not Quite the Urban Utopia
When Andres Duany planned the village of Cornell, he built in walkability, density, and mixed-use. The outcome, however, falls short of the New Urbanist vision; driving is the norm and retail is scarce. What happened?
Amory Lovins and the 2,000 Watt Society
WorldChanging interviews Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute, discussing the 2,000 watt lifestyle proposed by the Swiss and his recent letter to Secretary Steven Chu.
Sustaining the New Urbanism
New urbanists ponder how they can adapt to the new economic climate and avoid the fate of their predecessors.
Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Urban Vision
Poet and longtime San Francisco Lawrence Ferlinghetti told Streetsblog his vision for an urban park in North Beach, in this video interview.
Japan's Bullet Trains to Top 310 MPH by 2025
High speed train technology is progressing at a rapid pace in Japan, where mag-lev bullet trains are planned to travel at speeds of more than 310 miles per hour by the year 2025.
2010 Census Outreach to Target the Foreclosed and Immigrants
Increased ethnic and language diversity, combined with widespread housing abandonment will make data gathering for the 2010 Census especially challenging.
Urban Emergence
The concept of 'emergence', in science refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise among groups without planned organization. Emergence is now being applied in interesting ways to study urban areas that evolved spontaneously.
A Nation Goes Carbon-Neutral
The Maldives has pledged to be entirely carbon-neutral by 2020. The president has hired a team of environmentalists to put the pledge into action.
Rebirth Through Art in Abandoned Detroit
This piece from NPR looks at what artists are doing in Detroit to snatch up abandoned homes and convert them into community centers and art spaces.
Unappreciated Cyclists In Sausalito
Marin County has a reputation to live up to. In this column, Sausalito does just that in its treatment of hordes of cycling tourists who rent bikes on Fisherman's Wharf, pedal across the GG Bridge to have lunch in Sausalito, and return on the ferry.
City of Clovis
City of Moorpark
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
