The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>Belfast developers plan on turning a Victorian-era jail into a tourist attraction, hotel, and art gallery. Her Majesty’s Prison Belfast closed in 1996, and is a symbol of The Troubles, the long struggle in Northern Ireland for Irish independence.</p>

July 12 - Global Atlanta

<p>Business owners fear dedicated transit lane would discourage shopping along Telegraph Avenue, while proponents look to BRT as a cheap way to clear up traffic.</p>

July 12 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>New York City officials have announced a plan to raise parking meter rates in certain parts of the city during high traffic times.</p>

July 12 - The New York Times

<p>With their share prices dropping and prospects for fresh capitalization remote, there are growing concerns that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be heading for failure, and with it grave repercussions for the entire U.S. economy.</p>

July 12 - The Washington Post

<p>Pranksters load up the New York subway with identical twins, surprising riders.</p>

July 11 - Urban Prankster

<p>Residents of small and mid-sized cities in the US and Canada are getting an introduction to bike-sharing thanks to large local companies.</p>

July 11 - Streetsblog

<p>Chicago's Loop is becoming a hot neighborhood.</p>

July 11 - Reuters

BLOG POST

<div class="mp_drop"> Last year Project on Public Spaces and I published the <strong><em><a href="http://www.pps.org/info/products/Books_Videos/great_neighborhood_book">Great Neighborhood Book,</a></em></strong> which offers hundreds of ideas from around the world about making community improvements on issues ranging from crime prevention to environmental restoration. Since then almost everyone I meet asks: What&#39;s your favorite neighborhood? </div> <p> I should have an answer ready. But each time the question arises, my mind starts wandering through the great places I&#39;ve explored through the years. Is it the Plateau neighborhood in Montreal, where I became infatuated with cities years ago as a college student? Maybe

July 11 - Jay Walljasper

<p>Plans were recently revealed for the much-ballyhooed High Line Park in New York, converting an abandoned elevated railway into a recreation area. But the NY Times says, 'I’d been hoping for a utopia. Instead, I got sumac.'</p>

July 11 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">North American (United States and Canada) policy generally favors low energy prices, with low taxes, production subsidies and other types of energy industry support. As a result, North Americans are energy rich: an average worker can purchase more fuel per hour of labor than almost any other time or place. In response North Americans have developed energy intensive lifestyles and industrial practices, have failed to implement many energy conservation practices common in other parts of the world, and consume more energy per capita than most other times and places.</span> </p>

July 11 - Todd Litman

<p>Residents of Austin, TX are risking violation of city ordinances forbidding loud animals to raise chickens in their central city neighborhood backyards. It's partly a way to cut out-of-pocket expenses.</p>

July 11 - Austin American-Statesman

<p>If buildings are responsible for almost half of the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, then our energy and building codes are incredibly important tools attaining energy and climate sanity.</p>

July 11 - Gristmill

<p>A Houston bedroom community decides against allowing childcare centers to mix with other businesses in strip centers.</p>

July 11 - The Houston Chronicle

<p>Formerly small towns near Boston have experienced high growth rates in recent years. But despite their potential to keep growing, water supplies and aging infrastructure will likely be a limiting factor.</p>

July 11 - The Boston Globe

<p>Harlem is undergoing a rapid change in terms of demographics and income levels. One real estate broker is at the front of driving this change, and many in the neighborhood are not happy about it. But is this change avoidable?</p>

July 11 - New York Magazine

<p>Landscape architects aren't typically well known, but their work is a major part of many peoples' lives. As urbanization increases, their influence on city dwellers will become more noticeable, according to this article.</p>

July 11 - The Vancouver Courier

<p>When California declared a statewide drought, a couple decided to let their front lawn die.</p>

July 10 - RedOrbit

<p>Long considered the source of California's fiscal and land use woes, Proposition 13, passed by voters in 1978, limits increases in property tax. However, it may prove to be an 'economic stabilizer' during the current housing slump.</p>

July 10 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>For the New Statesman's Andrew Stephen, last month's power failure in Washington D.C. exemplified the deterioration of America's infrastructure, which he likens to conditions he found in the dying days of the Soviet Union.</p>

July 10 - New Statesman

<p>After significant debate, the Pacheco pass route has been approved for the high-speed train between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Next step: pass a $10 billion proposition on the November ballot.</p>

July 10 - San Jose Mercury News