The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>High rates of obesity and diabetes are being correlated to high concentrations of fast food restaurants in neighborhoods. Some look to zoning as a solution.</p>

May 5 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>Two new classifications of land in Denver -- areas of change and areas of stability -- are moving the city's redevelopment and densification plans forward.</p>

May 5 - The Rocky Mountain News

<p>According to RPA Executive Director Robert Yaro, global competition requires that the United States focus on regions for future infrastructure investment.</p>

May 5 - The Planning Report

BLOG POST

Once every few semesters, I teach a seminar on &quot;Sprawl and the Law.&quot; On the first day of the seminar, I ask students what &quot;sprawl&quot; is. After getting a variety of answers, I reveal the truth: most definitions of sprawl involve one of two separate definitions: <p> &quot;<strong>Where we grow</strong>&quot;- Sprawl as movement from the core to the fringe of a region. </p> <p> &quot;<strong>How we grow</strong>&quot;- Sprawl as development oriented towards drivers as opposed to nondrivers. </p>

May 5 - Michael Lewyn

<p>Students at Bridgewater-Raritan High School in New Jersey are protesting after the principal refused to accept a new bike rack as a gift from the school's environmental club.</p>

May 5 - Streetsblog

<p>The bursting of the housing bubble may be tied to rising gas prices, according to one economist.</p>

May 5 - The Oregonian

<p>Despite planners' love-hate relationship with it, Las Vegas is a hotbed of great city-making, according to this post from <em>California Planning and Development Report</em>.</p>

May 5 - California Planning & Development Report

FEATURE

May 5 - Ishmael Sanchez

<p>Developers and politicians in L.A. are stealthily moving forward with plans to build a skyscraper in the heart of Hollywood -- a 40-story project that would tower high over existing development in the area.</p>

May 5 - LA Weekly

<p>Efforts to redevelop a blighted commercial plaza in South Los Angeles have proved fruitless -- angering residents who say the city has ignored them and allowed taxpayer money to be wasted. Questions remain about the developer's financial dealings.</p>

May 4 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>To build a sense of community and improve long neglected but heavily used bus stops, a community group in South Los Angeles has begun creating colorful outdoor living rooms to give residents a place to sit and chat.</p>

May 4 - The New York Times

<p>Americans who've lost their homes to foreclosure are now looking to rent, tightening up already low vacancy rates and driving up prices. Meanwhile, foreclosed homes sit empty.</p>

May 4 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>Nita and Mukesh Ambani are planning a $2 billion, 440,000 square foot, 27-story home for their family in Mumbai -- designed by architecture firms Perkins + Will and Hirsch Bedner Associates.</p>

May 4 - Forbes

<p>Transportation Secretary Mary Peters (or, more likely, her communications team) has taken up blogging, but the new PR outlet comes with a title that's not so friendly to all modes of transportation.</p>

May 4 - Streetsblog

<p>With elections coming up, local politicians are peddling various plans for the replacement of the Alaska Way Viaduct -- though there is increasing consensus around removing the freeway and creating a waterfront boulevard.</p>

May 3 - Crosscut Seattle

<p>A new 22-mile bridge -- which breaks the previous record of 20.2 miles set by another Chinese bridge -- will provide a faster road connection between the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Ningbo.</p>

May 3 - The Guardian

<p>The latest population and housing estimates for the San Fransisco Bay Area show that urban areas are equaling, if not exceeding, the growth of suburban communities -- with more multifamily homes being built in lieu of detached single-family homes.</p>

May 3 - San Jose Mercury News

<p>A new 85-unit apartment building in Harlem shows that affordable housing and green building practices can go hand in hand.</p>

May 3 - Inhabitat

<p>The first high-speed train in the Americas -- which will be built by a consortium led by France's Alstom -- will cut travel times between Buenos Aires and cities of Rosario and Córdoba by more than two-thirds.</p>

May 3 - The Financial Times

<p>A lot of power comes with the title of County Surveyor. Lucky for the people of Wayne County, Maryland, elected county surveyor Robert Pelaski vows not to let this awesome power get to his head.</p>

May 2 - The Onion