The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

While the wind energy credit was extended thanks to the fiscal cliff deal, don't expect to see a flurry of wind projects built and certainly it won't match last year's production. Much uncertainty remains for this renewable power industry.

January 17 - The Wall Street Journal

Kaid Benfield proposes not only more walkable neighborhoods in the United States, where a pedestrian is struck by a vehicle every 7 minutes, but also more walking to reverse the country's alarming obesity trend.

January 17 - NRDC Switchboard

Yosh Asato compares the current dot-com and housing boom around South of Market (SoMA), the heart of San Francisco's tech industry, to previous booms that resulted in inevitable crashes. Is there an optimistic future for the city this time around?

January 17 - Metropolis Magazine

Earlier this week, a rail-company cleaning lady in Stockholm was able to take a commuter train on a late night joy ride through the city. The joy, however, ended when she crashed the train into a tony apartment building.

January 17 - The Daily Mail

What do three-pack-a-day smoking habits, triple-decker cheese burgers and sprawl have in common? They all offer immediate gratification and deferred consequences. But now the bill's coming due. Ben Brown lays out some ways to face the music.

January 17 - PlaceShakers

From roof mounted gas-powered generators to emergency floodgates and watertight mechanical rooms, developers and their designers in New York are already incorporating preventative measures into new and revised designs for their buildings.

January 17 - The New York Times

Ryan Holeywell discusses a new report from researchers at the University of California, Berkeley that examines the top reasons people stop using public transit. Frequent, consistent service is most important to riders.

January 16 - Governing

New high-rise towers spreading throughout central London are threatening the character of the city's most important historic sites, reports Martin Bailey.

January 16 - The Art Newspaper

As waves of gentrification sweep through the poor and middle class neighborhoods of New York City's outer boroughs, Stephen Smith argues that conservative, and outdated, zoning codes are to blame for the unequal balance between supply and demand.

January 16 - The Atlantic Cities

Employing material gathered for his forthcoming book, Chuck Wolfe argues for layered, historical illustrations of how people relate to built and sociocultural communities around them, and offers 5 principles and companion lessons for placemaking.

January 16 - myurbanist

Facing federal regulatory action for violating Clean Water Act standards, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors will consider a parcel tax weighted towards a property's amount of impervious pavement to fund programs to reduce stormwater pollution.

January 16 - The California Report

The ambitious plan to transform the auto-oriented D.C. suburb of Tysons Corner into vibrant, walkable Tysons will require building a culture of public transportation, and buses are seen a central piece of that effort, reports Luz Lazo.

January 16 - The Washington Post

Over the next few decades, half of global economic growth is predicted to come from the slums of developing world cities. Gaia Vince believes the key to the coming urban revolution is how these shantytowns evolve.

January 16 - BBC

Why are Google, Apple, Nokia, and Microsoft funneling significant resources into creating the best digital maps? "[A]ll share the same hunch that maps sit at the core of our digital future," writes Farhad Manjoo.

January 16 - Fast Company

Lafayette Park is a thriving and diverse neighborhood of high rises and townhouses designed by Mies van der Rohe. This unique modern architecture success story in Detroit is showcased in a new book "Thanks for the View, Mr. Mies."

January 16 - Fast Company Co.Design

Decades after preservationists helped usher in one of the country’s most successful urban revivals by protecting South Beach's Art Deco buildings, Miami Beach commissioners are considering whether to strengthen laws protecting residential properties.

January 16 - The New York Times

The "great global project" of this century, says Patrick Doherty, is how to "accommodate 3 billion additional middle-class aspirants in two short decades." In a bold essay, he outlines how the U.S. must lead the global transition to sustainability.

January 15 - Foreign Policy

Kaid Benfield examines a model 'pocket neighborhood' - Little Rock's Pettaway - which simultaneously improves a declining neighborhood, provides affordable infill housing and applies advanced measures for stormwater control.

January 15 - NRDC Switchboard

After decades of discussion and experimentation, Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is again getting attention as a potential alternative means of transport, merging the comfort of the private car with the automation and safety of public transit.

January 15 - The Atlantic Cities

Town Branch Creek was once the lifeblood of Lexington, Kentucky. Now, more than a century after it was rerouted and buried, city leaders want to resurrect the historic waterway as the focal point of downtown redevelopment.

January 15 - The Architect's Newspaper