The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

No sooner had the ink dried on the Times' "Obama's Night" headline, than planning advocates began offering suggestions for what the President should focus on in his second term. With an enduring split in Congress it's unclear what is achievable.

November 7 - The Atlantic Cities

Forty-five miles southwest of the Twin Cities sits the exurb of New Prague, a town with state-of-the-art infrastructure but crushing debt. It’s an example of what happens when the “Ponzi scheme” underlying sprawl development comes crumbling down.

November 7 - Star Tribune

The intersection of Yonge and Harbour is just one example of the dangerous conditions that confront Toronto’s pedestrians daily. Are the police to blame for the city’s lack of pedestrian safety?

November 7 - The Star

La Casa is a first of its kind dorm building in Chicago, offering affordable housing for up to 100 students attending any of the colleges in the area. It is not only a living arrangement, but also a hub of support services, writes Michael Winerip.

November 7 - The New York Times

Economist Joe Cortright doesn't seem to think so. According to his findings, Americans are driving less, with Millennials leading the way, and this unprecedented trend is here to stay.

November 7 - D.C. Streetsblog

As America's cities grow and expand, there's great opportunities--but there are also significant challenges. Twenty innovative metros are vying for $9 in grant money to address their city's greatest needs.

November 7 - ICIC

For decades, New Jersey's coastal communities have been the beneficiaries of artificial beach nourishment, at great expense. After Sandy washed away hundreds of million of dollars of sand, some are suggesting it's time for a strategic retreat.

November 6 - The New York Times

Unveiled at an event held last week at the University of Pittsburgh, "Oakland 2025: A vision for sustainable living and mobility" is the culmination of a process that involved a laundry list of institutional, community, and governmental partners.

November 6 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Emily Badger examines the intersection of neuroscience and architecture, an emerging area of study that promises to produce environments that support and enhance our brain function.

November 6 - Pacific Standard

While the federal government balks at increasing money for transportation projects, local officials across America are turning to their constituents to get the go ahead for significant transportation investment. What projects are at stake today?

November 6 - the transport politic

California Watch, a project of the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting, evaluated the 2009-11 American Community Survey and determined that CA's 'drive-alone' rate to work was 73%. Joanna Lin points the finger at free parking as chief cause.

November 6 - San Francisco Chronicle

Artist Stephen Glassman and a team of engineers and planners have developed a plan for transforming L.A.'s ubiquitous billboards into floating, globally connected urban forests. All that's needed for the first prototype are a few generous strangers.

November 6 - Curbed LA

Increasing mileage standards will do little to measurably reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In order to seriously tackle climate change we need to ditch the cars, and the development patterns they encourage, and move to walkable places.

November 6 - Salon

It's taken a Herculean effort to get New York's subway system up and running again after Sandy; but it's one that's progressed far below the streets of the city and out of view of most. Morgan Clendaniel examines what MTA employees have been up to.

November 6 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Millennials have been clustering in urban hotspots, and millions of others will be settling down over the next decade. William Fulton advises less attractive cities and suburbs on how to avoid a brain drain.

November 6 - Governing

As the Sandy clean-up gets underway, could this be an opportunity for the Eastern Seaboard to apply some of the rebuilding lessons learned along the Gulf Coast after Katrina? Ben Brown shares some pointers.

November 6 - PlaceShakers

FEATURE

Ed Blakely indicts the planning profession for failing to protect our communities from the threat of a changing climate. How can we plan places that serve as bulwarks from the worst physical traumas, while providing economic and social resiliency?

November 5 - Edward J. Blakely

Amid all the attention L.A.'s recent transit expansion and car culture receive, you couldn't blame the area's pedestrians for feeling like the odd ones out. But with the city’s first official pedestrian coordinators on the job, that may soon change.

November 5 - LA.Streetsblog

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to salvage a plan to increase the country's reliance on renewable energy to at least 35 percent by 2020 amid rising energy prices and mounting criticism

November 5 - The New York Times

On the eve of the election, with scant mention of his position on issues such as transportation, smart growth, climate change, or even housing while on the campaign trail, Emily Badger tries to divine Mitt Romney's approach to urban issues.

November 5 - The Atlantic Cities