The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

For planners searching for hard to find historic census data in a GIS-ready format, the National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) may be the one-stop shop you've been looking for.

October 11 - APA

Matthew Yglesias diagnoses a common predicament facing many urban communities: the fear that improving living conditions is a <em>bad</em> thing.

October 11 - Slate

Once a national hub of passenger rail service, St. Louis's majestic Union Station hasn't seen a train in five years. The impending sale of the station may provide the opportunity to bring a historic use back to one of the country's grand relics.

October 11 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

BLOG POST

<p> Urban agriculture is a hot topic in sustainability, food, and planning circles. From roof and deck gardens to community gardens to urban farms, urban agriculture has captured the imaginations of activists of many stripes as well as gardeners and eaters. When I mention that my academic work focuses on food access in urban areas, the most common response I get is “oh, you mean like urban ag?” As this interest in urban agriculture grows, some are asking whether food sovereignty – the ability for a population to produce enough food to feed itself – is a feasible goal for American cities.  </p>

October 11 - Lisa Feldstein

The subject of recent politically charged threats, the rail carrier surpassed its record for annual passengers for the ninth time in ten years. Ridership has grown a total of 49 percent since 2000.

October 10 - Transportation Nation

Long lagging behind European and East Coast cities, cities in California are poised to adopt bike sharing in a big way. Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Francisco and others are adding the popular short-term rental service to their transportation options.

October 10 - California Planning & Development Report

Jack Healy explores Denver's conflicted relationship with its 16th Street Mall, the pedestrian-oriented street that runs for a mile through the city's downtown. Bustling by day, but deserted and dicey at night, it has become an icon of the city.

October 10 - The New York Times

An enterprising developer and experimental architect are pushing the boundaries between L.A.'s suburban style of single-family housing and its need for dense infill development on a site in the city's Echo Park neighborhood.

October 10 - The Architect's Newspaper

The planned Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District trains will not only be quiet (though diesel-powered), but so will the crossings if cities and counties cooperate.

October 10 - The (Sonoma County) Press Democrat

On-again, off-again, and now back on-again plans to redevelop the polluted area between two of Brooklyn's most affluent neighborhoods have the residents of Gowanus divided on the direction of their gritty community.

October 10 - The New York Times

Ever wonder how the greenhouse gas emissions of your home compare to your neighbor's, or the supermarket down the street, or the office tower you work in? New software helps visualize such information in three dimensions across an entire city.

October 10 - The Atlantic Cities

Kelly Smith looks at a host of technologies - from thermoplastics to video sensing systems - that local leaders in Minnesota are hoping can make crosswalks safer for pedestrians amid rising incidences of fatalities.

October 10 - Star Tribune

Lissette Valdez looks at two new applications that are helping to blur the lines between digital and hand drawn designs.

October 10 - The Architect's Newspaper

<em>The Wall Street Journal</em> invites Mark Muro, with the Brookings Institution, and David Kreutzer, with the Heritage Foundation, to debate the merits of government subsidies for the development of wind and solar power in the United States.

October 10 - The Wall Street Journal

Over the past six years, the Seattle parks department has made great progress in sprucing up Denny Park, the city's oldest, giving new life to the "last stand of big trees amid the city's grit and gray."

October 9 - The Seattle Times

Should the tolls you pay to traverse a bridge or highway go directly to the upkeep of that roadway, or should they go to fund transportation projects, such as public transit? Five experts debate this question in the New York Times Opinion Pages.

October 9 - The New York Times

With three-quarters of smartphone owners accessing real-time location-based information, the biggest names in technology - from Apple to Google - are working to mine the value of location-based data. Can local governments do the same?

October 9 - Governing

As the Hudson Yards project prepares to start construction on Manhattan's west side, Justin Davidson examines the plans for the borough's "largest remaining chunk of emptiness" and shares exclusive new renderings.

October 9 - New York Magazine

The news of the escalating gas prices was ubiquitous - local media news reports led with gas station prices that had risen 20-50 cents overnight, or stations that had closed early for lack of gas. Finally, Gov. Brown acted to alleviate the 'crisis'.

October 9 - The New York Times - U.S.

John M. Broder looks at the obstacles that stand in the way of Mitt Romney's campaign pledge to “take a weed whacker” to a variety of federal pollution and public health rules.

October 9 - The New York Times