The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

So We've Got All This Data. Now What?

Ben Hecht offers his insights on what civic leaders should do to capitalize on big data and how efforts in Chicago are turning these ideas into reality.

May 24 - Huffington Post

How Many Denarii From Roma to Londinium By Ox Cart in January?

The ORBIS website uses modern technology to model ancient world travel costs.

May 24 - ORBIS: Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World

Is Neighborhood Activism Stifling Community Planning?

Roger Valdez gives his take on the new obstructionism that is dominating public participation and holding up much-needed growth in Seattle and elsewhere.

May 24 - Crosscut

A Manifesto for New Urbanism's Next Movement

Building on one of the reverberating themes from this month's CNU 20 in West Palm Beach, Joe Nickol proposes the path of evolution for a movement that has become the new norm, but may have overlooked some critical issues in the process.

May 23 - StreetSense

Coal-Generated Power Plummets Due To Cheap Natural Gas

According to the Energy Information Agency's (EIA) May outlook, expect coal-generated electric power to drop a full 15% for 2012 while natural gas generated power increases by 24%. Coal dropped from 45% to 36% as the source of U.S. power generation.

May 23 - ThinkProgress


World Leaders Tackle Climate Change, and Nearly Everyone Missed It

No, this is not a headline out of <em>The Onion</em>. Apparently, leaders at last weekend's G8 Summit agreed to “the biggest step in years in tackling climate change,” as reported by Geoffrey Lean.

May 23 - Grist

San Francisco Emerges From a Housing Slump

John Wildermuth discusses San Francisco's bounce back from a tremendous slowdown in new housing construction last year.

May 23 - City Insider


PILOT Agreements Gain in Popularity, As Non-Profits are Asked to Pay the Piper

The financial crises faced by many municipalities has them searching for ever more creative means to bolster city budgets. As a result, non-profit institutions are increasingly being asked to complete payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements.

May 23 - Inside Higher Ed

The U.S. Military: The Next Apostle of New Urbanism?

The Department of Defense has released new guidelines encouraging mixed-use, compact, walkable development throughout the nation's military bases, Sean Reilly reports.

May 23 - USA Today

Has Our Crush on Cars Run Its Course?

Ashley Halsey III probes the end of America's monogamous love affair with the automobile, as a younger generation experiments with alternative transportation lifestyles.

May 23 - The Washington Post

The Changing Tastes of the 55+ Housing Market

Jill P. Capuzzo describes the shift in consumer demand for different amenities in homes targeted for the 55+ market, and how loosening age and cost limitations have helped such developments survive in a segment hit especially hard by the downturn.

May 23 - The New York Times

Designing Transit Networks That People Will Actually Use

Eric Jaffe examines the unusual success of transit in Broward County, Florida, proving that a little route planning goes a long way.

May 23 - The Atlantic Cities

Fort Worth Grows Up

Bridget Moriarity profiles a public-private partnership that is working to bring increased density and walkability deep in the heart of Texas.

May 23 - Next American City

Egypt's Social Media Takes On New Foe: Cairo's Traffic

After aiding in the dissolution of Egypt's authoritarian regime, social media is being enlisted to tackle a more formidable obstacle: easing its capital city's traffic, reports Noel King.

May 22 - Good

L.A. Gets a New Set of Wheels

In The New York Times, Adam Nagourney chronicles the rise of bicycle culture in a city defined for decades by its cars, but with a climate perfectly suited to non-motorized transportation.

May 22 - The New York Times

Bus Stop of the Future Unveiled in Paris

On his <em>Human Transit</em> blog, transit planner Jarrett Walker brings us images and a description of a "bus stop of the future" for the streets of Paris, designed by Marc Aurel.

May 22 - Human Transit

The Best of the World's Street Art

For your lunchtime dose of inspiration, we bring you an eclectic collection of "70 Amazing Examples of Street Art" from <em>Bored Panda</em>, the "highly visual oddities magazine."

May 22 - Bored Panda

Another Crucial NYC Rail Link Gets Delayed

Champions of an ambitious ongoing project to provide a rail link for Long Island Rail Road trains to the East Side of Manhattan got a dose of bad news this week, as it was announced the project is facing significant delays and cost overruns.

May 22 - The New York Times

Are Planners Responsible for Public Health?

Christine Green reports on the ways in which transportation and planning professionals in the Washington D.C. area are working alongside public health professionals to tackle the obesity epidemic.

May 22 - Greater Greater Washington

Explaining America's Great Inversion

Richard Florida speaks with Alan Ehrenhalt about the subject of his new book, <em>The Great Inversion and the Future of the American City</em>: the reversal of the last century's great shift in people and economic activity to the suburbs

May 22 - The Atlantic Cities

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