The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The Newest Subway in the World

<em>The Atlantic Cities</em> has posted a photo essay of the world's newest subway system, which opened on December 1, 2011 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

January 27 - The Atlantic Cities

Electric Vehicle Chargers: Coming to a Mall Near You

Shan Li reports on the increasing prevalence of electric vehicle charging stations at retail centers across the country, even though demand for such services is small.

January 27 - Los Angeles Times

Ideas for Fixing the Housing Market

In the "Room for Debate" section of its Opinion Pages, <em>The New York Times</em> has gathered a series of ideas for fixing the struggling housing market from experts across the ideological spectrum.

January 27 - The New York Times

Federal Government to Consider Social Equity in Funding Decisions

In new rules published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, the Department of Transportation is amending Bush era policies on awarding grants for Light Rail, Subway, and Bus Rapid Transit projects.

January 27 - Bloomberg

Study Confirms Environmental Benefits of Adaptive Reuse

Sarah Laskow reports on a new study from the National Trust for Historic Preservation that confirms and quantifies the adage that reuse of a historic building is more sustainable than LEED certified new construction.

January 26 - Good


Philadelphia Passes Long Overdue Zoning Code Reform

The prior code, adopted in 1962 and amended with with nearly 1,000 ad-hoc revisions since then, required a strict separation of uses and outlawed the classic Philadelphia rowhouse typology.

January 26 - APA Sustaining Places

Reflections on Towers in the Park, and the Limits of Architecture

Michael Kimmelman, after visiting the Penn South housing cooperative in Manhattan and reflecting on the new film "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth", questions the role that design has in determining success or failure for tower in the park housing type.

January 26 - The New York Times


Is Energy Efficiency the New Granite Countertop?

John McIlwain explores the market for energy efficient housing, and finds growth across the country.

January 26 - The Atlantic Cities

The German Economic Machine, and Its Implications for America

Frugality, a lack of debt, and a government focused on high production, low inflation and extensive social services are the secrets to providing many Germans with a standard of living higher than Americans making twice as much.

January 26 - Los Angeles Times

Shedding New Light on Constantinople

The discovery of the harbor town of Bathonea in 2007, after a drought uncovered its water-logged remains, has yielded a treasure trove of relics illuminating Istanbul's rise as a world power.

January 26 - The New York Times

The Rise of the Megacity

Through the lens of Chengdu and Delhi, Paul Webster and Jason Burke explore how the rise of the megacity is changing the way we live.

January 26 - The Guardian

Single in America? You've Got Company

The percentage of adult Americans living by themselves has doubled since 1960, to its highest level ever, and businesses are taking note.

January 26 - Fortune

San Francisco Businesses Thrive Without Parking

The San Francisco neighborhood of Chinatown temporarily removed parking from Stockton Street for a week during the busy Lunar New Year season. Aaron Bialick reports on the results.

January 26 - Streetsblog San Francisco

Fracking Leads to Natural Gas Price Drops

Fracking technology led to a gas boom--now there's so much gas available, that prices have dropped along with demand.

January 26 - NPR

Abu Dhabi Forges Ahead With Plans to Create a Cultural World Capital

Abu Dhabi today reaffirmed its commitment to completing the long-delayed project to build a $27 billion cultural and tourism project known as Saadiyat Island.

January 25 - The New York Times

LA County Passes Healthy Design Ordinance

Yesterday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a new ordinance meant to better tie planning for the county's unincorporated areas to positive public health outcomes.

January 25 - Curbed LA

Ranking Housing Affordability in America

Nate Berg reports on information compiled in the <em>8th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey</em>, and asks to what extent the affordability of housing is tied to land use policies and how much is related to other factors.

January 25 - The Atlantic Cities

Parsing the State of the Union Address for Planners

Three pieces on last night's State of the Union address by President Obama focused largely on what wasn't said, than what was, concerning Energy, Infrastructure, and Urbanism.

January 25 - the transport politic

Is China the Answer to LA's Transportation Funding Woes?

With L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's 'America Fast Forward' plan to fund 30 years of transportation improvements in 10 years going nowhere fast in Congress, Joel Epstein asks if the Mayor might be lining up our country's creditor-in-chief.

January 25 - The Source

The Best States for Children

Nancy Folbre looks at a new study by the Foundation for Child Development featuring state-level differences in a broad set of quality-of-life indicators for children, and parses the results.

January 25 - The New York Times

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Top Books

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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.