The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Freight Rail Companies Put the Kibosh on Montreal Commuter Rail Electrification
Two of North America's largest railroads have prevented Montreal from electrifying the city's four commuter rail lines on tracks owned by freight rail. They claim that electrification would pose insurmountable structural problems for freight rail.
Private Transit: An Essential, but Unrecognized, Cog in Many Transportation Networks
All too often when we think of 'transportation,' especially transit, our thoughts are overtaken by visions of <em>public</em> transit. Yet, private transit also plays a key role.
The Strange Saga of the Salton Sea
From it's accidental creation due to an engineering oversight, its heyday in the 1950s as a resort area, to its decline and uncertain future, the unlikely story of the Salton Sea is an important chapter in the "Great American Water Wars".
One Year Later, Assessing Occupy Wall Street's Effect on Space
On the one-year anniversary of the beginning of Occupy Wall Street, Richard Sennett looks at the movement's legacy with regards to rethinking public space.
Detroit Continues to Suffer From Historic Divisions
Traditions must die hard in Detroit, where the region can't seem to shake its enduring geographic and racial divisions, reports Sarah Hulett.
LA: An "Ideal Transit City"?
Matthew Yglesias reports on how Los Angeles is embracing its natural advantages to become an "ideal transit city," matching its transit investments with improvements to the built environment.
New Car Share Service Demands Parking Privileges
With the possible entry of a fourth car sharing service into San Francisco, Daimler's Car2Go, the MTA must consider exemptions from the city's strict parking policies, specifically on-street parking in residential parking districts and metered zones.
Is L.A. TOD Purposely Pushing out Low-Income Residents and Local Businesses?
A protest last week through downtown Los Angeles was meant to raise awareness of local activists' concerns that Los Angeles County Metro is displacing working class people and small businesses as it develops land adjacent to its stations.
Can Urban Waterways Become the Next Great Public Spaces?
Cities across America have been revitalizing their waterfronts for decades with new parks and development replacing heavy industry. But, a new breed of advocates is going one step further, and pushing for a time when people can just jump right in.
Study Calls Into Question Walmart's Economic Development Bona Fides
A study just published in <em>Economic Development Quarterly</em> documents the geographical destruction on local businesses wrought by a new Walmart store, and raises questions about its long-term impact on sales tax revenues, reports Nate Berg.
Ahoy! On the Water, Exploring New York Anew
Providing a perspective not readily available from within the city's steep canyons of high-rises, an architectural tour of New York by boat, hosted by the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, offers a unique lesson on the city.
NextGen Air Traffic Control Encounters Turbulence
A $37 billion program to modernize America's air traffic control system, and "transform global aviation" is "way behind schedule and over budget," reports Ashley Halsey III.
America's Cultural Invasion of the Champs-Elysees
When the next iteration of the oldest military parade in the world celebrates the French Republic by marching down the Champs-Elysees, as it invariably does every Bastille Day, it will pass through what is increasingly becoming an American mall.
Is Poverty in America Rising or Falling?
New census data released last week made national headlines for its grim news on America's historically high levels of poverty. However, a new paper reads between the lines, and concludes that the country is making progress in reducing poverty.
Tide Recedes in Spain's Urban Migration
'Rurbanismo,' as it's called, describes the reversal of historic migration patterns now engulfing Spain, as a generations-old trend of rural-to-city movement has been reversed.
You Weigh Where You Live
A new study to be published in the fall issue of the Journal of Rural Health finds evidence that rural Americans are more likely to be overweight than their urban cohorts, reports Mary MacVean.
Bike Lanes or Bike-Share, Where Should Your City Invest?
Angie Schmitt reports on a recent study which found that bicycle infrastructure is a good predictor of ridership for bike-share programs.
Britain Seeks to Ease Land Use Regulations to Stimulate the Economy
According to Prime Minister David Cameron, planning regulations are the boogeyman holding back the UK's economy. Thus, in an effort to boost construction, Cameron is proposing to ease the country's rules on which projects require planning approvals.
Is San Francisco Doing Enough to Keep Out Chain Stores?
A city law enacted in 2006 was intended to protect San Francisco's independent stores from the spread of chain - or 'formula' - stores. Stacy Mitchell explains the gaps in the current law and the efforts of one city Supervisor to tighten it.
How Does Your City Stack Up...Sideways?
A project by French artist Armelle Caron looks at what happens when you take the patterns of blocks that make up a city's form and organize and stack them sideways. Robert Krulwich investigates what such an exercise reveals about a city.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
