The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Architect David Heymann says that a lot of architects claim to use the specifics of a site's natural features to inspire their design, but most end up with designs that are aggressive to the landscape - and to people.

November 30 - Design Observer

Landowners with fewer apartments units are starting to use software similar for pricing airline tickets and hotel vacancies to determine rental rates for their properties, reports Matt Hudgins for The New York Times.

November 30 - The New York Times

North Bethesda's White Flint Mall is your standard 850,000 sq. ft. mall surrounded by parking structures. The developer has announced it will be replacing the whole thing with a 5 million sq. ft. collection of apartments, offices and shops.

November 30 - The Gazette (Maryland)

Florida's five largest cities ended up in the top 20 of Men's Health list of saddest cities in the U.S. St. Petersberg took the top spot as saddest city.

November 30 - Mens Health

It's 1900 all over again - more Californians are born here than come from other states or countries. The recession and high housing costs have continued the outflow from the state meaning that growth is dependent largely on offspring of immigrants.

November 30 - Los Angeles Times

In the summer of 2010, London launched a new program that had established bright blue bike lanes known as 'Cycle Superhighways' alongside main roads. These initiatives are intended to provide the quickest routes into the city centre.

November 30 - This Big City

BLOG POST

<p> After reading <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-rta-surveys-riders-20111129,0,908396.story">this story</a> about a transit agency surveying their customers, I thought to myself: do riders really want another survey asking whether they are satisfied or how clean the stations are?  Although clean stations are certainly better than unclean stations, I suspect that these are not transit riders&#39; major priorities.  (And when I say &quot;transit riders&quot; I really of course mean &quot;myself&quot;). </p>

November 30 - Michael Lewyn

In urban street design, a new movement known as 'shared spaces' has been emerging. This new movement "aims to reduce the dominance of cars by getting people and vehicles to share the road space," according to Walkonomics.

November 30 - This Big City

In Chicago, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) is willing to spend $500,000 to survey their riders to see how the public feels about the bus and train services.

November 30 - Chicago Tribune

Pending government approval, state housing department plans to grant all slum-dwelling families in Mumbai houses may become reality. The houses are free for families settled prior to 1995.

November 30 - The Times Of India

This blog post showcases the "backhouses" in and around Greenwich Village. The small residential structures behind other buildings can range from carriage houses for elegant rowhouses to those of tenements.

November 30 - Off the Grid

In San Francisco, almost one out of every six acres is slated to become parkland in the new urban infill projects in Mission Bay.

November 29 - City Parks Blog

According to Yonah Freemark, the FTA announced that with a "New Starts grant," the 9.4-mile bus rapid transit line that has been under consideration since the late 90's, has finally secured funds to complete the project.

November 29 - the transport politic

Sri Lanka, an island nation of 20 million people, has just completed its first express highway, which, as Toll Roads News is quick to point out, is financed through a toll system.

November 29 - TOLLROADSnews

Critic Blair Kamin speaks out against Mayor Emmanuel's decision to allow advertising on Chicago's iconic bridges to make up a budget shortfall. Kamin calls the move "the uglification of the City Beautiful."

November 29 - The Chicago Tribune

The Catholic Church and other religious groups are facing hard times, with more churches to maintain than their dwindling numbers can support. But when they are clearly landmarks, should churches be allowed to sell off their building stock?

November 29 - The Atlantic Cities

Officials in recession-battered Michigan increasingly see placemaking as an important economic recovery strategy. The Michigan Municipal League, a coalition of local governments, is leading efforts to make the state's cities talent magnets.

November 29 - Streetsblog Capitol Hill

BLOG POST

<p style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0in 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">Go ahead, define sustainability.<span>  </span>Everyone knows countless, tangled and unconvincing definitions for this word which is quickly losing steam.<span>  </span>The problem is that we’re not sure about how sustainability relates to us except in planetary ways. We’re bombarded with many concepts that if we reduce this by 20% <span> </span>then we’ll get that in 30 years which helps the earth survive. All’s well, except we’re almost numb because we won’t feel the aggregate effects for quite some time. Obviously, we’re an impatient lot.<span>  </span></span></span> </p>

November 29 - Rick Abelson

Parkour, a sort of sport that uses urban spaces as a series of obstacles to spring over and around, is a growing trend in South Florida. But local officials are concerned about the liability issues of careening "traceurs" in public parks and plazas.

November 29 - South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler are behind a new experiment using robots for construction. The robots will fly bricks up into the air and assemble them as programmed into a tall tower.

November 29 - Architizer