The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The Wall Street Journal profiles New York City Planning Director Amanda Burden, focusing on the populist projects her department has been successful in building in recent years.

June 29 - The Wall Street Journal

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) claims that Obama's economic stimulus bill helped contain the number of homeless people in 2009 and 2010.

June 29 - CQ Roll Call

Imported from Europe, parklets transform parking spaces into inviting public spaces. They are flourishing in San Francisco, and are poised to invade other cities across the country.

June 29 - California Planning & Development Report

The Los Angeles Times calls the Leipert-Pasker residence "the greenest house in L.A." In fact, the only thing that isn't green about this three-story home is its color.

June 29 - The Los Angeles Times

In Widou, an area in the Ferlo region of northern Senegal, the people are working to plant 390,000 trees before the end of July as a part of a multi-state program to decrease desertification.

June 29 - Worldcrunch

Todd Reisz reviews "Living in the Endless City," a collection edited by Ricky Burdett, which looks at urban issues in Sao Paulo, Mumbai and Istanbul.

June 29 - The Huffington Post

He's the most powerful congressman on transportation issues: none other than Florida's John Mica, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mica is backing the 61-mile, $1.2 billion Orlando Sunrail Line.

June 29 - The New York Times - Politics

With the cost of maintaining highways growing exponentially, Peter Samuel of TollRoadsNews comments on the real possibilities for using tolls to fund highway projects.

June 29 - TOLLROADSnews

South Korea's law mandates developers to commission public art as 1% of the total cost of a proposed project. What the law does not specify is the level of taste that comes with it.

June 29 - The Los Angeles Times

The Economist is fascinated by China's experiments in public-private financing in which the government gives land to private transit developers in exchange for greater mobility.

June 29 - The Economist

By focusing on reducing water use to levels that could be served by its two water sources, the city of El Paso, Texas, has been able to quench its thirst without running dry.

June 28 - Guardian

<em>National Geographic Traveler</em> talks with urban theorist Richard Florida about the changing roles of cities, and the emerging centers of economic prosperity.

June 28 - National Geographic Traveler

In preparing a bid to host the 2020 Olympics, Tokyo is planning to include areas that were ravaged by the recent tsunami and earthquake.

June 28 - Daily Mail

More than 40 ping pong tables will be placed in public spaces throughout the English city of Hull this summer. It's part of a nationwide effort to get more people to exercise.

June 28 - Yorkshire Post

New York's new big plans are actually quite small, according to this architectural review from <em>The Guardian</em>.

June 28 - Guardian

Plans to build a parking garage below an old plaza in Seville, Spain, revealed underground roman ruins. So the city built a new structure to hover over the site and to emphasize the area's historic amenities.

June 28 - Metropolis

In Stockholm, Sweden, planners are moving ahead with a broad central city redevelopment plan that seeks to continue the city's trend of reducing car traffic and congestion, and making it easier for bikers, walkers and transit takers to get around.

June 28 - Citiwire

Crowd-funded plans to build a statue of the movie character RoboCop are moving ahead in Detroit, and the project is redefining public participation in civic ventures.

June 28 - domus

In this piece from <em>Places</em>, Deborah Gans offers a firsthand look at planning for recovery in the city's neglected East side.

June 28 - Places

Officials in Malaysia and Singapore have high hopes for the high speed rail link planned between the two countries.

June 28 - The Star