The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Britons Move Towards A New Era of "Civilized Street Design"
Designers and "movement specialists" in Great Britain are pioneering various street designs that aim to bring traffic speeds down to teens, which they claim is the speed range that allows vehicles to safely share a space with pedestrians.
A Giant of a Book on Urban Design
Ben Brown reviews Dhiru Thadani's new book, The Language of Towns and Cities. Weighing in at 800 pages, this encyclopedic urban design dictionary defines planning terms with extensive graphics.
Can Web-Aggregated Data Improve Society?
In an experiment in social data gathering, Slate's Michael Agger suggests that there is a host of ways we could be contributing our personal data to help make better policy decisions.
Urban Agriculture Craze Boon to Farmers in Japan
Japan's yard-less city dwellers are increasingly drawn to "weekend farming" plots rented from commercial farmers on the urban fringe. Could it help the country's struggling agriculture sector? Kenji Hall reports.
FEATURE
Walkable Cities, Walkable Neighborhoods
New neighborhood-level data from the walkability rating website Walk Score has broadened the view of what it means to live in a walkable city.
'Aerotropolis' Takes Off in Michigan
Officials hope to attract shipping and transportation companies to a new 60,000 acre development near the Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports.
More Failed Rail in New Zealand?
Owen McShane argues the newly consolidated Auckland Region government is turning to rail transit initiatives without any evidence that such projects actually work.
Smaller Homes Coming to Smaller Towns
The small town of Tofino, British Columbia is looking to the Vancouver model of "micro homes" and laneway housing to increase its stock of affordable housing.
It's A Real Town After All
Last week saw the first murder ever in the Disney-developed (and much scrutinized) town of Celebration, Florida. Will this mean the 14-year old town of 11,000 has finally shaken off its idealized persona?
Revenue-Hungry Cities Look to PILOTs
Budget-constrained cities are increasingly looking at PILOTs -- payments in lieu of taxes that some tax-exempt nonprofit organizations contribute to cities.
India's Cities Begin To Collapse Under The Strain Of Migrants
After decades of being a nation of rural dwellers, Indians are rapidly moving into cities in search of better jobs, but the housing infrastructure is not keeping pace.
Indonesians Create a Replica Of Singapore To Escape Congestion
Indonesia cities are the product of sparse planning, floods, overdevelopment, brownouts and epic traffic jams magnified by the dearth of public transit. In response, private planned cities like CitraLand's Singapore of Surabaya are growing rapidly.
Portland's Latest Plaza
Linda Baker reviews the new Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Oregon, which she says "resembles an elegant Italian piazza."
AEG Making Downtown L.A. NFL Stadium Pitch
Having brought the Staples Center, L.A. Live, and a convention center hotel complex to the South Park neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, Tim Leiweke, is now pitching an NFL stadium that will double as an addendum to the convention center.
Cities Preparing for Lower Revenues
As recession-reduced property tax levels begin to play out in cities across the U.S., municipalities are beginning to react to the realities of lowered revenues.
Do Architects Have A Napoleon Complex?
I.M. Pei, Robert A.M. Stern, Daniel Libeskind, Louis Kahn, Frank Gehry - all of these architects were height-challenged. Witold Rybczynski writes in Slate about why great architects are usually short and what that means for the built environment.
Top 10 Architecture Books of 2010
Norman Weinstein of The Architectural Record selects his favorite architecture books of the year, which range from a coming-of-age memoir to a treatise on Turkish art and architecture.
Local Digital Media Outlets Galvanize Neighborhoods
Washington's panoply of hyperlocal news media is filling the holes left by tradition outlets as web 2.0 expands. Since many of the local newspapers have folded, bloggers and other digital media have grown to cover matters at the local level.
Debate Rages Over Urban Chickens
As reporter Carrie Wells writes, "Who knew chickens could create so much controversy?" The Sarasota Planning Board is considering legalizing backyard chickens, and residents on both sides are up in arms.
China's Cities Growing Beyond the Second Tier
The urbanization of China and the growth of new labor-rich cities is only just beginning, according to this piece from Dan Steinbock.
City of Clovis
City of Moorpark
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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.
