The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A new book looks at the trend in architecture away from clean surfaces and into formal, repeating patterns.

October 22 - ArchNewsNow

"Betaville" is a virtual New York where users can experiment with the built environment and how new buildings will look in the cityscape.

October 22 - DNAInfo

Two industrial design students at Lund University noticed that despite a new law requiring bike helmets in Sweden, many people refused to wear them. They've invented a stylish cowl that inflates on impact just like an airbag.

October 22 - Core77

Prompted by Google's latest invention, the car that drives itself, the NYT sought four different perspectives on how to approach the onslaught of aging baby boomers behind the wheel: An M.I.T. scientist, Rand economist, Yale doctor, and AARP VP.

October 22 - The New York Times - Opinion - Room For Debate

A conversation series from the National Trust for Historic Preservation asks what it would take for people to ditch their cars and rely solely on walking, cycling and public transportation.

October 22 - Glass House Conversations

Cities around the world are eager to launch bike share programs, but many are deterred by high start-up costs. A new system may offer a cheaper alternative.

October 22 - Next American City

A bill working its way through congress seeks to institute more "livable communities" in America. But with few mandates, it's unclear what the bill would actually do.

October 22 - Metropolis

The atmosphere has latent architectural possibilities, writes Javier Arbona in this intriguing essay on the potential of air and atmosphere in urban design and architecture.

October 22 - Places

There seems to be a lot of rhetoric pitting suburbs and cities against each other in some sort of ideological war. But, as this piece from <em>Grist</em> asks, is that war even real?

October 22 - Grist

BLOG POST

I write this blog from the concrete cradle of Nokia Plaza, an urban space so wondrous that the global arm of the Urban Land Institute has bestowed upon it one of five “<a href="http://www.uli.org/sitecore/content/ULI2Home/News/PressReleases/2010%20archives/Content/GlobalAwards2010.aspx" target="_blank">2010 Global Awards for Excellence</a>.&quot; In winning such a distinguished award, you’d think that developer AEG would have invited the Laker Girls and be pouring Champagne for an ebullient crowd here in one of the world’s great public spaces. Except they’re not. In fact, I’m pretty much alone. <p class="MsoNormal">I don’t suppose the pigeons are carrying Cristal underwing? </p>

October 21 - Josh Stephens

New York has a filthy history, says Robin Nagle, the New York City Department of Sanitation's anthropologist-in-residence. The muck of early Manhattan was much worse than you even suspected.

October 21 - OnEarth

Officials in the Pacific Northwest are calling for a high speed rail line that connects British Columbia with California.

October 21 - CBC

For more than 40 years, the city of Philadelphia has had its sights set on transforming the Delaware Riverfront, but few plans have taken hold and little transformation has actually occurred. A new master plan could finally make it happen.

October 21 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Kathmandu, Manila, Dhaka, Mumbai and Jakarta are among the cities most prone to natural disasters, says The Guardian.

October 21 - Guardian

The second round of Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) funds were announced Oct. 20. Awards amounting to $600 million will go to 75 projects, including three highway teardowns.

October 21 - Grist

The latest issue of <em>Nature</em> looks at the implications of an increasingly urban world on the field of science, and the field's impact on cities.

October 21 - Nature

Feasibility studies underway in Abu Dhabi predict that a new light rail tram network could be operational by 2014.

October 21 - Arabian Business

<em>Architect Magazine</em> talks with Toni Griffin, the urban planner who's leading the effort to rewrite Detroit's comprehensive plan to help the city through troubled times.

October 21 - Architect Magazine

In a complaint on behalf of 'consumers, taxpayers, building design and construction professionals,' Henry Gifford alleges the USGBC has falsely claimed its ratings system leads to energy savings.

October 21 - Environmental Leader

75 years after the first meter was installed in Oklahoma City, cities are beginning to rethink traditional parking regulation strategies. Tom Vanderbilt considers the options.

October 21 - Slate