The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
The Importance of Delight
On top of all of the planning factors that make a place great, David Roberts adds the element of delight.
Turning to the Crowd for Ideas
Alexandra Lange highlights a crowd-sourced urban design that actually worked.
Raleigh Developer Thinks PRT is "Fun"
Developer John Kane of Raleigh, North Carolina rode the personal rapid transit (PRT) system at Heathrow, and decided it would be a perfect fit for Raleigh's North Hills area.
Explaining Induced Traffic
Eric Jaffe at The Infrastructurist explains the non-intuitive reason why often removing freeways means less traffic.
The 100 Best Cities for Doing Business
Area Development Online looks for the most desirable locations to locate a business, and finds that smaller cities are outperforming larger ones. Austin, Texas was the indisputable winner.
Bicycles as an African Way of Life
Rural Africa is learning to embrace bicycles as a means of transportation.
Bloomberg Credits High Line with $2b in Development
New York's High Line park isn't just a nice place for a stroll. Mayor Bloomberg credits the line with creating over 12,000 new jobs and $2 billion in private development.
Is the U.S. Green Building Council Too Powerful?
Architect Michael Liu asks, "Is it appropriate for a private fee-generating nongovernmental organization to assume what amounts to a regulatory role in the building industry?"
Rebuilding an Atlanta Park
The National Recreation and Parks Association is on a mission to fix up neglected parks around the country. Atlanta and D.C. are the first to benefit from their new program, "Parks Build Community."
FEATURE
Livability Trumps Architecture at CNU19
At the 19th Congress for the New Urbanism, Planetizen's Tim Halbur finds a vibrant, active community of urban thinkers more interested in improving livability than in architectural principles.
Could Detroit Rise Again?
Detroit has become our most notorious story of urban collapse. But reporter Matthew Power suggests that we consider the city's official motto: "It shall rise from the ashes."
The Best Cities for Making a Living
U.S. News and World Report recently evaluated the cities where real income (what your paycheck can buy, considering the cost of living) is the highest. Des Moines, Iowa takes the top slot.
Rebuilding Tsunami-Wrecked Japan As Smart Towns
Panasonic and a group of companies are planning on building a new demonstration "smart town" in Kanagawa Prefecture on a site the tsunami destroyed.
Sustainable Skyscrapers
Fast Company lines up the greenest skyscrapers in the world, from the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China to London's famous Gherkin.
Streamlining the Process on Public Projects
The L.A. County Department of Public Works was in a constant battle with its contractors, until they moved from the standard "design, bid, construct" to a "design-build" model.
The Social Life of Dallas City Hall Plaza
Filmmaker Aaron Garcia uses narration from William H. Whyte's classic <em>The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces</em> to highlight the failings of the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall Plaza.
The History Of the Push for Interstate Highways
"The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways" by journalist Earl Swift examines the movement to build interstate highways well before Pres. Eisenhower's landmark legislation.
Long Commute Takes a Toll on Relationships
Latest study by a Swedish university shows that couples whose commute time exceeds 45 minutes are 40% more likely to experience marital problems.
Jerry Brown: Planning By Wandering Around
The California governor made an unscheduled appearance in front of the state's Strategic Growth Council -- unstaffed -- to find out what they're up to.
Where Have All The Children Gone?
Decreasing fertility rates of non-Hispanic whites and black women, plus the tendency of families with children to cluster, have caused declines in the '18 and under' population share in 95% of U.S. counties.
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.
