The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Celebrating the Mid-Rise Building
Builder Magazine thinks its time to give the mid-rise (4-6 stories) building its due.
HBO's 'Treme' as a Pro-Urban Argument
In this interview, Treme creator David Simon discusses what motivated team that produced "The Wire" to turn their attention from Baltimore to New Orleans.
How Far Will People Walk?
Planners have embraced "1/4th of a mile" as the official distance that people are willing to walk to take transit. But why is that the measure, and is it accurate?
Taking a Hike in Jane Jacobs' Hometown of Scranton
Community leaders hope to raise awareness and the profile of a beloved city daughter.
NJ Gov. Christie on the Hook for $271 Million
New Jersey owes the Feds $271 million for canceling the infamous, $9 billion Hudson River rail tunnel. The state was ordered to pay up in not-so-subtle terms by DOT Secretary LaHood.
Aerial Photos Show Chicago's Growth
Lawrence Okrent is a Chicago planning and zoning consultant and also a photographer. Recreating a series of aerial photographs from 1985, he shows the remarkable growth of the city over the last 15 years.
New Tools for Broke Cities
Howard Blackson looks at new tools for fixing cities, including form-based codes, plans for complexities (neighborhoods, urban patterns, architecture), classification of character, and funding systems.
Friday Funny: Sustainable Energy Solutions are Key
Theodore Tremelstam argues that the United States desperately needs to develop alternate sources of fuel, awakening his buddy Bill at 3 o'clock in the morning in this Point/Counterpoint.
The Fastest-Growing City in the U.S.
Would you believe its Olive Branch, Mississippi? Since 1990, the Memphis suburb has grown an astonishing 838 percent.
San Diego Folds Planning Department into Development Department
To save $1 million a year, the mayor is folding the Planning Department into the department in charge of processing building permits.
Abandoned Power Plants, Amusement Parks, and More
Device Magazine features photos of places with deserted technology like the former Soviet nuclear submarine base in Balaklava, Ukraine and a ship graveyard in Lisbon, Portugal.
Crowdsourcing Street Trees
A new online tool uses the power of crowdsourcing to "map, inventory, and preserve the Philadelphia urban forest."
How Vacating Seniors Will Crash the Housing Market
The great senior sell-off, rising household sizes, dropping homeownership, tighter lending standards, and other reasons why the next decade will be a disaster for homebuilders, writes Robert Steuteville.
Developer: I've Walked Away From Projects Because of Parking Minimums
Why is it so hard to build in New York City? Why are rents so expensive? It's partly because parking requirement are so onerous that developers are doing everything they can to avoid them, writes Noah Kazis.
Redesigning a Car Museum to Be Less Car-Like
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles was built into a 1960s department store, and in the 90s the facade was fashioned to look like the grill of a vintage car. With new funds in hand, the museum wants something more "attention-grabbing".
Immigration and Economic Competitiveness
Immigrant populations can be valuable assets to communities. This post from <em>The Atlantic</em> looks at how different countries' openness to immigrants benefits their economic development.
Infrastructure Lags as Brazil Prepares to Host 2014 World Cup
Infrastructure projects are lagging in Brazil, which is causing some to worry that the country won't be ready to host the 2014 World Cup.
"You Can Call It Sprawl, Or You Can Call it Quality of Life"
That's Billy Burge of the Grand Parkway Association, referring to a plan in Houston, Texas to expand the city out into greenfields on the outskirts of the city.
A New Way to Listen to Cities
A new website offers a compelling way to understand cities through sound. It combines audio feeds from city police radios with ambient music.
Why Were Census Estimates So Different From The Census?
Why did the Census estimate Atlanta's population as 541,000 in 2009 and count only 420,000 people in 2010?
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.
