The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Political Skirmish Over Redevelopment Agencies in Indiana
Indiana State Sen. Luke Kenley thinks the state's redevelopment agencies have too much freedom to approve spending on large projects and has proposed a bill to curb their power, but the state House has refused to hear the bill.
LEED for Healthcare Debuts
U.S. Green Building Council has launched another refinement of its certification system aimed specifically at green building for healthcare.
What is New Urbanism Anyway?
Andres Duany, the most vocal of New Urbanist, says that the critiques of the "ism" he helped create brand it as a "rustic version of starchitect culture" when it is in actuality an "expanding web of ideas, techniques, projects, and people."
Saving Detroit One Playground at a Time
A group calling itself the "Detroit Mower Gang" has gone rogue on the city's poorly maintained playgrounds, attacking them with weed wackers and riding mowers to get them back into shape for the city's kids.
More Transit, Please
The Atlanta Regional Commission has delivered a massive wish list of 436 transit and transportation projects to be funded by a new sales tax increase. Ariel Hart reports that the proposal indicates that the region is clamoring for mass transit.
The Transcendent Urbanism of Japan
Architect Vishaan Chakrabarti writes that Japan's urbanism should serve as a model to the rest of the world for its density and the "urbane society" it creates.
The Smart-Growth Governor
Former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening says that in some ways the economic downturn in the U.S. has been a good thing because it gave the state a chance to reevaluate development patterns.
The Federal Role in Supporting Urban Manufacturing
Revitalizing American manufacturing is widely-acknowledged as vital to our country’s economic recovery and long-term prosperity, but it is equally essential to understand the changing of this sector in order to make smart policy decisions.
Green Doesn't Mean Bird-Friendly
The FBI's Chicago offices are LEED certified, but the 10-story building is also a killer: at least 10 birds a day careen into its windows. A conservation group helped the Feds get bird-friendly.
Breathing Better In NY's Pedestrian Plazas
Manhattan's pedestrian plaza's are associated with increasing vitality, reducing congestion, and now this new study shows, improving air quality be reducing concentrations of nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
D.C. Tops in Green Building
Washington D.C. has built the most "green" buildings within its greater region, according to a new survey.
Pursuing New Development Ideas
As funding falters in the private sector, some privately- or university-driven design centers are still pursuing new ideas is urban design and development. <em>Places</em> profiles one at the University of Arkansas.
A Little-Known Benchmark of Planning Law
The case of Buchanan v. Warley, decided in 1916, set an important precedent: it forbade zoning restrictions based on race.
BLOG POST
The Trouble With Monuments to the Living
Living public figures, whether they be Lockyer, Haggarty, Sarah Palin, or Mummar Gaddafi generate their own fanfare. They do not need a building, an airport, or a trail to speak for them.
Parks Vs. Density
In Toronto, a developer is balking at the zoning that would force him to build a podium-style building out to the sidewalk, and wants to build a park with a tower instead. Can open space and density coexist?
China Imports Bad American Planning
Urbanist Aurash Khawarzad writes that Chinese cities are unfortunately making America's mistake of bringing their freeways directly into and through their urban centers.
The Potential for Rail Station Overlay Districts
A House bill in Maryland that would have created overlay districts around train stations failed to pass, but N.J. Slabbert writes that the ideas were solid and should find new life in a different form.
It's Spring, and the People Are in Bloom
Kaid Benfield gets philosophical about the turn of the seasons, writing that it's "not just nature that renews itself", but the city floods with people that had been hiding inside through the inclement weather.
Soviet Monorail to the Future
The blog of Pavel Popelskii highlights illustrations from a time when Russia was looking towards a bright, space-age future, with nuclear-powered dirigibles and "super mega jet air cushion trains".
The Pursuit of Form
Jan Gehl talks about the problematic history of architecture, landscape architecture and yes, planning, when it comes to building cities for people rather than celebrating form for its own sake.
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.
