The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

While carpooling dropped 30% on the Bay Bridge after the first-time carpool charges were applied July 1, the Golden Gate Bridge reported a 68% drop, though it may be tied to confusion over which lane carpoolers should use with Fastrak requirement.

August 2 - Marin Independent Journal

Tom Vanderbilt explains adroitly "how not having a car became Hollywood shorthand for loser." Why does the film industry have such contempt for the carless?

August 2 - Slate

Retail Traffic Magazine reports that the indoor mall, long declared dead, has weathered the storm of the recession better than expected -- and better than many retail concepts imagined as the next big thing.

August 2 - Retail Traffic Magazine

With 420km of network, Shanghai's metro overtook the London Underground, which has a total of 402km. But the rate of expansion is more impressive: the first line was constructed in only 1995 and it is still expanding.

August 2 - Bricoleurbanism

A neighborhood in Corvallis, Oregon, is the pilot site of a neighborhood-wide "carbon challenge" in which residents try to reduce their carbon footprint.

August 1 - Corvallis Gazette-Times

A new project has created a digital map of Kibera, a large slum outside Nairobi, Kenya.

August 1 - Design Observer

The city has hundreds of houseboats on its waterways, but new shoreline regulations could prohibit any new houseboats.

August 1 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

That's the name of the new project being built in the Beijing Watercube, one of the city's highlight architectural creations built for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

August 1 - Contract

Despite what either of the state's two Republican gubernatorial candidates want, high speed rail is on its way to Wisconsin, according to DOT Secretary Ray LaHood.

August 1 - BizTimes

San Francisco has begun a two-year test of variably-priced parking meters in an effort to see how pricing affects driving and parking decisions in parts of the city.

July 31 - San Francisco Chronicle

A new study shows that the amount of urban development in New Jersey now outnumbers the state's forest acreage.

July 31 - New Jersey Star-Ledger

Real estate investment is expected to rise sharply in the greater Cairo region. Some fear this will bring about American-style suburban sprawl.

July 31 - Global Real Estate Monitor

A popular seafood shack in small-town Maine is causing huge traffic problems. Officials are considering a $100 million solution.

July 31 - The New York Times

"When counties had lots of money, they paved a lot of the roads and tried to make life easier for the people who lived out here," said Stutsman County Highway Superintendent Mike Zimmerman, "Now, it's catching up to them."

July 31 - Wall Street Journal

The House of Representatives voted on the 2011 appropriations bill for Transportation and Housing and Urban Development yesterday, stripping $200 million from liveability initiatives that the Obama administration wanted.

July 30 - Streetsblog

Diana Powers reports that the cost of solar photovoltaic panels has declined "to the point where they are lower than the rising projected costs of new nuclear plants, according to a paper published this month."

July 30 - New York Times

The Chicago Tribune interviews Josh Squire, the entrepreneur responsible for Chicago's bike sharing pilot program.

July 30 - Chicago Tribune

Taft, California was built on oil money, and saw its famous unstoppable oil gusher (still the largest spill in American history) as a boon rather than a disaster. Locals worry this year's centennial celebration may be overshadowed by the BP spill.

July 30 - The Wall St. Journal

Culver City, California has put together a map illustrating the locations of all the public art pieces around the town, including Joshua Callaghan's "Almost Invisible Boxes" - utility boxes painted to disappear into the scenery.

July 30 - LAist

July 1 marked the $2 premium, commuter toll on the Bay Bridge, as well as new first-time charges for car pools on all Bay Bridges, and increased tolls ($5) on seven state-owned bridges. Congestion on Bay Bridge reduced by half during morning peak.

July 30 - ABC News via KGO-TV