The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies has issued a report questioning ridership projections on the $43+ billion, 800 mile, voter-approved California High Speed Rail project. Cambridge Systematics defends their numbers.

July 5 - San Francisco Chronicle

Two little girls were attacked by coyotes in Rye, New York in the last 8 days, causing concern, bafflement and a full-scale panic in the suburban town.

July 5 - The New York Times

FEATURE

Officials in Santa Fe have announced plans to demolish an amphitheater designed by architect Paolo Soleri, the visionary behind the as-yet-unfinished Arcosanti project. David Licata says it deserves to be saved.

July 5 - David Licata

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small"><span style="color: black"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Planners are quick to criticize roads and highway investments for the vast sums spent to build, operate and maintain them, often questioning the value of these subsidies. Recently, on a planning list-serve, these subsidies were labeled an “external cost” of automobiles, but they are not.

July 4 - Samuel Staley

Joel Kotkin reports that the from Dallas to Des Moines and Bismark, the urban areas of the Great Plains states has seen steady growth thanks to energy, agriculture and high-tech jobs.

July 4 - New Geography

British officials are looking to help their efforts to curb carbon emissions by capping growth on airport runways that they say encourage "binge flying".

July 4 - The New York Times

Architects Anu Mathur and Dilip da Cunha say that activism drives their work: "Rather than waiting for a commissioned project, we ask the first question, frame the issue and propose possibilities," say the two in an interview with PLACES.

July 4 - Places

Arlington, TX Mayor Robert Chuck is also a physician, acutely aware of the effects of ozone air pollution in his city. In this Q & A with Grist's Jonathan Hiskes, he describes ozone's causes and effects and his role as mayor.

July 4 - Daily Grist

Around 100 people turned out in Beverly Hills to protest a planned subway connecting the famous 90210 to downtown. While most people said they liked the idea of the subway, protesters worried about the safety of burrowing tunnels under their homes.

July 4 - LAist

The City of Baltimore has appointed a new "food czar" to look at food health and access issues in the city. In the broader senses, though, officials in the city look at this new position as a part of their sustainability planning.

July 3 - Good

A Portland study shows that bicyclists feel 50% safer when biking in a solid blue bike lane rather than just the classic dotted line. Could color make that much of a difference?

July 3 - Treehugger

BLOG POST

<p style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><span>Earlier blogs have explored books and journals for finding out about the basics of planning <a href="/node/43730" target="_blank">history</a>. In this blog I add to this by listing a just </span>few of the places it is important to recognize as a planner. It is of course difficult to make such lists but students ask for them with some frequency. Of course, places are one thing and planning processes quite another--and in planning process is very important. Upcoming blogs will deal with plans and processes.</span></span>  </p>

July 3 - Ann Forsyth

New figures from the National Association of Realtors show that the number of new homes being built and the number of homes being sold were both down during May.

July 3 - The New York Times

A white box labeled "Unlimited Urban Woods" stands in the plaza of a modern office building in Amsterdam. Step inside, and an endless vista of trees stretches out before you.

July 3 - WebEcoist

Executive director of the SF Bike Coalition, Leah Shahum on sabbatical in Europe, reports on a bicycle conference that she attended in Copenhagen as well as her impressions of bicycle culture in the Denmark capital in her first Streetsblog dispatch.

July 3 - SF Streetsblog

This video shows a slide installed on a staircase leading down to a subway station in Berlin, making it quick an easy to catch the train on time.

July 2 - Chicago Now

Planners in Milwaukee have announced a slate of plaza and public space improvement projects that they hope will help catalyze urban regeneration in the city.

July 2 - Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Cleveland, Ohio has pursued an aggressive policy of greening it vacant and underused land. A program called Garden Boyz employs local youth to tend the gardens, keeping the landscape vital and keeping the kids out of gangs.

July 2 - Next American City

The idea of separated bicycle lanes is growing in popularity. Tom Vanderbilt at Slate looks at the increase in investment and attention to making room for bicycles and increasing safety so more people will ride.

July 2 - Slate

With Harvard's plan to build a Renzo Piano-designed art museum rejected, the university took a new tack and built student housing, a park and an underground parking garage -- a "satisfying outcome", says Anthony Flint.

July 2 - The Boston Globe