The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Beneath Paris is an underground network of tunnels and quarries, long closed to the public. <em>National Geographic</em> takes a tour of this forbidden part of the city, where urban explorers keep tradition alive.

February 3 - National Geographic

The retail giant abandons its plans to build a "super-center" atop a Civil War battlefield in Virginia after facing strong resistance from a coalition of preservation organizations.

February 3 - The Washington Post

A recent international design competition sought innovative and attractive solutions for allowing wildlife to cross busy highways. The winning designs take various strategies to go over or under the traffic.

February 2 - The Globe and Mail

In Barcelona, Mario Ballesteros says that now is the time to change the perception of historic preservation from a staid, conservative activity to an active, contemporary approach.

February 2 - domus

While some cities have focused planning efforts on making their public spaces more accessible for the elderly, some argue that the age group they should be focusing on is kids.

February 2 - Good

Of all the environmental problems facing California, depletion of its groundwater may be the most important according to this piece.

February 2 - NRDC Switchboard

<em>Los Angeles Times</em> architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne begins a year-long series reading and reviewing 25 books all about L.A.

February 2 - Los Angeles Times

Struggling Rust Belt cities could be the smart move for retirees, according to this article.

February 2 - Reuters

This slideshow from <em>The New York Times</em> looks at a variety of examples of large-scale planning efforts that never materialized.

February 2 - The New York Times

With recent uprisings in Cairo and Tunis, we are reminded that the city has been the center of revolutionary action for hundreds of years, according to this piece from Edward L. Glaeser.

February 2 - The New York Times

A new proposal in Washington could help fund urban infrastructure by transferring development rights from rural areas to cities.

February 2 - Crosscut

Economic crises tend to manifest themselves in specific design trends, especially in the field of architecture. This latest recession has spurred the age of Do-It-Yourself architecture and urbanism.

February 1 - Places

Entertainment Giant AEG appears to have partnered with Farmers Insurance for naming rights to the proposed stadium in Downtown L.A.

February 1 - Bloomberg

Two Virginia-based burger chains are interested in opening locations in Downtown Portland, but are facing opposition from city residents and officials.

February 1 - The Portland Press Herald

Conservative political and media rhetoric aimed at "fat cat" public employees scapegoats middle-class workers for the economic crisis and threatens to undermine public welfare at all levels, write Max Fraad Wolff and Richard D. Wolff.

February 1 - Truthout

Artists tend to flock to big cities where their art can be bought and appreciated, but economic hard times are sending artists fleeing towards cheaper rents on homes and studio space.

February 1 - Utne Reader

What makes effective transit-oriented development? Transportation planner Alan Huynh makes a good argument for the proximity to a cup of coffee as a defining characteristic of quality TOD.

February 1 - The Alan Note

If a San Mateo County agency has its way, congestion pricing will be applied to two toll bridges to create additional revenue and reduce congestion as was done successfully on the S.F./Oakland Bay Bridge last July - but there are major differences.

February 1 - San Mateo County Times via Mercury News

That's what Richard Reep proposes in this article looking at reuse options for vacant retail properties from strip malls to megamalls.

February 1 - New Geography

William D. Eggers says the government is giving up the costly infrastructure investments in favor of cloud computing, and the Feds are leading the way.

February 1 - Governing Magazine