The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Can Web-Aggregated Data Improve Society?
In an experiment in social data gathering, Slate's Michael Agger suggests that there is a host of ways we could be contributing our personal data to help make better policy decisions.
FEATURE
Walkable Cities, Walkable Neighborhoods
New neighborhood-level data from the walkability rating website Walk Score has broadened the view of what it means to live in a walkable city.
Urban Agriculture Craze Boon to Farmers in Japan
Japan's yard-less city dwellers are increasingly drawn to "weekend farming" plots rented from commercial farmers on the urban fringe. Could it help the country's struggling agriculture sector? Kenji Hall reports.
'Aerotropolis' Takes Off in Michigan
Officials hope to attract shipping and transportation companies to a new 60,000 acre development near the Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports.
More Failed Rail in New Zealand?
Owen McShane argues the newly consolidated Auckland Region government is turning to rail transit initiatives without any evidence that such projects actually work.
Smaller Homes Coming to Smaller Towns
The small town of Tofino, British Columbia is looking to the Vancouver model of "micro homes" and laneway housing to increase its stock of affordable housing.
It's A Real Town After All
Last week saw the first murder ever in the Disney-developed (and much scrutinized) town of Celebration, Florida. Will this mean the 14-year old town of 11,000 has finally shaken off its idealized persona?
Revenue-Hungry Cities Look to PILOTs
Budget-constrained cities are increasingly looking at PILOTs -- payments in lieu of taxes that some tax-exempt nonprofit organizations contribute to cities.
India's Cities Begin To Collapse Under The Strain Of Migrants
After decades of being a nation of rural dwellers, Indians are rapidly moving into cities in search of better jobs, but the housing infrastructure is not keeping pace.
Indonesians Create a Replica Of Singapore To Escape Congestion
Indonesia cities are the product of sparse planning, floods, overdevelopment, brownouts and epic traffic jams magnified by the dearth of public transit. In response, private planned cities like CitraLand's Singapore of Surabaya are growing rapidly.
Portland's Latest Plaza
Linda Baker reviews the new Simon and Helen Director Park in Portland, Oregon, which she says "resembles an elegant Italian piazza."
AEG Making Downtown L.A. NFL Stadium Pitch
Having brought the Staples Center, L.A. Live, and a convention center hotel complex to the South Park neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, Tim Leiweke, is now pitching an NFL stadium that will double as an addendum to the convention center.
Cities Preparing for Lower Revenues
As recession-reduced property tax levels begin to play out in cities across the U.S., municipalities are beginning to react to the realities of lowered revenues.
Do Architects Have A Napoleon Complex?
I.M. Pei, Robert A.M. Stern, Daniel Libeskind, Louis Kahn, Frank Gehry - all of these architects were height-challenged. Witold Rybczynski writes in Slate about why great architects are usually short and what that means for the built environment.
Top 10 Architecture Books of 2010
Norman Weinstein of The Architectural Record selects his favorite architecture books of the year, which range from a coming-of-age memoir to a treatise on Turkish art and architecture.
Local Digital Media Outlets Galvanize Neighborhoods
Washington's panoply of hyperlocal news media is filling the holes left by tradition outlets as web 2.0 expands. Since many of the local newspapers have folded, bloggers and other digital media have grown to cover matters at the local level.
Debate Rages Over Urban Chickens
As reporter Carrie Wells writes, "Who knew chickens could create so much controversy?" The Sarasota Planning Board is considering legalizing backyard chickens, and residents on both sides are up in arms.
China's Cities Growing Beyond the Second Tier
The urbanization of China and the growth of new labor-rich cities is only just beginning, according to this piece from Dan Steinbock.
Suburb To City: No More Congestion Pricing, Please
San Mateo County officials have a bone to pick with their bigger neighbor (in population, not area) to the north, San Francisco: don't charge us to drive there. Unlike drivers from East and North Bay counties, no bridge tolls separate the counties.
The Most Dynamic Cities in the Post-Crash World
A new report from the Brookings Institution lists the 30 most dynamic cities in the world -- cities that are recovering from the global economic downturn with growth in employment and income.
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.
