The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

While builders still see social media as "consuming to sustain and difficult to track", they are experimenting more and more with unconventional ways to connect with potential buyers over the Internet.

November 22 - Builder Magazine

The mayor of Mt. Clemens, Michigan is turning to an unlikely source to help pay for stretched city services -- local non-profits. With 42% of city property tax exempt, Mayor Dempsey is asking non-profits to pay as if they were taxed.

November 22 - Detroit Free Press

DOT Secretary Ray LaHood's passion is eliminating the threat of distracted driving from cellphones and texting. Now he's taking it a step further and saying the in the future cellphone scramblers might be mandatory in cars.

November 22 - Switched

Details are now just emerging about a proposal from NYC Mayor Bloomberg to further extend the IRT #7 line from the West Side station by a planned, massive new development, Hudson Yards. Cheaper than a commuter rail tunnel, it would serve NJ Transit.

November 22 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Shopping malls are scattered all over Bangkok. On one hand they create a distinct urban setting in the city, but they also fall far short of creating actual community, according to this post.

November 21 - This Big City

This post from GOOD points to an old map of the Western U.S. in which state lines are redrawn based on the locations of watersheds.

November 21 - Good

A historic tree near the campus of Stanford University is the centerpiece of a fight to redirect California's planned high speed rail project.

November 21 - Peninsula Press

Expansion of transit has helped fuel a boost in ridership over the last decade in Charlotte. But with falling tax revenues, the city looks unlikely to be able to continue its planned transit growth.

November 21 - the transport politic

<em>Urban Omnibus</em> offers a summary of the recent debate that went down over the future of Harvard's Graduate School of Design concerning urban design, landscape urbanism and new urbanism.

November 21 - Urban Omnibus

<em>99% Invisible</em> talks with Chris Downey, an architect who lost his sight three years ago and who continues to work.

November 20 - 99% Invisible

A Russian construction company wants to build a 100,000-person city in an abandoned diamond mine, and cover it with a dome.

November 20 - Wired UK

Major developments have been popping up all over Japan's heavily urbanized cities. This piece from <em>The Diplomat</em> looks at what urban future lies ahead for Japan.

November 20 - The Diplomat

A beauty pageant contestant from the crime-ridden Compton, California made famous by 1990s gangster rap is hoping to improve her city's reputation.

November 20 - Los Angeles Times

Two artists have teamed with a favela in Rio de Janeiro to use bright colors to re-frame the slum as a more vibrant area.

November 20 - CNN

The Onion reports on how President Obama's ambitious high-speed rail agenda is being replaced with a plan for high-speed buses that will use existing roads and be outfitted for a fraction of the cost of trains [Video].

November 19 - The Onion

A master-planned town in Quebec built by an American industrialist as a "workingman's utopia" is being touted as a potential UNESCO World Heritage Site.

November 19 - The Globe and Mail

Five years ago, two developers got approval for tax-increment financing (TIF) projects in St. Joseph, Missouri. One was a success, the other a failure. What happened?

November 19 - St. Josephs News-Press

The nonprofit urban planning group SHIFTboston has unveiled the results of their competition to imagine a lunar city that might be feasible by 2069 [slideshow].

November 19 - CNN

The largest bus and transit expo in North America happened this week in Vancouver, and manufacturers showed off the latest in transit technology.

November 19 - The Vancouver Sun

Millions of religious pilgrims travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year for the Hajj. Officials there have been updating the city to better handle the crowds.

November 19 - NPR