The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Gov. Christie Reverses ARC Decision: Rail Tunnel Back On Track

Under pressure from DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, N.J. Gov. Chris Christie has authorized the Hudson River rail tunnel project known as ARC: Access to the Region's Core, to resume work. Key to the decision would have been the loss of $3 billion to N.J.

October 11 - Lautenberg Press Office

FEATURE

Measuring the Broader Impacts of Transportation

CEOs for Cities recently published a blistering criticism of The Texas Transportation Institute's "Urban Mobility Report", saying that the way they measure mobility helps justify sprawl. Norman W. Garrick says CEOs for Cities doesn't go far enough.

October 11 - Norman Garrick

New Study Reveals Poverty Growing Twice as Fast in Suburbs

A Brookings Study of census data finds that since 2000, the number of poor people in the suburbs jumped by 37.4% to 13 million and "the growth rate of suburban poverty is more than double that of cities."

October 11 - Los Angeles Times

What Good is Public Art?

San Diego's mayor has announced he's recommending the city pull the plug on art funding for the time being, triggering a debate over the role of public art in society.

October 11 - Voice of San Diego

New Jersey Moves Away From McMansion Trend

In the face of a recent report showing that sprawl was rapidly eating up developable land in New Jersey, developers have begun to ditch the McMansion in favor of taller and more dense projects.

October 11 - The New York Times


Deciding The Fate Of Long Island Bus

It appears to be a case of brinkmanship between suburban Nassau County and the regional Metropolitan Transportation Authority over how to fund Long Island Bus, with riders and workers the only sure losers.

October 11 - Streetsblog

Bike-Sharing? Check. Now on to Car-Sharing

Next June, Paris will begin a test phase of a citywide electric car-sharing program.

October 11 - Der Spiegel


BLOG POST

The Beauty of India

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October 10 - Rick Abelson

Traffic Restraint As Alternative to Congestion Pricing

Yonah Freemark reports that there are more politically palatable ways to ease traffic congestion than congestion pricing.

October 10 - the transport politic

A Post-Sprawl Los Angeles

CNN's Richard Quest takes an incredulous look at the changes brewing in Los Angeles as downtown revitalizes and the city densifies.

October 10 - CNN

Las Vegas Faces Unique Road to Recovery

While other parts of the country see economic improvement, Las Vegas continues to experience the deepest crisis of its modern history. Is its leisure-based economy to blame?

October 10 - The New York Times

Dallas Considers Electronic Billboards

The city's 10-year ban on construction of new signage is challenged as the local billboard industry asks to replace traditional models with digital technology.

October 10 - The Dallas Morning News

A Tale of Two Tall Towers

Josh Leon reports on his time "around two instructive pieces of vertical architecture that could presumably be competitors in a transoceanic race between the US and China for economic hegemony."

October 10 - Next American City

ARC Cancellation Signals Larger Woes

Paul Krugman bemoans the death of the Access to the Region's Core project. He says it is symptomatic of a national resistance to address critical infrastructure and economic challenges.

October 9 - The New York Times

Jean Nouvel Tower Cut Down To Size

Nicolai Ouroussoff, The New York Times' architecture critic, argues that philistine planning decisions such as the one that restricted the height of Jean Nouvel's proposed tower last month, "risk transforming a living city into an urban mausoleum."

October 9 - The New York Times

Religion and Neighborliness

Ben Brown reads Robert Putnam's new book, which explores the ways in which religion in the U.S. causes greater intolerance but simultaneously a greater civic engagement and likelihood of helping others through charitable acts.

October 9 - PlaceShakers

Reviews and Reflections on the Best New Urban Parks

<em>The New Republic</em> offers a look and review of some of the nation's best new urban parks.

October 9 - The New Republic

Reframing the Sustainability Argument

This podcast features a discussion with designer Bruce Mau, who talks about sustainability and why he loves the suburbs.

October 9 - Climate Desk

The Fastest-Growing Cities in the World

Writing for <em>Forbes</em>, Joel Kotkin looks at the fastest-growing cities in the world, and shows how powerhouse cities like New York and Mumbai are being challenged by lesser known places.

October 8 - Forbes

L.A. the Most Congested? Maybe Not

The Texas Transportation Institute's Urban Mobility Report ranks the country's most congested cities, a list almost always topped by Los Angeles. But as Mark Vallianatos writes, the ranking misrepresents reality.

October 8 - Streetsblog

Post News
Senior Planner

City of Thousand Oaks

Community Development Director

City of Wisconsin Rapids

Professor of Urban Planning

Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

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.