The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Corner Stores and Fat Kids

Urban convenience stores are being further linked to childhood obesity after the release of a new study from Temple University.

January 21 - Miller-McCune

The Worst Commutes in America

<em>The Daily Beast</em> has released a list of the 75 worst commutes in America. Top of the list: L.A.'s Hollywood Freeway.

January 20 - The Daily Beast

The Role of Design and Architecture in Saving Haiti

This episode of <em>DnA</em> wonders whether design and architecture will be able to help Haiti revive itself.

January 20 - KCRW

Cities With High Percentage of Car-less

Transportation planner Jarrett Walker looks at the top 50 cities of over 100k people and the percentage of people who don't own a car. Do the cities that made the list shed some light on how planners can discourage car use?

January 20 - Human Transit

Andrés Duany Takes Off the Gloves

Huffington Post writer Seth Bauer experiences one of Duany's famous, unstoppable rants about the state of the American environment.

January 20 - The Huffington Post


Lawmakers Consider Using Trust Fund for Transportation Projects

Lawmakers in Alabama are considering a plan to withdraw $1 billion from a state investment fund to pay for road and transportation projects in the state. It's a move proponents say will create jobs, but opponents worry about diverting those funds.

January 20 - The Birmingham News

Diversify Your Water Buys

By combining three water purchasing approaches -- permanent rights, options and leases -- cities can better manage water supplies to avoid high costs and supply reductions, according to a new study.

January 20 - Penn State Live


Fighting Mumbai's Demand for Car Ownership

The demand for personal transportation is quickly growing in Mumbai. This post from <em>The City Fix</em> looks at what the city will need to do to prevent the negative impacts of what could be a growing storm of car ownership.

January 20 - The City Fix

Obama's Infrastructure Grade: A-

A year ago, the Brookings Institution offered a series of suggestions to the Obama Administration for addressing infrastructure problems. Some advice was followed, other suggestions weren't. The Institution gives the Administration an A- for 2009.

January 20 - The Brookings Institution

Despite Praise, Portland Has Room for Improvement

Portland, Oregon, is held high on a pedestal for innovative urban planning and development. But the city has its drawbacks and needs to face them, writes Aaron M. Renn.

January 20 - The Oregonian

A Car Street Undesired

While in Copenhagen for climate talks in December, U.S. officials got a taste of Danish-style bicycle planning. Some of them liked what they saw, but translating that infrastructure here in the States is no easy task.

January 20 - Miller-McCune

The Food Court, R.I.P.

The "food court", staple of malldom and home of Hot Dog on a Stick, is dead, say retail architects and designers. Higher-end restaurants and softer surfaces are replacing the shiny plastic tables and Orange Juliuses of the past.

January 20 - Retail Traffic Magazine

EPA Recognizes Land Use/Global Warming Connection

For possibly the first time, the EPA has issued a report the directly links climate change mitigation with local land use strategies, says Patty Salkin.

January 19 - Law of the Land

Reacting to LaHood and 'Livability'

The National Journal Online talks to three transportation experts about the recent statements by DOT Secretary LaHood that the agency would begin using livability-based funding guidelines for major transit projects. Will it work?

January 19 - National Journal Online

TODs With Juice

New Energy Hubs is a proposal to focus alternative energy production around transit-oriented developments to create synergistic benefits.

January 19 - WorldChanging

Transportation Officials Pool Knowledge for Bicycle Planning

The National Association of City Transportation Officials has launched an initiative to help members better plan for and implement infrastructure for cyclists.

January 19 - Governing

Free Transit Opens in Baltimore

Despite the downward trend in public services like transit, the city of Baltimore in opening a free transit line.

January 19 - Wired

The New Prefab

A group of green architects in Philadelphia are creating new ways to use pre-fabricated elements, using digital design to distance them from the prefab of yore.

January 19 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Congressional Deaf Ears Over Transportation Concerns

America's transportation system is in trouble, according to many experts. But action at the congressional level doesn't seem to recognize the importance of the problem, writes Neal Peirce.

January 19 - Citiwire

Disparity Between Success and Failure Widening in U.K. Cities

The difference between success and failure in the U.K. has gotten worse with the recession, with ailing cities getting worse and successful cities are coming out even stronger.

January 19 - Public Finance

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