The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

An extensive redevelopment program is planned for East London, in an area one commenter calls "the land that God forgot."

March 5 - The New Statesman

After the success of the protected bike lane, or "cycletrack" on 15th Street NW, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has begun discussing plans for four additional protected lanes around Northwest DC.

March 5 - The WashCycle

A 12-story condominium proposed for Crystal Beach in Fort Erie, Ontario brought protesters out in droves, but despite the fact that objections outweighed approvals by 2-1, the city council approved the project.

March 5 - The Buffalo News

The Portland waterfront is zoned to exclude anything but marine uses, but with a slump in the fishing industry property owners are pushing for the freedom to build for other uses along the water.

March 5 - Portland Press Herald

West Oakland's days as an industrial center are long gone, but city officials have a vision of rebuilding it as a clean energy mecca. Problem is, many locals have their own vision of upscaling the neighborhood with local eateries and condos.

March 5 - The Wall St. Journal

Food trucks are hot in Los Angeles, but local restaurateurs are understandably upset by the surprise competition. Mobile vendors have banded together and established a "gourmet food lot" downtown as a sort of solution.

March 5 - GOOD Magazine

Facing resistance when siting green energy projects like wind turbines, energy companies are considering brownfields like the Leviathan Mine in California's Alpine County.

March 5 - Next100 (PG&E blog)

WebUrbanist collects pictures of city miniatures built by planning departments, for tourist attractions, or by obsessives who go into painstaking detail to recreate Chicago, Moscow, or Tokyo.

March 5 - WebUrbanist

Cincinnati's Tract 16 is the neighborhood deemed hardest to count in Ohio by census takers. As the Enquirer puts it, "high numbers of abandoned buildings, low literacy rates and urban poverty make it a people-counting quagmire."

March 5 - Cincinnati Enquirer

The Swedish, apparently, long for community. Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture has proposed a redesign for an abandoned sanitarium, turning it into a green, multi-family community.

March 5 - Fast Company

The City of Manor, Texas uses its website to poll its 6500 residents on local issues, and rewards participation with more influence on what gets decided.

March 4 - Next American City

Foot traffic is up 3.5%, and even sales are up a little at Minnesota's megamall. Retail Traffic Magazine gleans some lessons from the Mall's success.

March 4 - Retail Traffic Magazine

At a recent transportation conference, Dr. Leo Kroon of the Netherlands Railway says their strategy is not to force people to use the train but to 'seduce' them with the latest innovations.

March 4 - IBM's Smarter Cities blog

A judge has banned Brookyln architect Robert M. Scarano Jr from submitting building plans to the city after many of his buildings allegedly were built taller or larger than the plans portrayed.

March 4 - The New York Times

Civic advocates in Buffalo, bolstered by upcoming NYSDOT study and a Mayor intent on change, consider ways to remove a blighted highway that cuts through the heart of the city and an Olmsted-designed park.

March 4 - Artvoice (Buffalo)

Mumbai has instituted two citywide bike sharing programs. <em>The City Fix</em> takes an inside look.

March 4 - The City Fix

The federal government is rewriting the way it defines poverty. As a result, city poverty levels are expected to see major shifts.

March 4 - NPR

This piece from <em>Shareable</em> looks at the urban work of Enrique Penalosa and how it emphasizes the importance of happiness in cities.

March 4 - Shareable

Warren Karlenzig delves into the unique challenges of reducing carbon in cities, where efforts may be misplaced. Should your city focus on green building, traffic emissions or water treatment?

March 4 - Common Current

FEATURE

March 4 - Alison Bates