The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Where did today's biggest chain stores got their start? Roger Wade offers background and photos from fifteen mega-chains original locations, from from WalMart to Taco Bell.

October 3 - BootsnAll Travel Network

A new study finds that manufactured housing (also known as mobile homes), despite their reputation, offer important advantages for low-income households.

October 3 - HUD User

In this article, Erick Villagomez argues that affordable housing, by enabling urban diversity, is the key to a city's economic and social sustainability.

October 3 - re:place Magazine

The architecture studio that won The History Channel's City of the Future competition last year has gotten some help making its ideas possible.

October 3 - Architectural Record

Harundale Mall, one of the first enclosed malls built in the country, is now a strip mall. This article contains an examination of its somber decline and the direction in which Harundale--and other malls--may be headed next.

October 3 - The Baltimore Sun

Capital may be tough to find these days, but the developers of a major downtown mixed-use project in Boston's Downtown Crossing district have received financing.

October 3 - Boston Globe

Going beyond traditional approaches to public art, Washington's transit authority has launched a program that provides the city with art that expresses Seattle's "core identity."

October 3 - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The University of Notre Dame at Indiana is projecting a savings of $100k in heating and cooling by putting its computer servers into their cactus conservatory, in a technique known as 'waste heat recovery.'

October 3 - WorldChanging

Whether through community gardening or high-tech "vertical farms" interest is growing in urban agriculture.

October 3 - AlterNet

The Senate has passed a bill that will allocate $2.5 billion for Amtrak annually, with money going to operation, repairs, and new safety measures.

October 2 - The Wall Street Journal

Two years after the program's authorization, 500 cottages intended for residents displaces after Katrina have still not been built. Meanwhile, they have cropped up in Mississippi, which faced less damage overall.

October 2 - The Times-Picayune

Greenhouse gas emissions in Fairbanks, Alaska are significantly higher than the national average, according to one report.

October 2 - Anchorage Daily News

The implementation of WiMAX technology has been touted as the bridge to the digital divide. And while some less developed countries have taken advantage of its cost-effectiveness, U.S. companies seem more interested in the bottom line.

October 2 - Next American City

Midway Airport may become the first U.S. airport to be privatized if the 99-year lease for $2.52 billion is approved by the City Council and F.A.A., following in the footsteps of privatizing the Chicago Skyway toll road in 2005.

October 2 - The New York Times

Midtown New York is some of the densest property in the U.S., but in between the skyscrapers you can find a number of small, hidden oases from the busy streets.

October 2 - The New York Times

As their numbers increase, students from homeless families face a slew of new challenges to their education. Some families, this article reports, don’t even know that they still have a right to an education after losing their home.

October 2 - NPR

Colorado Department of Transportation has launched a pilot program that uses technology that detects wildlife in order to help drivers avoid hitting them.

October 2 - Chicago Tribune

For the fourth time, the unincorporated area of East Los Angeles is making efforts to become a city. This article examines its colorful history and what East L.A. hopes to accomplish in gaining cityhood.

October 2 - Newsweek

According to one study, cities are often wrongly blamed for 75 to 80% of greenhouse gas emissions; the figure is closer to 40%.

October 2 - Terra Daily

FEATURE

Cars dominate cities, especially in America. But as many cities in other countries have found, removing cars can turn busy streets into lively public places. Now the U.S. is starting to catch on.

October 2 - Nate Berg