The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Transit Ridership Creates New Problem -- Clogged Parking Lots
<p>Maryland's transit parking lots are overflowing into nearby neighborhoods, as buses, park-and-rides, and even their long-derided light rail, fill up.</p>
Open Source Architecture
<p>Architects are coming together to create innovative designs aimed at solving the world's tough humanitarian problems.</p>
BLOG POST
A Journalistic View of Cities
<p> <span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Verdana">I was reading the New York Times Magazine special architecture issue a few weeks ago when something jumped out at me.<span> </span>On the intro page to the issue of the “Mega-Megalopolis” one of the by-line says “How does an architect plan for a city with no history?<span> </span>Or a city that just keeps growing?”<span> </span>Interesting questions particularly given the fact that to charge architects with the task of planning our cities is affording too much power to a profession that simply doesn’t have it.<span> </span></span> </p>
U.S. Cities Going off the Bottle
<p>The U.S. Conference of Mayors has resolved to phase out purchasing bottled water, not only for environmental reasons, but as a way of encouraging more financial support for municipal water systems.</p>
BLOG POST
Suburbia During the Crash
<p> Maybe it's the rain in New York today, but I'm gloomy. So while<a href="http://www.iftf.org/node/2068"> China collapses</a>, it looks like the mobility-land use solution embodied in many of America's newer suburbs seems to be unravelling due to high oil prices. </p><p> The IHT reports: </p>
Ending the Ideology of Homeownership
<p>Paul Krugman writes that we need to stop conflating owing a home with citizenship.</p>
Suburbia Running Out of Gas
<p>The economics of long commutes are forcing many to the conclusion that suburban living is no longer viable, and suburban housing prices are falling accordingly.</p>
Reviving the Lowly Clothesline
<p>A grassroots group is working to remove barriers to erecting clotheslines, which are commonly banned by apartments buildings as a blight. The group is pitching their work as an energy conservation effort.</p>
Will Free Rides Make Firm Believers In Transit?
<p>Transit agencies around the U.S. offered free rides on a single day, and large crowds follow. But observers aren't sure they'll stick around when they have to pay again.</p>
Florida To Buy Large Swath of Sugar Land Near Everglades
<p>In a deal with a large sugar farming operation, the state of Florida will buy up 187,000 acres of land near the Everglades -- a move environmentalists are applauding.</p>
Bored With Your View? Rotate Your Apartment
<p>The world's first moving building, a 80-storey tower with revolving floors giving an shifting shape, will be built in Dubai, its architect says.</p>
Can Planning Happen More Quickly?
<p>Members of the British Parliament attempt to speed up the process for planning major projects. But some advocates and observers fear the public's voice will be muted.</p>
The Rebirth of the Electric Car
<p>In a bold move likened in this article to the Apollo program, General Motors is throwing everything it has into the development of the Volt, a revolutionary plug-in electric hybrid.</p>
BLOG POST
Why Transit is an 'Inferior Good'
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">In my last post, I suggested that transit’s “resurgence” is, ultimately, much ado about nothing. Transit’s increased ridership, while important for transit managers, will do little to change fundamental travel patterns of US urban areas. </span> </p>
Evicted Residents Want Their History Portrayed Accurately
<p>Kentucky and Tennessee residents who were evicted in the 1960s to make way for a nature preserve are fighting to make sure their history is accurately represented in historical markers and visitor centers at the site.</p>
Foreclose This!
<p>A homeowner on the verge of foreclosure in Las Vegas is not going down without a fight. He is literally destroying his home from the inside out.</p>
Skirting Process, Bremerton Makes Beautiful Public Spaces
<p>Landscape architect Gary Sexton worked on a tight budget and dodged commissions and regulations to create a beautiful vision for downtown Bremerton (near Seattle).</p>
Gas Pipelines Through Neighborhoods Are A Difficult Proposition
<p>Fort Worth, Texas officials try to tackle the thorny issue of gas pipelines snaking through residential neighborhoods.</p>
Would Starbucks and Designer Interiors Get You to Ride Transit?
<p>Toronto's Metrolink brings together city and transportation planners to brainstorm the transit of the future.</p>
New San Francisco Parks Key to Neighborhood Vibrancy
<p>Two new parks in San Francisco show how great neighborhoods are defined by their public spaces, according to this article from the <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em>.</p>
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
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.
