The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Florida Planner Takes Skills to Iraq
<p>Daniel Reed, former Planning Director of Daytona Beach, is now the primary planner of Sadr City, 12 miles north of Baghdad.</p>
Snow Forces City To Conserve
<p>An avalanche decimates an Alaskan city's energy infrastructure, leading residents to craft creative ways to conserve energy and lower their utility bills.</p>
China Using 10 Times More Cement Than Anyone Else
<p>The Oil Drum charts recent figures released by the U.S. Geological Survey, which show a stunning growth in cement use (and therefore, presumably, building activity) in China as compared to world usage.</p>
The Promise of New Industrial Jobs
<p>Bethlehem Steel left 25 years ago, but a new, mysterious energy company is brining a glimmer of hope to Lackawanna, New York. The proposed plant, to be built on Bethlehem's brownfields, would convert petroleum coke into synthetic gas.</p>
Riding Amtrak Across the U.S.
<p>GOOD Magazine sends a reporter across country on Amtrak to give a riders-eye view of the system.</p>
NYC To Experiment With Car-Free Zone
<p>In an effort to increase livability, New York City will test a 6.9 mile car-free corridor during the month of August.</p>
Creating a Place for Public Debate of City Planning and Design
<p>Baltimore considers following in the footsteps of Paris, San Francisco and Copenhagen by opening a "design center", a place for people to gather and debate the design of their city.</p>
London's Buried Rivers Rise Again
<p>The Mayor of London is pushing a plan to bring London's undergrounded rivers to the surface.</p>
Emptying Suburbs Sign of Things to Come
<p>CNN reports on the growing chaos in suburbs emptied by the mortgage crisis, and what they tell us about the future of the American dream.</p>
Transit Struggling To Keep Up
<p>Transit use is surging, but operators are facing the same fuel crunch as consumers and public monies for new investments aren't up to addressing the new demand.</p>
Does TOD Create More Traffic?
<p>In Boston, the MBTA and city planners are weighing the benefits and drawbacks of creating transit-oriented development along a major traffic corridor.</p>
New Urbanism at 15
<p>New Urbanism as a movement is fifteen years old this year; a state by state analysis by <em>New Urban News</em> shows steady growth (in some places more than others) and produced some surprises as well.</p>
Public Art That's Popular
<p>People love to complain about public art, but an installation in Emeryville, CA is almost universally loved. One expert says, 'It creates something that is thought-provoking. It isn't just decorative.'</p>
What Killed Congestion Pricing in New York?
<p>Earth Island Journal takes an in-depth look at how and why congestion pricing got the kibosh in New York.</p>
Housing Relief Languishes in Washington
<p>As the U.S. Congress and Senate wrangle with each other over how to address the housing crisis, housing advocates worry that federal assistance- if and when it comes- will be inadequate.</p>
Is New Building Ever Green?
<p>Chevron is moving its New Orleans offices from downtown to a brand new, "eco-friendly" campus- opening up the discussion of whether new construction is ever greener than staying put.</p>
Istanbul Gentrifies a 1,000-Year-Old Roma Neighborhood
<p>'Ottoman villas' are going up, and the world's largest Roma settlement is moving out - to suburban apartments.</p>
Tiny Monaco Using Stilts to Expand
<p>The second-smallest country in the world (after the Vatican) has plans to expand its territory by building more land on stilts in an idea inspired by oil rigs.</p>
The Reversal Of The American Dream
<p>As walkable urban communities become the neighborhoods of choice, are suburban subdivisions destined to become twenty-first century slums?</p>
BLOG POST
EcoDensity Approved in Vancouver
<span style="font-size: x-small"> <p> After two years of intensive dialogue and debate, education (in all directions) and idea-development, Vancouver's concept of EcoDensity has been translated into Council-approved policy and actions. </p> <p> In past posts I've outlined aspects and steps of this challenging process, which has been tackling head-on what many consider the most controversial but critical aspect of urban sustainability, "density done well". </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.
