The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Friday Eye Candy: Time-Lapse Shows How Rivers Meander
"No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." -Heraclitus, as quoted by Plato in Cratylus.
Friday Funny: What Makes a Nerd-Friendly City?
Movoto has produced a pair of rankings: "The 10 Nerdiest Cities in America" and "The 10 Nerdiest Small Cities in America." According to the lists, there must be something in the water in Georgia.
Digital Divide Includes Transportation And Tech
For people who'd rather own a smart phone than a set of wheels, new types of mobile tech are making it increasingly easy to get around cities. A recent report ranks the metro areas that are making best use of these technologies. On top: Austin, TX
Get to Know Your Community
Seven incredibly useful market research tools for local governments.
Seizing the Moment: Nations Slash Energy Subsidies as Oil Prices Fall
Just as plummeting oil prices have caused state and federal political leaders to consider raising gas taxes, leaders in developing nations, both oil producers and consumers, are considering reductions in national energy subsidies.
EPA Adopts New Rules for Wood Burning Stoves
Wood burners are a common source of nostalgia—and particle emissions that wreak havoc on public health. To improve air quality and prevent asthma, heart attacks, and more, the EPA has passed its first rule change for wood burning heaters since 1988.
A Revitalized Oklahoma City Is Turning Heads
Recent attention from National Geographic justified fans of Oklahoma City ready to include the city among the world's best cities.
Seattle-Portland Rivalry Escalates Over Transit
Amid the constant battle between Seattle and Portland, Seattle-based writer Eric Scigliano responds to an Oregonian article praising Seattle's transit system. Praise is all right, writes Scigliano, but the Oregonian missed a few lowlights.
Auto Use Holds Steady in San Francisco
Even as innovations like ridesharing take hold in tech-friendly San Francisco, the percentage of trips taken by personal auto is stuck at just under 50 percent.
Pennsylvania Comes 'Round To Roundabouts
When two roads meet in William Penn's Forest, what do you do? New plans from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation say, increasingly, you build a roundabout. No fewer than forty are on the drawing board throughout the state.
South Boston Sheds Its 'Gritty' Image
An ambitious new transportation plan is yet another step in the transformation of South Boston from a gritty, blue-collar waterfront to one of the nation's most promising zones of innovation.
Child-Friendly Cities: What My Toddler Taught Me about City Design
In a post from the new Plan.Place blog, the author explores the city with a two-year-old as his guide and offers reflections on viewing the urban landscape anew--from an elevation of 34 inches and with a renewed sense of wonder.
Mapping the Morning Commute
What time did you leave for work this morning? What time should you have left for work this morning?
Residents Sue Over the 'Lawless Skid Row' of Venice Beach
Venice Beach, one of the most popular tourist destinations and recognizable public spaces in Los Angeles, has long been the site of regulation battles. Now a neighborhood group is suing the city over what it perceives as rampant lawlessness.
Special Tax District Proposed for Cleveland Riverfront Development
The developers of a high profile, $421 million development in Cleveland are requesting a special tax district that could raise $30 million over three decades.
Parks—or Playgrounds for Billionaires?
New York may be the most famous example of the parks becoming the most conspicuous signifiers of neighborhoods for the haves, versus the have-nots, but Inga Saffron hopes that cities everywhere can find ways to even the playing fields.
Metro-North Train Slams into SUV at Railroad Crossing; Six Dead
The commuter train had left Grand Central Terminal on Tuesday evening and hit the Jeep at a grade crossing in Valhalla, Westchester County at 6:30 pm. Five passengers died in the lead car of the train which was engulfed in flames from the impact.
Editorial: Florida Legislators should 'Stick to the Mission' on Conservation
A Miami Herald editorial expresses concern for a growing movement in the state legislature to raid the funding pool made possible by the recently approved Amendment 1, a statewide environmental-conservation funding measure.
Poll: San Francisco Loves the Tech Industry
San Francisco Mayor Ed lee is so far running unopposed for re-election next Fall, which means that voters won't be offered a chance for a referendum on his support for the tech industry.
Gas Tax vs. Carbon Charge Debate Looms in Washington State
The Republican chair of the Senate Transportation Committee is considering an 11.5-cent gas tax increase, setting up a potential conflict with Gov. Jay Inslee's preference to apply a carbon charge to industrial emissions to fund transportation.
Pagination
One Hundred Miles
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
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.