The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Recent years have produced no dearth of design interventions to improve quality of life for wealthy urban dwellers, but some recent efforts in San Francisco are targeted to help the city's homeless population.

January 19 - New York Times

Stakeholders in Michigan have bought in to the innovation district concept.

January 19 - Crain's Detroit Business

You've probably read the news that the country has recovered all the jobs lost in the Great Recession. A new report that analyzes four measures of economic health at the county level reveals a much bleaker picture of the economic recovery.

January 19 - Governing

An article in The Guardian argues the side of New Yorkers opposed to a new round of high-rise development proposed for Manhattan.

January 18 - The Guardian Cities

Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who pledged not to raise taxes during his first term, proposed in his state of the state to increase the state gas tax two cents on July 1, and then two cents a year thereafter, to fund state and local roads and bridge repairs.

January 18 - Capital Journal

Can the Olympic bid provide an impetus for long-range planning for the Boston metropolitan area?

January 18 - CommonWealth

A post by the World Band surveys efforts around the world to mainstream gender on public transport—an effort challenged substantially by continued risks to the safety of women.

January 18 - The World Bank

Throwing money at our housing problems is clearly not the answer, but are there ideas from markets in Europe that might work for us?

January 18 - Rooflines

A Dallas Morning News column illustrates the evolution of Austin by exploring the changes in the neighborhoods along the city's famous Sixth Street corridor.

January 17 - The Dallas Morning News

A sad day for the mission of using design to benefit the most vulnerable among us, Architecture for Humanity closed its doors earlier this month.

January 17 - San Francisco Chronicle

Political leaders in San Diego have spent years characterizing the city's NFL team as a regional asset, requiring a new stadium to keep in place. A column debunks some of the logic behind how and why behind some of that reasoning.

January 17 - Voice of San Diego

Charles Krauthammer offers his own brand of gas tax hike that differs from others mentioned recently. One, it's much bigger. Two, revenues won't be used for transportation. It would be revenue neutral; all funds would be returned to taxpayers.

January 17 - The Washington Post

Emanuel Maiberg discusses an ongoing crisis in a simulated version of reality familiar to many planners—i.e., the homelessness problem in SimCity 4.

January 17 - Motherboard

What better way to wind down from a long week thinking about cities and maps and transportation than by taking a quiz to show off your knowledge of cities and maps and transportation?

January 16 - The Washington Post

Two recent studies find evidence of a powerful "neighborhood effect" for economic mobility—especially on the incomes of blue collar and service workers as compared to knowledge and creative workers.

January 16 - CityLab

Architecture Critic Inga Saffron decries the development proposal making progress through the approval process in Philadelphia—a large, glassy residential building that would encroach on the tiny serenity of the Rodin Museum.

January 16 - Philadelphia Inquirer

With implications on the narrative of peak driving and on the economic forces that drive the country, a new study reveals that some statewide populations began driving less as early as 1992.

January 16 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Looking a little closer at a city not called New York, San Francisco, or Boston, one writer argues that gentrification is often a good thing.

January 16 - The Corner Side Yard

One town in Georgia recently conducted a public opinion poll finding that most of its 19,000-plus citizens support reduced speed limits on all city streets.

January 16 - Decatur Metro

A week after the groundbreaking ceremony for California's beleaguered high speed rail project, a second construction contract has been awarded. The rail authority will now build 29 miles north and 65 miles south of Fresno to the Kern County line.

January 16 - The Fresno Bee