The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A new article by city historian Graeme Davison traces the rise and fall of the suburban paradigm from its ideological roots in Victorian England to its current backlash.

March 15 - The Atlantic Cities

Bike-share is continuing its march towards world domination, with seemingly every large Midwestern American city now jumping on the bike lending bandwagon, reports Angie Schmitt.

March 15 - DC.Streetsblog

Recent exultant headlines about downtown's astounding growth overlook Chicago's troubling bifurcation into two cities — "one where optimism abounds, one where hope and opportunity are hard to find," writes Marilyn Katz.

March 14 - Chicago Tribune

New Census data shows that after a recession induced respite, "Americans have resumed moving from the Northeast and Midwest to the West and South," reports Neil Shah. Four of the nation's fastest growing large metro areas are located in Texas.

March 14 - The Wall Street Journal

The USDA's new Food Access Research Atlas provides a handy guide for assisting policymakers and planners in finding the urban and rural areas with the most formidable obstacles to accessing fresh healthy food, reports Nancy Shute.

March 14 - NPR

Jordan Rane profiles 8 historic towns from across the country that have overcome significant challenges to become desirable destinations once again.

March 14 - CNN

Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Herzog and de Meuron, and Bjarke Ingels are some of the big names designing projects for Miami's hot again real estate market. Can their bold designs ensure that this building boom has legs?

March 14 - The Architect's Newspaper Blog

Democrats in Congress have returned to long-stalled efforts to craft a federal carbon-pricing scheme. With Obama having indicated in his State of the Union that climate change would be a focus of his administration, is there hope for progress?

March 14 - Grist

Haiti has seen improvements since the 2010 earthquake. However, persistent challenges remain. Dave Hampton, architect and international development consultant for natural and built environment integration, writes about one in particular: ravines.

March 14 - UrbDeZine.com

Author and food blogger Mark Bittman makes an impassioned plea for New York to build its very own grand urban food market, and he's got the perfect site in mind - the former Fulton Fish Market.

March 14 - The New York Times

We're likely witnessing the beginning of the slow decline of a technology that's defined our transportation and land use policies for a century - the private car. Emily Badger explains how unnoticed events produce socio-technical transitions.

March 14 - The Atlantic Cities

Green buildings "make business sense," says Jane Hanley, World Green Building Council CEO.

March 14 - Office Insight

David Moser pens a compelling essay that examines the ways in which sprawling auto-dependent land use patterns exacerbate poverty. As more low-income individuals and families are pushed to the suburbs, "this problem is gaining urgency."

March 13 - Citytank

Published to coincide with International Women’s Day 2013, Nicky Rackard has proffered a list of the 10 female architects most deserving of acclaim from historians. Add your comments to the active discussion responding to the article.

March 13 - Arch Daily

Providence, Rhode Island's vision for improving early childhood literacy has been selected as the winner of the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Mayor's Challenge, a nationwide contest seeking innovative and replicable ideas for improving cities.

March 13 - The New York Times

Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation has built 90 cutting-edge homes in New Orleans' largely abandoned Lower Ninth Ward. Stores and services have stayed away, however, prompting many to wonder if the area will ever become a livable community again.

March 13 - The New Republic

James Kelly, formerly of Southern California Edison, moderated “Smart Grid: Real or Hype?” at this year’s VerdeXchange conference. Featuring utility and grid specialists, the panel addressed the challenges of implementing the smarter grid.

March 13 - The Planning Report

Nathan Masters collects astonishing images and histories of L.A.'s vanished train depots, some of which rival the city's greatest architectural treasures. As L.A. rebuilds its lost transit infrastructure, these images are especially heartbreaking.

March 13 - KCET

"Yes it can", at least to some extent appears to be the answer according to the WSJ. While the Keystone XL pipeline can move 830,000 barrels of oil a day, rail shipments are set to double this year to 200,000 barrels. Not so, according to the NRDC.

March 13 - The Wall Street Journal

An interactive map from the bike-sharing consultancy Metrobike plots the world's active, proposed, and failed bike-sharing services. Willie Osterweil draws some interesting lessons from the data.

March 13 - Shareable