The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Announced at a recent United Nations summit on biodiversity, India’s pledge of $50 million to assist developing countries with conservation efforts marks a significant shift in the way environmental protection is funded worldwide.

October 28 - The New York Times

An informative infographic produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation illustrates the role of walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented communities in producing healthier populations.

October 28 - New Public Health

Urban Planning has become increasingly complex with the rise of big data, inflating costs, diverging politics, and the advent of new technologies. To work with all these elements requires an inclusive approach to produce a useful outcome.

October 28 - Humanitarian Space

Surging oil and natural gas production has transformed the domestic energy paradigm. With the U.S. on track to replace Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer, will the U.S finally meet President Nixon's 1973 goal of 'energy independence'?

October 28 - NPR Morning Edition

Using Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, which was demolished in 2001, as a case study, Keith Eggener argues that the life of a building isn't confined to its physical presence as a whole object.

October 27 - Places

Economists see America's recovering housing market as a positive indication of the country's economic health. But according to a new study, rising home prices "decrease income mobility and ultimately hurt the U.S. economy," reports Nicole Goodkind.

October 27 - CNBC

Large casino resorts in Atlantic City and Connecticut take a hit, as new, smaller and local casinos, attract gamblers from the surroundings areas. New York state officials are paving the way for more casino proliferation, despite some skepticism.

October 27 - The New York Times

Despite significant investment in transit infrastructure, and renewed interest in downtowns and walkable neighborhoods, new data shows that gains in transit commute mode share have been hard to come by in America’s largest cities, says Kaid Benfield.

October 27 - Switchboard

A unique blend of religious beliefs, state policies and capitalist interests are reshaping Mecca for the worse, critics argue, at the expense of its most prized cultural assets.

October 27 - The Guardian

While your neighbors may be busy outfitting their "haunted" house for next week's festivities, we bring you a collection of buildings that have managed to gain a fear factor all on their own.

October 26 - Travel+Leasure

New census data reveals that at the same time Washington D.C. drew a record number of young adults, those over 55 left the city in large numbers. As a result, over the past three years, the city's median age has fallen by a full six months.

October 26 - The Washington Post

In a landmark ruling issued last week, the Delhi High Court upheld the use of New Delhi's streets for a 5.6-kilometer bus rapid transit corridor, in a blow to auto owners seeking have it removed for use by all traffic, including private vehicles.

October 26 - The New York Times

Another day, another plan for an ambitious city to be built from scratch in China. In this case it's Great City, "a high-density, car-free 'satellite city' for 80,000 people that will be built from scratch in a rural location close to Chengdu."

October 26 - Dezeen

In 2008 Los Angeles voters passed a half-cent sales tax to finance construction of a new transit system. In November, Angelenos will decide whether to extend this tax to 2069, allowing Metro to borrow more in the short term and expedite construction.

October 26 - The Planning Report

What do all these seemingly unrelated elements have in common? They were just a few of the creative ideas for improving the urban environment showcased at the recent Urban Prototyping Festival held in San Francisco.

October 26 - Fast Company Co.Exist

If you want to know something about Davis, CA, don’t go to the website of the local paper or the city, go to DavisWiki, a repository of all things Davis, written by the public. Thanks to a recent grant, could something similar be coming to your town?

October 26 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Halfway completed, the University of Chicago's $250 million community redevelopment project ditches the oft-contentious town-gown relationship for a strategy of local investment and economic development, to the benefit of both.

October 26 - The New York Times

Who should be required to take the first step in suburban retrofitting? The city, in the form of providing walkable, bikeable streets, or developers, by conforming to pedestrian-oriented building standards?

October 26 - PlaceShakers

BLOG POST

In St Bernard Parish, it took almost 7 months for the crickets and other insects to return after Katrina. In that period there was silence at night to go with the darkness.<br /> <br /> But the first plans for recovery were delivered inside a mere 80 days, during which time none of the people were talked with or listened to except for the wham bam ty m&#39;amisms that are the lifeblood of the charrette.  <br /> <br /> Is it any wonder there are two disasters to recover from a full seven years later?  The first a storm.  The second, an imposition.<br />

October 26 - Charles Buki

Christopher Hume delivers a forceful argument for why density is necessary for maintaining a prosperous Toronto in the decades ahead, and why the alternative, sprawl, is environmentally unsustainable and economically ruinous.

October 26 - Toronto Star