The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

FEATURE

July 24 - Laurel Prevetti

Transportation planners who thought the current job climate couldn't possibly get worse may want to ignore this piece. John Metcalfe reports on studies that show slime is just as effective in planning the path of an urban rail system as humans.

July 24 - The Atlantic Cities

A target of 1950s urban renewal, New Haven is looking to rewrite renewal's wrongs by re-connecting the Hill neighborhood with downtown via a highway cap project. Critics complain the project doesn't go far enough to heal the area's historic wounds.

July 24 - The New York Times

<em>The Wall Street Journal</em> profiles the astonishing $45 million renovation of Queens Plaza, where "a wasteland of potholed roads, a parking lot and elevated subway tracks" has been transformed into an urban oasis.

July 24 - The Wall Street Journal

A group of "urban hacktivists" have been busy transforming Toronto's ubiquitous and ironically named "info pillars" (read: street billboards) into community platforms and art pieces, protesting their improper design and instillation.

July 24 - The Pop-Up City

To find Oregon's first energy-neutral building, you'll have to venture 45 minutes outside progressive Portland to the Willamette Valley town of Newberg. There you'll find a first step in an effort to change our physical and cultural environments.

July 24 - Fast Company

As you roast in the record summer heat, here's hoping that Henry Grabar's slide show of improvised urban beaches from across the globe gets you motivated to create one in your city. Hop to it, global warming isn't going away any time soon!

July 24 - The Atlantic Cities

As shifting demographics and the Great Recession increase the functional demands on the typical suburban single-family home, outdated zoning laws are preventing the economical use of underused space, writes S. Mitra Kalita.

July 24 - The Wall Street Journal

With many of America's largest metros experiencing robust growth, Michael Sauter, Alexander Hess and Elisabeth Uible of <em>24/7 Wall St.</em> have compiled a list of the fastest growing cities in the country.

July 24 - NBC News

NPR interviews technology historian Peter Norton, D.C. Planning Director Harriet Tregoning, and motorists on D.C. streets who resent exclusive bus lanes, parking tickets, red light cameras, and parklets usurping parking spaces.

July 24 - NPR

Declining state aid, hobbled endowments, and rising debt are hurting the balance sheets of colleges across America. Unfortunately the economies of their surrounding towns, which rely on schools for jobs, customers, and more, are far from immune.

July 24 - The Wall Street Journal

As Virginia drafts new rules to govern the sale of naming rights to its highways, interchanges, and bridges, public officials want to ensure that their new "marketing technology" provides more than just a sign on the road, reports Liz Essley.

July 23 - The Examiner

Kelly Sinoski and Michael Vinkin Lee detail the strategies identified in Vancouver's new plan to deal with expected increases in the effects of climate change, from street flooding and damaged forests to heat-related illnesses.

July 23 - The Vancouver Sun

Eric Jaffe discusses the importance of providing showers and changing facilities at workplaces - the "hidden factor" in encouraging bike commuting - as revealed in the findings of a new study.

July 23 - The Atlantic Cities

When California planned to close 70 parks this month to save $22 million, donors sprang into action to help keep them open. It turns out they needn't have, as last week it was revealed the CA Dept. of Parks and Recreation stashed away $54 million.

July 23 - Los Angeles Times

A recently released Amtrak plan doesn't envision high-speed rail servicing the Northeast Corridor until 2040. Paul Nussbaum looks at whether an incremental approach might bring increased speed and amenities to passengers sooner.

July 23 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Census results released last week offered some astonishing findings - each of England's big cities is growing, after shedding people only a decade ago. The Economist looks at the phenomenon and the factors that have contributed to the resurgence.

July 23 - The Economist

Increasingly utilized as 'black boxes' in the aftermath of collisions with motorized vehicles, video cameras are the newest addition to the arsenal of tools being employed to make streets safer for bikes.

July 23 - The New York Times

The Bay Area's two regional agencies approved funding a study to pursue a 9-county "vehicle-miles-traveled" fee of as much as 10-cents per mile that could involve GPS technology to fund regional transportation improvements.

July 23 - San Jose Mercury News

In light of last week's incomprehensible tragedy in Colorado, Richard Florida prefaces the inevitable rekindling of the country's debate on gun rights by mapping gun violence at the state level and exploring its correlating factors.

July 23 - The Atlantic Cities