The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

David W. Dunlap reports on the progress of 1 World Trade Center -- once known as the Freedom Tower -- which is expected to become New York's tallest building today.

April 30 - The New York Times

A newly released report by the International Energy Agency hands out dismal grades to the nations of the world for their efforts in developing clean energy technologies. Brad Plumer shares the results.

April 30 - The Washington Post

Ariel Schwartz reports on the efforts of a Silicon Valley-based "food incubator" that aims to bring a lean start-up approach to scaling up the local food movement.

April 30 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Ken Archer opines on whether proposed tax incentives being offered by D.C. to retain the corporate offices of website LivingSocial are a smart trade-off amongst a backdrop of sparse public resources.

April 30 - Greater Greater Washington

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> William Lucy of the University of Virginia has written extensively on the question of whether outer suburbs are safer than cities or inner suburbs; he argues, based on traffic fatality data, that outer suburbs are certainly less safe than inner suburbs, and maybe even less safe than cities. (1)  </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> However, Lucy’s analysis is not particularly fine-grained: it analyzes data county-by-county, rather than town-by-town. What’s wrong with this?  Often, suburban cities within a county are quite diverse: some share the characteristics of inner suburbs (e.g. some public transit) while others look more like exurbs.  So I wondered whether there is any significant &#39;safety gap&quot; between inner and outer suburbs.  </p>

April 29 - Michael Lewyn

For the first time in modern history, Cleveland's inner city is growing faster than its outer city and county, reports Robert L. Smith.

April 29 - The Plain Dealer

Forget for a minute what the answer to that question may be, and focus first on why the two ideas are associated with each other. As Dave Reid explains, it's no accident, but rather the result of a relentless marketing scheme by the auto industry.

April 29 - Urban Milwaukee

SAFETEA-LU, the 2005 surface transportation funding bill, expired two years and seven months ago. Nine extensions later, the House and Senate will sit down and work out its successor in a conference committee after the House passed a tenth extension.

April 29 - The Hil

Justin Jouvenal tells of plans for a 25,424-square-foot mansion modeled on the Palace of Versailles, to be built in a Washington D.C. suburb, that's causing a collision between "new and old ideas about the way Washington expresses its success."

April 29 - The Washington Post

Edward L. Glaeser looks back on the boom towns of yore and warns that, without a little balance, the dominance of finance in New York could spell trouble.

April 29 - City Journal

Sarah Goodyear offers a brief history of urban development in postwar Europe, and tells of just how close the bicycle capitals of the West came to putting cars before people.

April 28 - The Atlantic Cities

Planning to rent a movie this weekend? Before you do, check out the list of "Ten Great Movies for Placemakers" gathered by the folks at the Project for Public Spaces.

April 28 - PPS: Placemaking Blog

Bill Fulton and Chris Haller look at Denver's recent efforts to involve its residents in helping to solve next years anticipated $94 million budget gap.

April 28 - Engaging Cities

Alissa Walker celebrates a historic day for rail transit in Los Angeles, as the $940 million, 8.6-mile first segment of the Expo Line opens to the public, leading the city "into a new transit era."

April 28 - The Architect's Newspaper

<em>The Economist</em> describes the dawn of the third industrial revolution, brought by the rise of digital manufacturing, and its implications for the how and the where of the future of industry.

April 28 - The Economist

BLOG POST

<p> I recently had the pleasure of sitting on a panel convened by the <a href="http://www.lincolninst.edu/">Lincoln Instititute of Land Policy</a> to discuss the Tea Party and its effects on local planning (a <a href="/node/46583">topic I&#39;ve discussed earlier on this blog</a>). At one point, the moderator asked if there were any successful techniques that planners could use to effectively deal with Tea Party activists. This was an intriguing question, but also one that I thought was a bit odd. Controversy and conflict are not new to planning; they are built into the very process of American planning because of its inherent openness and inclusiveness.

April 27 - Samuel Staley

Out this week, the satirical newspaper <em>The Onion</em> has collected a host of stories dedicated to transit and transportation. Some of these you may have seen before, but many are new to us.

April 27 - The Onion

Released earlier this week by the Institute for Economics and Peace, the annual United States Peace Index (USPI) analyzes peacefulness at the state and city levels, and the costs associated with violence. Richard Florida discusses its findings.

April 27 - The Atlantic Cities

Winnipeg's centrally-located and historic Osborne Village has topped the Canadian Institute of Planners' Great Places in Canada contest.

April 27 - Winnipeg Free Press

Sam Lubell reports on the speculative visions unveiled this week by six teams of international design talent competing to develop a Master Plan for LA's historic Union Station and its surrounding properties.

April 27 - The Architect's Newspaper