The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Claire Thompson profiles Neighborland, an online urban planning platform that aims to promote organic conversations that can build momentum and facilitate connections around improvement projects.

April 5 - Grist

The mismatch between current US housing stock and the growing demand for walkable urban living can be addressed in part by recovering the skills required for intermediate-density housing, argues Dan Parolek.

April 5 - Better! Cities & Towns

More people leave the 9-county region than migrate there from other states. In fact, the population would be in decline if it wasn't for foreign migration. Notably missing from the report on Census data is the birth rate for the region.

April 5 - Bay Citizen

A California real estate group aims to capitalize on cheap foreclosures, collecting homes en masse thanks to a semi-automated decisionmaking system.

April 5 - The New York Times

A light rail line linking Minneapolis and St. Paul, a new intermodal transit hub, and the area's first bus rapid transit system are among the projects being funded by a quarter-cent sales tax for transit approved in 2008.

April 5 - Star Tribune

Atlanta area business and civic groups are starting an advertising campaign this week to build support for a historical referendum to fund transportation projects for the region, reports Ariel Hart.

April 4 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Just months after a proposal to build the first wind farm to be located offshore on any of the Great Lakes was shelved, five neighboring states have struck a deal with the Obama administration to develop offshore wind farms more quickly.

April 4 - The Buffalo News

Andrea Bernstein reports on the recent announcement of $1.2 billion in road and bridge project funding by the New York Works infrastructure bank, just days after its creation and before appointees to its administrative committee could even be named.

April 4 - Transportation Nation

BLOG POST

<p> Last week my family and I took in the <a href="http://www.canneslions.com/">2011 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity</a> (more commonly referred to as the Cannes Commercials), the annual celebration of the best in filmed advertising. The winning ads were, as usual, an entertaining mix of the hilarious, risqué and the moving, and afforded the viewer the chance to be exposed to diverse film styles (and unfamiliar products) from around the world. </p>

April 4 - Michael Dudley

From black flight to Asian invasion, Mark Wilson offers his take on a stunning map that lays out the changing demography of Los Angeles.

April 4 - Fast Company

Simplify some steps, delete a few details, and you can get an affordable, multi-century house for under $80 a square foot.

April 4 - PlaceShakers

BLOG POST

<p> <em>Planetizen is honored to welcome Sam Hall Kaplan to Interchange, our daily blog featuring opinions and commentary from esteemed professionals such as himself. Many of you will need no introduction to Sam or his work. For those of you that do, a quick summary.</em> <br />

April 4 - Sam Hall Kaplan

Irmak Turan discusses agriculture's place in the city, as seen by a handful of Brooklyn activists. From stormwater absorption to community ties, these farms provide more than just fresh food for earthy hipsters.

April 4 - Urban Omnibus

Eric Moskowitz reports on the results of a recent Boston Globe pool which shows Massachusetts voters support a publicly financed bailout of the state's cash-strapped transit agency.

April 4 - The Boston Globe

The era of big-box retail dominance is coming to an end. That's the opinion of David Welch, Chris Burritt and Lauren Coleman-Lochner, writing in <em>Bloomberg</em> on the occasion of Best Buy's recent announcement that it is closing 50 big stores.

April 4 - Bloomberg

For the latest in a series on the laws that shaped Los Angeles, KCET's Jeremy Rosenberg examines 1999's Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, which made possible downtown's wave of condo conversion projects.

April 4 - KCET Departures

Emily Badger profiles a new web-based information resource on all things BRT, launched this week by EMBARQ, with the International Energy Agency and the Bus Rapid Transit Centre of Excellence.

April 4 - The Atlantic Cities

Depending on your outlook, the smart home of the future may be an essential caregiver (or an annoying nudge) explains Emily Badger, who explores the new technology giving homes the ability to reason what’s going on inside them.

April 3 - The Atlantic Cities

Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson reports on Open Walls Baltimore, the city’s first officially sanctioned street art exhibition, which seeks to bring new life to a transitional neighborhood, and presents a dilemma for its curator.

April 3 - Grist

Molly Heintz reports on the recent developments (or lack thereof) in the long and controversial saga centered around the future of the historic Domino Sugar refinery along Brooklyn's East River waterfront.

April 3 - The Architect's Newspaper