The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

In the frenzied hunt for new revenue streams, municipal authorities are getting creative in capitalizing on their assets. Nate Berg follows the example of Sacramento, who is considering privatizing its parking meters to pay for a new sports arena.

March 14 - The Atlantic Cities

Web Urbanist has published a fun post featuring examples of unconventional urban furniture. If you're tired of the same old boring bus benches and park picnic tables, these interactive, comfortable, and visually interesting pieces should inspire you.

March 14 - Web Urbanist

Ben Hecht contemplates the currency of the digital age and how it will transform the cities we live in.

March 14 - Living Cities

As oversized homes fall out of fashion, is Junior's private lair disappearing? And is that really so bad?

March 14 - PlaceShakers

Inspired by three books published in the last year that help to elucidate the role of cities and density in making people and countries richer, Ezra Klein compiles some lessons for economic development in the United States.

March 13 - The Washington Post

Anil Dash examines how public spaces are less valued when they are owned by private companies as evidenced in New York City.

March 13 - Anil Dash

Ambitious plans to remake considerable portions of San Francisco's Waterfront in preparation for the America’s Cup yacht race, to be staged in the city in 2013, have been significantly scaled back, reports George Calys

March 13 - The Architect's Newspaper

Today, Gallup Wellbeing has released new findings on community satisfaction and optimism, evaluating 190 U.S. metro areas based on how residents feel about where they live and where their community is headed.

March 13 - Gallup Wellbeing

Yesterday James Corner Field Operations and Diller Scofidio + Renfro unveiled their designs for the third and final phase of the High Line, and <em>The Architect's Newspaper</em> has a plethora of tantalizing renderings.

March 13 - The Architect's Newspaper

Defying logic, as the world entered recession its poorest made inroads out of "extreme poverty" according to a new World Bank report. In 2009 a similar report predicted just the opposite would happen due to recession. Why the improvement?

March 13 - The New York Times - World

With more than 600 cities in the U.S. developing or having enacted formal climate plans, Nate Berg investigates disconcerting new findings that show a lack of any causal connection between greenhouse gas reductions and climate action plans.

March 13 - The Atlantic Cities

Elizabeth A. Harris explores the New York City Housing Authority's extensive underoccupied public housing dilemma and how attempts at resolving the issue delicately are failing to address the problem.

March 13 - The New York Times

The same issues afflicting transit agencies across the country, the perfect storm of declining funding and rising costs, are conspiring to challenge Portland's leadership in transit innovation and adoption, reports Ryan Holeywell.

March 13 - Governing

Lisa Donovan reports that the city of Chicago has plugged a $9 million shortfall in funding required to begin construction on the long-anticipated Bloomingdale Trail project.

March 13 - Chicago Sun-Times

After decades spent redeveloping Hollywood's starring attractions along Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards, its alleyways are the focus of an on-going beautification effort, reports Jessica Gelt.

March 12 - Los Angeles Times

Diana Lind previews the 2012 Earth Summit being held in 100 days in Rio, and argues why one of the year's most significant climate change conferences should receive more attention.

March 12 - Next American City

Jeffrey Spivak reports on the federal government's pioneering efforts in net-zero building design and construction.

March 12 - Planning

A new study released today by the American Public Transportation Association shows that public transportation ridership across the United States increased by 2.31% in 2011 over the previous year, rising to the second highest level since 1957.

March 12 - USA Today

Richey Piiparinen examines the two, often antagonistic, worlds that he straddles as a mid-30′s native Rust Belt romantic, and finds fellowship with those in other legacy cities.

March 12 - Rust Wire

Vivan S. Toy examines the fate of several condo developments in New York that employed brand name architects to sell their products during the housing boom, and finds mixed results.

March 12 - The New York Times