The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Good planning is attracting young hipsters to cities throughout the world, writes Christopher F. Schuetze.

November 22 - International Herald Tribune via New York Times

The Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles is the testing grounds for Los Angeles' first bike lanes to incorporate a bright green color to indicate bike lanes and areas where bikes and cars share the space.

November 22 - LADOT Bike Blog

While there remains a greater likelihood of a Prius or other hybrid-electric vehicle being involved in a crash with a pedestrian or cyclist over a conventionally-powered vehicle, the incidence has decreased since 2009.

November 22 - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Heavy rains Sunday afternoon exacerbated a subsiding roadway in the L.A. suburb of San Pedro, leaving gaping holes and exposing plumbing and other infrastructure housed beneath the street.

November 21 - Los Angeles Times

The Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator will begin construction this winter of an artificial glacier to cool the city next summer and provide melt water for drinking and irrigation.

November 21 - The Atlantic

FEATURE

Planetizen’s tenth annual list of the best books in urban planning, design and development ranges from a crowdsourced compendium of ideas for upgrading New York City's built environment to a personal report from the streets of Karachi.

November 21 - Michael Dudley

Consumers still have "range anxiety", the fear that electric cars won't get them to and from their destinations on one charge. NPR looks at the attitudes that are still keeping people from investing in electric vehicles.

November 21 - NPR Morning Edition

The retail chains have each announced expansion plans for next year, even as many businesses are closing stores.

November 21 - Retail Traffic Magazine

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Courier New'">As my <a href="/node/52012" target="_blank">last post profiled</a>, Vancouver is creatively working to define the future of our Georgia and Dunsmuir Viaducts - infrastructure that I&#39;ve referred to as &quot;the asterix&quot; beside the statement that Vancouver has no freeways within our city.</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Courier New'"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: 'Courier New'">One of several inputs into that process is an open ideas competition called <a href="http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/reconnect/index.htm" target="_blank">re:CONNECT</a>.</span> </p>

November 21 - Brent Toderian

A report from the Sustainable Business Network recommends policy changes that will help Philadelphia improve business formation and job growth.

November 21 - Philadelphia Inquirer

Aaron M. Renn dissects the rise and fall of Atlanta, concluding that lack of differentiation paired with no job growth will bring mean "game over" for the city.

November 21 - The Urbanophile

Last week, Mayor Villaraigosa presented his vision for a more livable L.A., including the addition of fifty pocket parks.

November 21 - The Los Angeles Times

Saddled with an aging fleet of buses and infrequent schedules, the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency has secured federal funds to replace most of its fleet and build a new transit center.

November 21 - Napa Valley Register

Showing the arcane nature of NY governance, the decision as to whether Brooklyn residents will be able to have preferential parking in their neighborhoods is now being debated 150 miles away in the assembly and state senate chambers in Albany.

November 21 - Brooklyn Daily

Grist profiles Dylan House, a Brooklyn architect and "change agent" that is involving underserved community groups in charrettes to plan their urban spaces.

November 21 - Grist

Locals expressed fear and resistance over a revision to Chattanooga, Tennessee's urban growth plan.

November 20 - Chatanooga Times Free Press

A radio interview with New Urbanism co-founder Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk talks about remaking suburbia, and the new realities of development.

November 20 - WMFE-FM 90.7

Travel+Leisure Magazine presents a gallery of "the world's strangest buildings", which it presents as sites "worth a detour."

November 20 - Travel+Leisure

They're no longer totally synonymous with sprawl, reports Lew Sichelman, and are beginning to be found in in unlikely places--indicative of a move to brownfield over greenfield development. Changing consumer preferences explain why.

November 20 - Chicago Tribune

Like many cities, Fort Collins, CO is cash-strapped, but its plans are no longer dominated by handling sprawl. With development pressure out of the picture, a democratic blueprint for connecting residents to culture as well as space has emerged.

November 20 - The New York Times