The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

In Ohio, officials are looking at new ways to liven up their parks. They are providing incentives for volunteers to help beautify and maintain the parks, in addition to adding new programs to attract users to frequent the parks.

November 15 - American City and Country

In New York, Arts for Transit is a program that was started to bring "original and integrated artworks into MTA stations and spaces and to promote design excellence." Director, Sandra Bloodworth sits with Urban Omnibus to discuss the program.

November 15 - Urban Omnibus

Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution proposes that cities are fueling themselves too heavily through "Starbucks, stadia and stealing businesses," sources he says are just recycling local dollars instead of attracting global income sources.

November 15 - Governing Magazine

The master-planned community of Suncoast Meadows in Land O' Lakes, Florida was built partially on a former landfill site. Home buyers were never told, and are now unsure of the value of their homes.

November 15 - Tampa Tribune

Rep. Earl Blumenauer says that Portland has done great things, but that other cities are catching up to the city's formula for success and will soon outstrip them.

November 15 - Oregon Metro

Foster + Partners reveal a utopian transit master plan so massive that it requires us to consider it "on a level that transcends appearance." The design seeks to streamline connections to the rest of the world through subterranean engineering.

November 15 - The Atlantic

In Merced, California, students fill in the large homes chockablock with amenities and left vacant by a high foreclosure rate. Rents often go for under $300 a month.

November 15 - The New York Times

In Grand Rapids, a number of no-longer-needed elementary schools are being transformed into apartment buildings, while the playgrounds and sports fields are turned into city parks.

November 15 - The Grand Rapids Press

BLOG POST

<p> <span style="color: #2a2a2a"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman">After reading an article on the misuse of CEQA in California,* I took a short look at New York law.<span>  </span>In New York, city planners must prepare an environmental assessment when property is rezoned, and must prepare a more detailed environmental impact statement (EIS) if property has a significant effect on the environment. </span></span></span><span style="color: #2a2a2a"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small"> </span></span> </p>

November 14 - Michael Lewyn

Anthony Flint looks at the legacy of Jane Jacobs upon the 50th anniversary of the release of "The Death and Life of Great American Cities."

November 14 - The Boston Globe

It's a new thought process driven by landscape architects that takes infrastructure that was previously single-use and turns it to multiple uses such as stormwater runoff and social equity.

November 14 - The Atlantic Cities

The plan to create a floating public space along the Thames is a great idea, writes critic Rowan Moore, but the proposed London River Park will suffer from its private ownership and management.

November 14 - The Guardian U.K.

FEATURE

Long known as a land of sprawl and disconnected communities, Los Angeles has emerged as a leader in transit investments, providing forward-thinking leadership for how infrastructure finance can and should continue, even in difficult financial times, writes Allison Brooks and Darnell Chadwick Grisby of Reconnecting America.

November 14 - Allison Brooks

Passenger rail used to connect Columbus, Georgia with Atlanta, but the tracks have been silent since 1970. Today, local leaders and activists are pushing for a restoration of train service to Atlanta from Macon, Athens and Columbus.

November 14 - The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

When a student housing firm faced competition in the form of a proposed new building at USC, it filed a lawsuit against them using CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act). Then they sued the developer's other projects too.

November 14 - The Los Angeles Times

WebUrbanist tells the curious story of the Gate Tower Building in Osaka, Japan. Property rights battles between the owners and transportation planners resulted in a high-rise tower with a freeway running through the 5th floor.

November 14 - WebUrbanist

Transit agencies and railroad companies realize the importance of infrastructure, as their train cars roll over bridges and through tunnels every day. This article looks at advances in bridge construction begin driven by these private industries.

November 14 - Progressive Railroading

Neal Peirce says its time to bring back the "rooming house" and other alternative housing options as an alternative to the single-family home.

November 14 - Citiwire.net

Bicycle builders Parlee Bikes have constructed a bicycle that can be steered by your thoughts, received through a sensor-covered helmet.

November 14 - AutoBlogGreen

Americans are driving less and more efficiently, resulting in reduced gas consumption - yet prices are rising. What gives? For a nation that relies on oil imports despite surging drilling, the answer is unusual.

November 14 - Los Angeles Times - Business