The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BLOG POST

<p> Before moving to New York, I&#39;d viewed street design through a fairly simple lens: narrow streets good, wide streets bad.  By and large, I still hold this view.  But after living here for a few months, I have learned that not all wide streets are equally bad.   The wide roads of the South are generally terrible, but New York has made some of its wide streets a bit more pedestrian-friendly.  To see why, go to <a href="http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/learn/using-street-view.html">Google Street View</a> and examine three addresses: 5019 U.S. 23 in Chamblee, Georgia, 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn&#39;s Crown Heights neighborhood, and 107-43 Queens Boulevard in my current Queens neighborhood of Forest Hills. </p>

October 24 - Michael Lewyn

The food truck phenomenon is here to stay and stimulating tangential industries that include truck outfitters, permit expediters, lawyers lobbyists, website designers, and marketing professionals.

October 24 - The Atlantic

Famed urbanist Jan Gehl looks back at the writing and thought on how people use the urban environment -- including his own -- over the past 40 years.

October 24 - Life & Urbanism

Shifting demographics combined with changes in lifestyle preferences and growing frustration at the limitations of auto-oriented living is leading to a shift away from car use and ownership, some experts say.

October 24 - The Globe and Mail

The logistics involved in maintaining the Occupy Wall Street protests turn out to be some of the very activities that homeless people have been banned from doing in most cities for years.

October 24 - Salon.com

Eric Loveday of AutoBlogGreen explains why we'll be seeing a lot more diesels in the U.S.: increased federal emission standards will only be met by increasing the number of diesel cars on the market.

October 24 - AutoBlogGreen

Michelle Bruch talks with placemaking expert Fred Kent about the makeover he helped orchestrate of Detroit's Campus Martius Park.

October 24 - YongeStreet

Jason Griffiths and Alex Gino set out in 2002 to document the unremarkable character of the American suburbs. 22,382 miles and 2,593 photographs later, they concluded that suburbia "is difficult to define."

October 24 - Design Observer

Transportation consultant Jeff Tumlin admits that it's no easy job to convince people (let alone political leaders) that it's in their best interest, and that of their community, that parking should not be free. New technology may be the ticket.

October 24 - the Atlantic Cities: Place matters

Unable to pay for transportation infrastructure and unlikely to get help at the federal level, cities and states are looking to private entities to build and invest in their infrastructure projects.

October 23 - The Washington Post

The 2010 Census reveals that Detroit's population is approaching the 1910's level. Of the City's 714,000 residents, 83% are black and nearly 40% live in poverty. With virtually every statistic going against its favor, can Motown make a comeback?

October 23 - The Economist

Stación-ARquitectura Arquitectos has designed a modular home to house poor families in Monterrey, Mexico.

October 23 - Inhabitat

New York City may be diverse, but it is also one of the most segregated places in the country, and a rash of recent events involving civic employees reflects this. Until this is remedied, New Yorkers "won't have as much to brag about as we think."

October 23 - The New York Times

Olympic Planners have just ten months left to prepare for an anticipated 15 million trips a day during the event in an already congested city. So far, about 6.5 billion pounds ($10.2 billion) has been invested.

October 23 - The Washington Post

Kaid Benfield argues that continues revitalization of inner city neighborhoods is essential to achieving an equitable civil society, sustainable patterns of growth and maintaining a tax base to fund civic improvements.

October 22 - The Atlantic

Mark Byrnes' slideshow introduces the most welcoming welcome signs in North America.

October 22 - The Atlantic

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> As readers of this blog will know I encourage people to find out about planning programs in multiple ways. Reading the work of faculty is a crucial first step as is reading the program’s web site. Visiting open houses or connecting with students (programs often set up some kind of chat space around admission time) are also options. Increasingly schools are using multiple forms of social media to reach current students and alums providing a useful window onto the programs for prospective students. This list highlights a few of these sources used specifically by planning programs.

October 22 - Ann Forsyth

History was made at a contentious California Air Resources Board Meeting when the board unanimously approved the nation's first Cap & Trade program to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. The program results from CA's 2006 landmark climate law, AB 32.

October 22 - Los Angeles Times

Community board members, representing a traditionally Dominican neighborhood with six- to 10-story buildings, recently rejected one developer's plans for a mixed-income project of 800+ apartments, fearing gentrification and non-contextual development

October 22 - The New York Times

While some may grudgingly eat the extra fee to park downtown on weekdays, others may look toward more reliance on the El--the desired response. But is a flat congestion fee on top of already existing parking rates the best way to go?

October 22 - NPR