The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
How New Yorkers Saved Their Public Spaces
Laura Vanderkam tells of a not-too-distant past where New York's parks and public places were in disarray, and it took public-private partnerships to bring them back to their former glory (and maybe better).
Governor Backs Environmental Alternative To 'Big Solar'
Environmental opposition to large solar and wind projects in the desert usually based on their biological impacts has long baffled many renewable power advocates. CA Gov. Jerry Brown expressed support for the alternative, 'distributed generation'.
Sunday Funny: Fake "Proposed Land Use Action" in Seattle
In Seattle's Green Lake neighborhood, a local with a wicked sense of humor has taken planning into his/her own hands, posting a plan to turn an empty eyesore of a lot into a public park.
Brookings Compares 'Zero-Vehicle Households' To Those With Vehicles
Not to be confused with zero-emission-vehicles, the Brookings Institution looks primarily at the demographics and access to jobs of what they define as zero-vehicle households. Access to vehicles reveals equity (income) and urban vs. suburban issues.
Learning to Love the Megabus
Private bus companies are gaining in popularity, but Aaron Renn says that a large segment of the "urbanist/sustainability community" despise them for no good reason.
Publicly-Funded Stadiums Bad Deal for Cities
Sports teams often coerce cities into contributing public funds toward the building of new stadiums. Numerous reports indicate that it's a bad deal for cities with little to no positive economic impact, writes Neal DeMause.
Complete Streets Arrives In Bay Area
Gary Richards, the Roadshow columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, provides many examples of redesigning streets for bikes, peds, and transit throughout the Bay Area, a direct result of the 2008 California Complete Streets legislation.
Times Square "Meeting Bowls" Bring People Together
New street furniture being tested in the Broadway pedestrian zone attempts to create a semi-sheltered, intimate space in the middle of the glitz of 42nd St.
Texas Infrastructure Under Gov. Perry
Now that Gov. Perry has declared his candidacy for President, the Houston Chronicle has begun a series of articles to spotlight how infrastructure has fared under the state's longest serving governor. Transportation is the focus of the first report.
Richard Florida Picks Hot Urban Neighborhoods
In USA Today, Florida picks 10 neighborhoods that give a "slice of local urban life," ranging from Miami's Wynwood and Design District to Fort Worth, Texas' West 7th community.
A Fictional City Traced in the Desert
A recent art project in Peru utilizes a robotic vehicle to trace a scale outline of a city into the empty desert, raising questions about urbanization in deserts and the formation of cities.
Thousands of Public Gardens for London 2012
Leading up to the 2012 Olympics, a group in London is taking advantage of stalled building projects to create 2,012 public gardens in the city before the sporting event.
Friday Funny: Crossing the Street in Vietnam Takes Gumption
What crosswalk? Watch this man effortlessly synchronizes his steady gait with the oncoming cavalry of cars, buses, and motorcycles as he crosses a busy street in Vietnam. If there is fear, he sure does a great job not showing it.
Expanding the Panama Canal On Time and Under Budget
Completed in 1914, the project was the most ambitious undertaking by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in its time. Today, the $5.25 billion upgrade is in the works.
Stalled Projects Don't Stop Las Vegas Redevelopment
Despite a raft of major projects that have stalled, smaller-scale projects are moving ahead in Las Vegas.
Pop-Up Planters Sprout Up Around the Streets of SF
John King of The San Francisco Chronicle examines the installation of mobile planters around the Yerba Buena District in San Francisco; part of a 10-year revitalization initiative to bring new meaning and boundaries surrounding public space.
NYC Jumps on the Gravy (or, uh, Tomato) Train
Mayor Michael Bloomberg ramps up efforts to support NYC's growing urban food cluster via set up new legislation, signed yesterday.
Vision Lacking in Downtown L.A. Stadium Plan
Plans for a downtown football stadium in Los Angeles are seeming ever more likely to pan out. The project present an opportunity for the city to develop a major center, but shortsightedness could keep it from becoming an exciting part of the city.
The Trouble with Designing for Transit Preference
Suburban areas don't necessarily equate with car-dependence, according to some New Urbanist plans for far-out areas. But convincing residents to opt for transit can be a challenge.
Place Overpowers Bunkers in Cleveland's Post-9/11 Projects
A decade after terrorist attacks looked to usher in an age of security-heavy architecture, new projects in cities are eschewing the security bunker for eyes and feet on the street.
City of Mt Shasta
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
