The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

In a remarkable show of cooperation between the auto industry and the administration, the two agreed upon the highest increase since the advent of fuel efficiency standards. Current standards require 35.5 mpg by 2016 - safeguards exist for problems.

August 1 - The New York Times - Business Day

FEATURE

This famous statement by Mahatma Gandhi is being challenged by urbanists today who see a shining future for India in its cities. Architect Dhiru Thadani writes that Gandhi's vision of village life can apply to all levels of urban form.

August 1 - Dhiru Thadani

South Korea is making perhaps the biggest moves towards creating a vast "smart" electricity grid with a test grid of homes equipped with new meters and applications that communicate with each other and the grid.

August 1 - The New York Times

Lawmakers are likely to consider a controversial plan this summer to remove a series of dams on the Klamath River to help restore endangered salmon populations.

August 1 - National Geographic

Extortion by street gangs has been a way of life for bus drivers in Medellin for years. But recent refusals to pay -- and subsequent murders of drivers -- has led to a massive bus strike.

August 1 - The City Fix

After years of denial, the Chinese government has admitted that its massive Three Gorges Dam project is destabilizing the land around the reservoir.

August 1 - The Christian Science Monitor

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed a change to local rules that would allow urban gardens to expand and sell produce within the city.

August 1 - Chicago Tribune

The moribund state of the Los Angeles River reflects the zeitgeist of the city that it runs through, says The Economist. A mile wide but an inch deep, revitalization proposals are too conceptual at best and too feeble at worst.

August 1 - The Economist

According to Mayor Bloomberg's latest press release, nearly 19,000 cyclists populate the streets of NYC on a daily basis - that's 2,300 more than last spring. The growing popularity makes the soon to be unveiled bike-sharing system looks promising.

July 31 - Transportation Nation

Officials in Detroit have unveiled plans to taper off public services in certain parts of town unlikely to see their populations rebound and to focus on areas likely to recover.

July 31 - The Detroit News

The creation of a park in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, is credited with helping the city lure new development and stay economically healthy during the recession.

July 31 - NPR

As Singapore's population booms, officials are working through plans to help the city absorb its people but also provide them with adequate green space.

July 31 - The New York Times

With an eye to the future, the planners of London's Olympics have built the Olympics venues in a depressed part of town. They're hoping their work will turn the area around.

July 31 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<p> A few months ago, I updated a city rating system (available at http://lewyn.tripod.com/livable09) that evaluated cities&#39; &quot;livability&quot; by rating crime rates, transit-friendliness, and cost of housing.   </p> <p> Plenty of cities did very well on the first two criteria.  For example, New York is now safer than most big cities, and of course is by far the best city in the U.S. for public transit.  But its housing costs are dreadfully high.  The same was true of Boston and San Francisco (which, if only crime and transit were considered, would rank second and third for livability).   </p>

July 30 - Michael Lewyn

Before there were "smart cities", there was R. Buckminster Fuller.

July 30 - The New York Times

London Evening Standard columnist Kieran Long takes a tour through London's Olympic Park and finds a new public space that will likely show its importance long after the games are over.

July 30 - London Evening Standard

This essay from <em>Places</em> looks at the history of "architectural fiction", and how imagined spaces and uses of land enrich understanding of the built environment.

July 30 - Places

NIMBYism served a purpose once, says Scott Doyon, preventing all sorts of heinous projects from being built. But eventually, it became about stopping ALL change. Doyon has some recommendations for changing course.

July 30 - PlaceShakers

Mayor Thomas Menino declared that "the car is no longer king in Boston" as the Hubway bike-sharing system made its debut this week, putting the city abreast with Washington D.C.

July 30 - WBUR

An Al Queda spokesperson says that they refuse to attack any U.S. bridges or any part of the transportation system because they're already in such a poor state no one will notice.

July 29 - The Onion