The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
New DC Zoning Code Goes Back to the Future
David Alpert provides a thorough analysis of the first third of Washington D.C.'s proposed new zoning code, and finds a return to kind of development patterns that formed the neighborhoods residents treasure today.
Using the Wrong Metrics for Creating Great Streets
Gary Toth considers the damage to the quality of our streets and urban environments caused by the use of travel projection models and Levels of Service (LOS) as performance metrics.
BLOG POST
Information Sources in Planning: Principles
<div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"> "What is an ideology without a space to which it refers, a space which it describes, whose vocabulary and kinks it makes use of, and whose code it embodies?" </div> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center"> <span> </span>- Henri Lefebvre, <a href="http://books.google.ca/books/about/The_production_of_space.html?id=SIXcnIoa4MwC&redir_esc=y"><em>The Production of Space</em></a> p. 44. </p>
Effort to Make NYC Streets Safer Paying Dividends
Jane E. Brody reports on the safety features New York City has instituted as part of an ambitious effort to completely re-engineer city streets.
House and Senate Transportation Bills on a Collision Course
As the bi-partisan Senate transportation bill cues up for its first vote on Thursday and the partisan House bill gets roughed up in committee, the prospects for reconciling the bills seems dim.
Using Adaptive Reuse to Scale the Urban Future
Chuck Wolfe uses the urban scale adaptive reuse of the Roman Emperor Diocletian's retirement palace in Split, Croatia to argue for blending the past and future on a broader scale.
The Burden of Frederick Law Olmsted
Mark Hough laments the chronic, debilitating inferiority complex afflicting Landscape Architects and the crutch that Frederick Law Olmsted provides.
The New American Dream: A Sidewalk
Nona Willis Aronowitz reports on a new survey indicating 60% of respondents would sacrifice a bigger house to live in a neighborhood that featured a mix of houses, stores, and businesses within an easy walk.
What Has 16 Pedals, 12 Seats, and Goes Up to 10 MPH?
The first bicycle bus for schoolchildren, built by Dutch company Tolkamp Metaalspecials, of course.
Wind Farm Proposal off New Jersey Shoreline Draws Controversy
An independent analysis insists that Fishermen's Energy's 30-megawatt wind farm project could cause a statewide economic disaster, writes Tom Johnson.
Why Tea Party Criticism Should Matter to Planners
Andrew H. Whittemore contends that planners dismiss the far-fetched theories of a grand United Nations sustainability conspiracy at their own peril.
New Study Ties Housing Affordability to Sustainability
Sarah Laskow reports on a new study by the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) that seeks to rethink how affordable housing is defined to incorporate transportation costs.
Assessing Miami's New Urban Experiment
Three years after its adoption, Sean McCaughan assesses the impact of Miami 21, first New Urbanist zoning code adopted by a major American city.
Saving the Mall By Returning to Its Ideals
Stephanie Clifford documents the extraordinary lengths malls across the country are going to in hopes of attracting customers in the face of e-commerce and a battered economy.
In the Bright Sun of the Desert, a Difficult Compromise is Exposed
Julie Cart writes about the solar power compromises being forged in the deserts of the American Southwest, where the landscape is being sacrificed on the altar of alternative energy.
Mastering the Art of Stairway Persuasion
A new study shows that a friendly reminder of the health benefits of taking the stairs can cause a sustainable increase in their use, writes Jeannine Stein.
The Obama Administration's Crusade for Homeowners
President Obama's multi-billion dollar proposal to help homeowners involves providing them refinanced, government-backed loans. The plan is not without its doubters, however.
See the New WTC Views, 80 Floors Up
This Architizer blog post features breathtaking photos from the WTC Progress Twitter account.
Toward a More Inclusive Planning Process
Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson raises the issue that there are not enough minorities representing the communities that planners and designers strive to make better.
Pagination
One Hundred Miles
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Montrose County
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.