The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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<div>I learned with great sadness about the loss of William Mitchell, 65, this past friday after a long battle with cancer. Bill was the chair of my Ph.D. committee, a mentor and a friend.</div><div><p>&nbsp;</p>

June 13 - Anthony Townsend

William Rivers Pitt says it's all too easy to blame BP or the politicians who deregulated the oil industry. Ultimately, he says, all of us are to blame for the Gulf oil disaster and the damage wrought by fossil fuels.

June 13 - Truthout

A debate is simmering in Los Angeles between transit planners, developers, urban planners, and community activists about the future of transit-oriented development.

June 13 - Los Angeles Streetsblog

The jury is out on skyscrapers- are they responsible density, or terrible energy hogs? As Indian cities like Mumbai and Delhi grow, architect Aditi Nargundkar Pathak says the time to consider skyscrapers is now.

June 13 - http://www.theurbanvision.com

John King is encouraged by the nascent plans for a "fantastical" new landscape at the eastern end of the Bay Bridge. The Bay Area has a chance to create something as "lasting and bold" as the high line in New York or Chicago's millennium park.

June 13 - San Francisco Chronicle

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<p> A recent Planetizen interview on the <a href="/node/44392" target="_blank">relationship between park space and active living</a> got me thinking about what spaces inspire physical activity and what spaces discourage it. </p> <p> In my old apartment complex, the indoor fitness centers were jammed while the nearby riverside walking trails were desolate, despite nearly perfect year-round weather.  Why? The trails were perceived as unsafe because they were completely isolated from view. </p>

June 12 - Diana DeRubertis

Judge Raymond Pianka of Cleveland’s Housing Court has taken a hard line on landowners that let their homes fall into disrepair, blighting suffering neighborhoods. But a higher court may be clipping Pianka's wings.

June 12 - Next American City

A Catholic charity in Kansas City got a lot of requests from the immigrants they were assisting from Africa and Asia for a place to plant vegetables. The resulting hybrid of community farm/microbusiness is flourishing.

June 12 - Grist

Embassies are a critical diplomatic tool, but their original emphasis on representing a state has given way to defending the diplomats inside.

June 12 - Sustainable Cities Collective

Joe Peach understands "that online technologies and the city are becoming increasingly integrated," and argues that social media should have a democratizing effect on the planning process.

June 12 - thisbigcity.net

"A once radical idea - that health and urbanism are so deeply entwined that investing in the latter may improve the former -- is beginning to find broad adoption," concludes Fast Company. Greg Lindsay charts the realization of this relationship.

June 12 - Fast Company

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<!--StartFragment--><p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; font-family: Cambria">Jay McChord is as energetic and passionate a person as you’ll find in America. While many know him as a generational communication consultant, a Lexington, Kentucky City Councilman, or even as a former University of Kentucky “Wildcat” mascot, livable streets advocates should know him as the chief architect of the only statewide ciclovia program in the United States: Kentucky’s <a href="http://www.2ndsundayky.com/Second"></a>(2S) initiative (<span style="font-family: Cambria, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.2ndsundayky.com/index.htm">http://www.2ndsundayky.com/index.htm</a>).</span></span></p>

June 11 - Mike Lydon

The staff of the BUILDblog review the architectural approach, style and design of kid-constructed couch forts.

June 11 - Build Blog

Are there two many stores? Growing evidence says yes, that the retail market is unlikely to spring back and with the shift to internet spending, it's likely that we've already got more retail space than we need.

June 11 - ArtVoice

Minneapolis follows Denver in launching it's public bicycle sharing program today. The bicycles will provide a fast, convenient and carbon neutral means of getting around and are based on the highly successful Parisian scheme.

June 11 - The Minn Post

Daniel Jacobson, an undergrad at Stanford, developed a thorough study recommending everything the City of Oakland would need to build, run and finance a streetcar through its downtown.

June 11 - The San Francisco Chronicle

As states elbow each other to lure movie makers to their markets with increasingly attractive tax incentives, some say the competition has gone too far.

June 11 - Governing

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has created a magical zen landscape in a plaza at the University of Milan, using stones, fabric, and light.

June 11 - Fast Company

Renewable Energy World reports that think tanks are making hug strides in the efficiency of solar panels.

June 11 - Renewable Energy World

A forest management company in Northern Idaho has set aside a 647-acre grizzly bear habitat. Part of the deal is that the company will not log while the grizzlies are in the house.

June 11 - Bonners Ferry Herald