The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

BLOG POST

<p> These days, I have more in common with my nephew Sam than just about anyone else. He just turned 3. </p> <p> Sam is a train fanatic. Sure, he loves the children’s classics—Thomas the Tank Engine, the Polar Express—but he can also tell you about the Eurostar and the Shinkansen. His recent first ride on Amtrak was like his locomotive bar mitzvah: <em>Today, I am a passenger.</em> </p> <p> I’ve spent all semester working on a studio project making the case for true high-speed rail in the Northeast megaregion. I picked the studio because, like Sam, I’m thrilled by trains, but an added perk is that every time I come with some new picture or factoid about the big, fast choo-choos, I move up a notch in the running for Uncle of the Year. </p>

April 24 - Jeffrey Barg

Mayor Byron Brown announced that the city's new code will be the "Buffalo Green Code," supporting walkable, sustainable neighborhoods.

April 24 - Buffalo Rising

This post from <em>The New Republic</em> explains how the federal budget includes plans to upgrade some of the varied parts that track statistics in the country.

April 24 - The New Republic

Riders of San Francisco's Muni bus system often complain that the buses stop too much. Now, evidence is building that simply consolidating bus stops will help to make the buses run faster and more reliably.

April 24 - Streetfilms

BLOG POST

<p> I&#39;m writing from Cambridge, where the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Harvard Graduate School of Design are hosting their annual shindig for a small crew of journalists crazy enough to have urban issues as their beat. </p>

April 23 - Tim Halbur

Christopher Hawthorne remarks that Brasilia had an optimism that is remarkably different from today's new cities that are striving towards sustainability and preparing for eco-disasters.

April 23 - The Los Angeles Times

Winnipeg has been debating -- and studying-- rapid transit for decades. With the first leg of a BRT system finally under construction, critics are questioning the mayor's decision to fund yet another study on LRT.

April 23 - The Winnipeg Free Press

A hotel in Copenhagen offers $40 meal vouchers for anyone who produces 10 watt hours of electricity using their wired-up stationery bicycles.

April 23 - Next100 (PG&E blog)

The Wall St. Journal reports on a growing trend for wineries to set up show in cities, trucking their grapes to warehouse "cellars" to be closer to the people.

April 23 - The Wall St. Journal

Brian Paul argues that developers have jumped on the transit-oriented development bandwagon without actually delivering true TOD.

April 23 - Gotham Gazette

A humble passageway through a building to a parking lot became a favorite public space with just a deli, a Starbucks, and some patio tables.

April 23 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Chicago City Hall boasts one of the world's most famous green roofs. As a result, the city has a reputation for being the capital of green roofs. But as architecture critic Blair Kamin notes from a bird's eye view, that's not exactly the case.

April 23 - Chicago Tribune

This blog post from <em>Governing</em> explores the similarities between San Francisco's troubled Tenderloin district and Los Angeles' Skid Row-adjacent Spring Street corridor, and why one struggles and the other has found some developmental success.

April 23 - Governing

This piece from <em>Places</em> takes a look at a new bus rapid transit system that is growing in the Indian city of Ahmedabad.

April 23 - Places

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are getting in the urban design racket with a new guide to community design that focuses on how urban form can affect public health.

April 23 - LAND

In a survey developed by Pepperdine's School of Public Policy for New Geography, Joel Kotkin says the results are depressing. Only 13 metro areas saw any job growth in the last year.

April 22 - New Geography

Many New Yorkers who haven't returned their census forms fear that doing so could cost them their apartments.

April 22 - City Limits

A new report from CEOs for Cities shows that New Yorkers save a lot of moola on their transportation costs because of their city's walkability and transit options.

April 22 - Streetsblog

Patrick L. Phillips, CEO of the Urban Land Institute, uses the occasion of Earth Day to say yes, "how we use land matters."

April 22 - ULI

Forbes Magazine analyzed major economic indicators for the country's 40 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) and discovered that 10 cities are facing worsening economic conditions.

April 22 - Forbes