The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Gas Pipelines Through Neighborhoods Are A Difficult Proposition
<p>Fort Worth, Texas officials try to tackle the thorny issue of gas pipelines snaking through residential neighborhoods.</p>
Would Starbucks and Designer Interiors Get You to Ride Transit?
<p>Toronto's Metrolink brings together city and transportation planners to brainstorm the transit of the future.</p>
New San Francisco Parks Key to Neighborhood Vibrancy
<p>Two new parks in San Francisco show how great neighborhoods are defined by their public spaces, according to this article from the <em>San Francisco Chronicle</em>.</p>
Paris Plans Green Car Sharing System
<p>Following on the success of its bike-sharing system, Paris is planning to unveil a citywide green car-sharing system.</p>
The Transformation of a Neighborhood
<p>Steven Malanga writes about the resurrection of Bushwick, a Brooklyn neighborhood, from its decrepit past.</p>
Vancouverism on Exhibition
<p>An unusual art installation in Trafalgar Square draws attention to Vancouverism: Westcoast Architecture and City Building, an exhibition about the city's achievements in urban development, engineering and architecture.</p>
Boston Artist District Battles Gentrification
<p>Boston's Fort Point Channel neighborhood, New England's largest artist community, is struggling to retain its identity as developers continue to transform studio space into condominiums.</p>
BLOG POST
The Quest for Energy: The Input/Output Problem
<p> In August of 2006, an unknown Irish company called Steorn took out a full-page ad in The Economist to announce that they had created a magnetic technology that produced more energy than it used- essentially, a perpetual motion machine, the Holy Grail of energy. </p>
Freeway Expansion Leads to Increased Traffic
<p>A year after a new freeway was completed in Southern California, traffic data shows increased use. Officials plan to widen the freeway to handle the increased load.</p>
Lego Living: Shipping Containers Become Affordable Housing
<p>A developer in New Jersey is looking to shipping containers as building blocks for affordable housing.</p>
The Housing Bubble as a Social Phenomenon
<p>In this excerpt from his forthcoming book, Subprime Solution, economist Robert J. Shiller writes of our tendency to succumb to "bubble thinking," and the role this has played in the current mortgage crisis.</p>
BLOG POST
Learning from exam schools
<p> Yesterday’s Washington Post contained <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/23/AR2008062300297.html?hpid=news-col-blog">a list of elite public schools</a>- schools where the average student SAT is over 1300. Since suburban schools generally have better reputations than urban schools, one might expect that all the schools on the list would be in prestigious suburban school districts. But in fact, this is not the case. Three New York City schools (Stuyvestant, Hunter College, Bronx High) and one school near downtown Richmond (Maggie Walker) are on the high-SAT list- despite the fact that the New York City and Richmond school districts, like nearly all urban school districts, have mediocre reputations. </p>
Despite Streetcar Skeleton, Chicago Leans Towards BRT
<p>Transit officials in Chicago are calling on the city to rebuild its historic streetcar system. Rails still exist on many streets, but city officials are leaning away from streetcars and towards bus rapid transit.</p>
One Blight Down, One To Go
<p>In this op-ed piece, Kevin C. Phelan and Yanni Tsipis argue that Boston's 'Big Dig' has only fought half the battle, calling for a more proactive approach to building over the city's other auto sewer, the Massachusetts Turnpike.</p>
St. Louis Comes Back
<p>Despite predictions that the city was dying, St. Louis has just won an "All-America City" award. Neal Peirce looks at how the city turned itself around.</p>
Airport Easements Cause Uproar
<p>A new airport overlay district in Sioux Falls, South Dakota has nearby homeowners crying 'taking!' Airport officials say, 'All we're trying to do is make sure we have good neighbors.'</p>
Presidential Candidate Calls on Mayors to Embrace Urban Growth
<p>Building a strong country is reliant on strong urban regions, according to Senator Barack Obama, who recently spoke with a conference of U.S. mayors about the importance of urban growth. Federal funding, however, will be limited, he said.</p>
New Orleans Streets Updated
<p>This story from <em>NPR</em> looks at a new bike lane in New Orleans, and other efforts the city is taking to update its street infrastructure.</p>
The Changing Skyline of Beijing
<p>A new building by Rem Koolhaas in Beijing is part of a wave of modern construction that is changing the tightly-planned urban fabric of the Chinese capital.</p>
San FranYuppyland?
<p>San Francisco's rapid loss of low and middle-income residents is taking a toll on the city's social fabric.</p>
Pagination
County of Mendocino
planning NEXT
City of Thousand Oaks
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.