The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Boston Trains Run Cheaper But Late
<p>A report by <em>The Boston Globe</em> finds that the Boston area transit system costs less to operate than other major American transit systems -- but it has one of the worst on-time arrival performances in the nation.</p>
National Heritage Areas In Center of Property Rights Debate
<p>With more and more land receiving federal protection as National Heritage Areas, property rights activists are butting heads with the preservationists they say are taking rights away from landowners.</p>
Is A Subway System Possible In Kansas City?
<p>The city may consider a heavy rail subway system after overturning a light rail ballot initiative.</p>
BLOG POST
Airports as a Brake on Global City Growth
<p> It seems that global cities across the world are running up against an unforeseen brake on their future growth - airport and airspace congestion. </p>
New Orleans To Slash Low Income Housing
<p>Plans to demolish low income housing and remove FEMA trailers are putting the poor of New Orleans in a tight spot.</p>
Four Options For Ranking Urban Planning Programs
<p>UCLA urban planning professor Randall Crane offers his observations on the four options that planning schools have for helping applicants decide to which schools they should apply and attend.</p>
FEATURE
Small Cities, Big Challenges
Lessons From America's Most Ambitious Infrastructure Project
<p>The City Journal examines lessons from Boston's 35-year, $14.8 billion Big Dig project and asks how can American invest in infrastructure -- and do it intelligently?</p>
Report Says Growth Management Plans Make Housing Unaffordable
<p>In this new report from the Cato Institute, Randal O'Toole writes that regional growth management plans make housing unaffordable and that states with these laws should repeal them.</p>
Green Housing Meets Low Income
<p>This article from <em>Utne Reader</em> looks at a green housing complex that aimed at an atypical market: low-income residents.</p>
Munich: A Marvel Of Smart Growth and Urban Planning
<p>Urban planners and developers in the Western United States could learn a lot from Munich, Germany, argues one online commentator.</p>
BLOG POST
Considering a Smart Growth President
<p>It's often said that in America, urban development issues are decided at the local level. In general the rule of thumb is accurate, explaining a country home to cities as different in form as Houston, Texas and San Francisco, California. The notable exception to the rule is the country's interstate highway system, build with extensive involvement of the federal government. However, under closer inspection we can find a number of areas where federal funding and policies has a strong impact on urban development. A survey of what the leading presidential candidates are saying about urban policy suggests what priorities our next president may have.</p>
'Complete Streets' Movement Gaining Momentum
The new slogan for bicyclists and pedestrians across America is gaining attention, as well as weight, from a number of municipalities.
Bankrupt Developer Leaves Chicago Exurban Area Desolate
<p>The first new residents of the Clublands subdivision were promised a neighborhood. Instead they live among half-finished homes, unpaved roads, and darkened street lights as the community's developer wrestles with bankruptcy.</p>
Trendy Transit
<p>Subways are proliferating across the globe as metro status symbols and attracting new forms of urban investment.</p>
Brad Pitt Announces Plans To Build Eco-Friendly Homes In New Orleans
<p>The actor-turned-developer announced plans to build 150 environmentally-friendly homes for low-income families in New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward.</p>
Good Streets Include Streetcars
<p>Author Alex Marshall calls for the reconstruction of New York City's formerly omnipresent streetcar lines, starting with a Midtown Manhattan loop between 34th and 42nd Streets.</p>
College's Makeover Of Downtown Leaves Residents Sour
<p>A $40 million gift from a wealthy alumna helped Wells College transform the small town of Aurora, New York into a postcard perfect setting. But while enrollment is up, residents say the change hasn't been good for them.</p>
Chinese City To Public: Comments Welcomed
<p>In response to the outcry over a proposed chemical factory, the City of Xiamen has published an environmental impact report and is seeking public input on the project -- something rarely seen in China.</p>
Are Driverless Cars Finally Here?
<p>No longer science fiction, autonomous vehicles have the potential to reshape the transportation landscape. But are drivers ready to let go of the wheel?</p>
planning NEXT
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA)
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
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.
