The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
High Prices Pushing More Marylanders Out
<p>Maryland residents are being pushed farther and farther away from Washington D.C. due to rising house prices.</p>
BLOG POST
Smart Growth Safety Benefits
<p class="MsoNormal" align="left">Many families move to sprawled, automobile-dependent suburbs because they want a safe place to raise their children. They are mistaken. A smart growth community is actually a much safer and healthier place to live overall.</p>
Cities Consider Forming Own Agencies After Metro Transit Funding Measure Fails
<p>A measure that would have increased funding for Milwaukee-area commuter transit was recently voted down, fueling a push for neighboring cities to break away and form their own transit agencies.</p>
Transit Riders Challenge Edmonton City Councillors To Take The Bus
<p>The Transit Riders' Union of Edmonton has challenged city councilors in Edmonton, Alberta to give up their private vehicles. Four councilors will rely exclusively on public transit for the next week.</p>
'Most Dangerous Cities' List Released, Met With Criticism
<p>The latest report on America's most dangerous cities has been released, and Detroit is once again at the top. Critics are bashing the study, saying the FBI crime statistics it is based on do not tell the whole story of each city.</p>
Boston's Newest U-Turn Confounds Users
<p>Despite predictions of heavy use, a mere 200 vehicles a day are using a high-capacity expressway U-turn intended to ease traffic on the city's surface streets.</p>
Pittsburgh Set To Allow Density Bonuses For Green Buildings
<p>The Pittsburgh City Council is unanimously backing legislation to allow LEED-certified buildings to be taller and bigger than zoning ordinances would normally allow.</p>
City Of Victoria Wants Lawn Bowling Club Gone From Prime Downtown Location
<p>The scene of white-clad lawn bowlers playing amid highrises, long an icon of downtown Victoria, will soon vanish, as the city plans to turn a long-established club's greens into underground parking and a hard-surfaced urban plaza.</p>
Retail Incubation Growing In Downtowns
<p>'Retail incubation' is finding footing in New Jersey and nationally as a downtown revitalization tool.</p>
Urban Renewal: The Movie
<p>Kansas City's ambitious urban-renewal effort to reinvent its downtown is being captured on film.</p>
Satellite Imagery Reveals Katrina's 'Unprecedented' Impact
According to new analysis of satellite data, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 320 million trees. Dead trees will release about 367 million tons of carbon dioxide as they decompose.
More Pedestrians Hit By Cars After Time Change
The daylight savings time change earlier this month has been blamed for a rash of pedestrian deaths and injuries from car collisions in Toronto. The city is looking to police to step up enforcement to cut down the number of injuries.
Alaska Grows And Grays
<p>Demographers are estimating that the population of Alaska will surpass 800,000 by the year 2030. The population 65 and older is expected to grow the fastest between now and then.</p>
Washington Struggles With Housing Affordability
<p>Housing affordability is becoming a major issue in Washington, where workers increasingly have to "drive to qualify".</p>
BLOG POST
Libertarians v. Planners - Round II
<p>Last year California was one of the states targeted by libertarians in the post-Kelo environment for an initiative that, if successful, would essentially outlaw takings. The country is still at near-fever pitch about eminent domain, but the really scary aspect of the legislation (modeled on Oregon's Prop 37) was that it would have virtually tied local governments' hands with regard to regulatory takings as well. In California Proposition 90 failed to pass after the New York developer who was financing the campaign stopped funding it. However, the Yes campaign had created some strange bedfellows, with poor African-Americans in particular advocating Yes votes as a way to end the destruction of their neighborhoods through badly managed redevelopment initiatives.</p>
New Golf Communities Focus Less On The Golf, More On The Community
<p>The golf community evolves to include more amenities and place-making design.</p>
Cities Abandonded? Mass Migrations? The Questions No One is Asking About Drought
<p>Atlanta and the southeast are running out of water. But they're not alone: this year has been the driest on record in many parts of the globe. It's time to consider some worst-case scenarios, writes Tom Engelhardt.</p>
L.A. Set To Become Next Big City To Mandate Green Development
<p>The L.A. planning commission approved regulations requiring that major new developments meet U.S. Green Building Council LEED standards, with the goal of reducing energy use in new building by 15%.</p>
The World Beneath Paris
<p>An extensive tunnel system exists beneath the city of Paris, playing a major infrastructural role, but also serving as an interesting tourist attraction and look at the underbelly of the historic city.</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.
