The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

<p>After the San Francisco Planning Department rejects several condo projects for the city's historic State Armory and Arsenal Building on the edge of the Mission District, an Internet pornography studio buys the building to make films.</p>

February 23 - The Wall Street Journal

BLOG POST

<p>About two years ago, after teaching a course at NYU&#39;s Interactive Telecommunications Program on &quot;Digitally Mediated Urban Space&quot;, I wrote an article for the architectural design journal Praxis that sought to do do two things: 1) make sense of the wide array of digital technologies that are being deployed in urban space, and 2) present a couple of places that I thought exemplified good and bad &quot;design&quot; of digital public spaces. </p><p>Recently, my research on context-aware computing - computing based on sensors and artificial intelligence - has led me to revisit this piece. Around the same time, I got a call from Lucas Graves, a friend who writes for Wired, and was doing a piece on technologies that are &quot;perpetually around the corner&quot;. Lucas was mainly interested in things like videophones, but it coincided with a turn in my research to the applications side of context-awareness: smart cities, smart places, smart homes, and smart objects. As an urban planner, I immediately gravitated to thinking about smart cities and smart places, but wondered in the back of my mind - is this something that is really happening, or just another one of those technologies that are perpetually around the corner?<br />

February 23 - Anthony Townsend

<p>Even with widespread demolition of old buildings to make way for modern towers, the city still has more art deco buildings than anywhere else on earth. A new photo book hopes to inspire the city to preserve its rich architectural legacy.</p>

February 23 - Time Magazine

<p>The dramatic downturn in American real estate markets, combined with extraordinary levels of national debt, point to an economic crisis on par with the Great Depression, writes Mike Whitney.</p>

February 23 - The Atlantic Free Press

<p>Why industrial areas are vital to healthy cities.</p>

February 23 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>To the dismay of many residents, plans have been submitted for a housing development of more than 12,000 units in western Palm Beach County, Florida. Zoning and building guidelines would have to be changed to allow the development.</p>

February 23 - South Florida Sun-Sentinel

<p>As a virtual world where anything goes grows up, it's problems are not so different from real world communities.</p>

February 23 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>A report from <em>NPR</em> looks at a plan to redistribute land in Bolivia. Land owners are wary of of the plan, despite the government's promise that it would primarily redistribute its own land holdings, and then that of prospectors and investors.</p>

February 23 - NPR

<p>Phoenix Metro director is looking to expedite plans for a regional light rail system by drafting a strategy to garner and extra $1.7 billion needed to pursue the project.</p>

February 23 - The Arizona Republic

<p>Approving high density, smart growth developments has brought urbanity and monetary benefits to the town of Easton, Massachusetts.</p>

February 23 - The Boston Globe

<p>Israel's oldest kibbutz -- a communal living settlement founded on socialist principles -- has approved a vote allowing community members to retain private salaries instead of pooling their income for the entire community.</p>

February 22 - BBC

<p>In an effort to improve the accuracy of property information, 13 counties in North Central Texas have initiated an aerial photography project to document the land. Many hope the publicly available project will improve property appraisals.</p>

February 22 - Corsicana Daily Sun

<p>Rising sea levels are a reality in a country that contributes only a fraction of the world's greenhouse gases.</p>

February 22 - The Los Angeles Times

<p>In an effort to build community, Jerry Belanger has quietly redeveloped two bars along Detroit's burgeoning Park Street bar district.</p>

February 22 - Model D

<p>Cities are taking the lead in working towards a sustainable future, yet there's so much left to do. It's time for professionals to take a systems approach, argues Neal Peirce.</p>

February 22 - The American Prospect

<p>Changes in technology -- and many parents' obsessive search for the perfect school -- are enabling families to move further afield to access quality education.</p>

February 22 - The Wall Street Journal

<p>The small New Jersey city of Harrison is considering a massive redevelopment project that could drastically change the character of the city. Some residents worry that the $1 billion redevelopment plan is too ambitious for the small town.</p>

February 22 - The New York Times

<p>The Willamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, is the setting for the latest iteration in the modern day gentrification saga.</p>

February 22 - The Washington Post

<p>Thinking and acting green is all the rage these days, but commentator Neal Peirce ponders if it can ultimately be more than just a passing fad?</p>

February 22 - AlterNet

BLOG POST

<p>As a note of introduction, I am a Master&#39;s student in Community Planning at the University of Maryland. I&#39;m happy to be part of this exciting project. </p><p><img src="/files/u10085/271989110_fe17db8a63_m.jpg" alt="MLK Memorial Library, Washington, D.C." title="MLK Memorial Library, Washington, D.C." hspace="5" vspace="5" width="240" height="189" align="right" />With a series of new urban libraries opening in U.S. cities recent years, its been said we&#39;re living through an &#39;urban library renaissance.&#39; Whether it is the <a href="http://www.planetizen.com/node/13300">enthusiastic reception</a> of the new Seattle library, or lending and attendance <a href="http://www.planetizen.com/node/22494">up in urban Canadian libraries</a>, there seems to be an increased awareness of the critical role libraries play, even in the information age.</p><p>However, no such renaissance has happened here in Washington, D.C. -- at least not yet. Here the former mayor&#39;s plans to build a new library were stalled by what the Washington Post has termed the &#39;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/15/AR2006061501802.html">Mies Mystique</a>.&#39;</p><p>

February 22 - Robert Goodspeed