The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
A Move To The Suspicious Suburbs
<p>Moving from New York City to rural Westchester County, a writer meets an unfamiliar culture of xenophobia. Soon she finds herself increasingly suspicious of strangers, too.</p>
The Middle East's 'Biggest Civil Engineering Project'
<p>Developers have announced plans for a 75-kilometer canal to run through Dubai, with waterfront cities and developments all along its banks.</p>
Insurers Abandon New England Coast
<p>Hurricane threats are causing insurers to retreat from coastal areas in Massachusetts and around New England, leaving many looking for alternative protection.</p>
Miami's Botched Foreign Trade Zone Development
<p>What could have been an economic development homerun for Miami's Wynwood neighborhood has turned out to be a miserable failure. Nonetheless, hope remains that new ownership can restore the site's promising potential.</p>
Economic Development Through Bike/Ped Paths
<p>Bold plans are taking shape as construction begins on an 8-mile bike and pedestrian path in Indianapolis -- a project intended to encourage not just walking and biking, but also economic development.</p>
New Orleans Recovery Plan Scaled Back
<p>Officials in New Orleans have released a scaled-back version of the recovery plan the city council approved earlier this spring. This lighter version of the plan focuses on removing blight, and building affordable apartments.</p>
Garbage Strike Creating 'Smugglers' In Vancouver
<p>A strike in the city of Vancouver that has left residents without garbage collection for nearly three months has caused people to get creative -- and a little sneaky -- in how they get rid of their trash.</p>
Bike-Friendly Portland Seeks Citywide Rental System
<p>Portland, Oregon, looks to follow the lead of Paris in instituting a bike rental system throughout the city. Bids are requested for a pilot fleet of 500 bikes.</p>
Israeli Highway Plans Draw Criticism
<p>Israel is planning to construct a so-called "Palestinian Highway", which critics believe will be used to fragment Palestinian territory.</p>
Mortgage Crisis Fueling America's Homelessness Boom
<p>The mortgage crisis is contributing to a dramatic increase in homeless families.</p>
Truly Off-Street Parking In New York's 'En Suite Sky Garage'
<p>A planned 19-story residential building on Manhattan's west side features New York City's first personal "sky garages." A video animation shows how they work.</p>
The Next Real Estate Frontier: Car Condos?
<p>With the housing market faltering, developers are eyeing an emerging and lucrative market: luxurious garages for expensive cars.</p>
Skewed Coverage Of The Homeless?
<p>A San Francisco lawyer and housing activist questions the paper's focus on problematic street behavior and on law enforcement as the only way to deal with the city's homeless population.</p>
Three Gorges Dam Accelerating Urbanization?
<p>The controversial Three Gorges Dam project has displaced millions of people, and is about to displace millions more; but some wonder if official explanations about protecting sensitive areas and accelerating urbanization are accurate.</p>
Saintly Street Stories In L.A.
<p>A Los Angeles artist has recently completed a project documenting each of the city's street named after saints, and has crafted murals of each one to show how the life of the randomly-named streets mirrors the lives and work of their namesakes.</p>
America's 25-Minute Commute
<p>This report from <em>NPR</em> looks at the results of a report on the commuting habits and trends of American drivers.</p>
BLOG POST
Wireless, Connected, Productive Transit - Formula for Hyper-Sprawl?
<p> There are lots of Wi-Fi buses popping up in Northern California. The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/technology/10google.html">Google shuttle</a> from San Francisco to the Valley has been running for a while and I think Yahoo! has a similar service, but I saw this <a href="http://www.actransit.org/news/articledetail.wu?articleid=ae8a49cd">Wi-Fi enabled AC Transit bus</a> (that's Alameda County folks) crossing the Dumbarton Bridge last week. Apparently, the service is being subsidized by a grant from the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency. </p>
The Physical Footprint Of The World's Biggest Retailers
<p>This graph from <em>Good</em> shows the acreage of some of the world's biggest retailers, including McDonald's, 7-11, and Wal-Mart.</p>
New York's Congestion Pricing Alternative
<p>A group opposed to plans to create a congestion pricing system in New York have released a report outlining measures that could be taken to achieve the same level of traffic reduction without a congestion charge.</p>
Vancouver's 'EcoDensity' Plans Stumble
<p>Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan's highly-touted push for "EcoDensity" in the city has fallen apart lately, according to columnist Trevor Boddy.</p>
Pagination
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.