The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Animals are more than just guests or co-habitants in our cities, according to an article in New Scientist—they're a critical component of the infrastructure that keeps cities running.

May 6 - New Scientist

A new mapping project allows new access to information about Chicago's controversial tax increment financing mechanism. Now at least the debate will include visuals.

May 6 - Curbed Chicago

Having just wrapped up a great CNU in Dallas, April 29 through May 2, a collection of urbanists share some of the ideas that resonated the most.

May 6 - PlaceShakers

The new report, "Who Pays for Roads? How the 'Users Pays' Myth Gets in the Way of Solutions to America’s Transportation Problems" exposes the widening gap between how Americans think we pay for roadways—through user fees—and how we actually do.

May 6 - U.S. Pirg

A policy adopted earlier this year and due to go into effect next March would require states to plan for climate change before they are eligible to receive grant funding to plan for disasters.

May 6 - The Hill

A partnership between Waze and the city of Los Angeles has prompted a cry of "not on the street in front of my frontyard!" from residential neighborhoods around the city.

May 5 - Los Angeles Times

Inside the push to speed up the project known as I-4 Ultimate in Central Florida—the $2.3 billion would tear down and rebuild 40 miles of the interstate.

May 5 - Orlando Business Journal

D.C.'s fast-growing downtown neighborhoods have new restaurants, offices and apartments—but few playgrounds. With thousands of children expected to be born in the District in the next five years, where will they all play?

May 5 - Elevation DC

Home builders fear bans on connections of homes to water systems, issued from the state and cities, will increase next month when Gov. Jerry Brown's new water mandates take effect June 1.

May 5 - The Wall Street Journal

The Washington Post details the concern over the shadows cast by skyscrapers on the city street below. The latest high-profile case study of the ability of skyscrapers to block the sun: New York's Midtown.

May 5 - The Washington Post

Checking in on the status of negotiations for the redevelopment of Fort McPherson's 488 acres of rolling hills, historic buildings, and a lake, among much more, the Saporta Report argues that Atlanta has been far too accommodating.

May 5 - Saporta Report

The planning process often suffers from a lack of community engagement. According to James Rojas, planners can learn from the on-the-ground urbanism of artists in East L.A.

May 5 - KCET

Baltimore was only beginning to undo the ill effects of the architecture and planning response to the riots of 1968 when the protests and unrest of 2015 struck. Can the architecture field produce a more positive response to violence this time?

May 5 - Architect Magazine

In anticipation of the expected opening of the H Street/Benning Road streetcar line in Washington, D.C., Peter Dovak examines the evolution of streetcar planning over the past 20 years.

May 5 - Greater Greater Washington

In a segment for WNYC, journalist Simon van Zuylen-Wood discusses Amtrak's current status as a "national embarrassment." Decades of lackluster investment, he argues, make it difficult to prove demand in the first place.

May 5 - WNYC

Some think of May 4 as Star Wars day, others remember May 4 as the birthday of Jane Jacobs. Charles Marohn suggests that May 4 should now be known as "Urban Renewal Remembrance Day."

May 4 - Strong Towns

A new study by Harvard economists provides the best evidence yet that where children grow up matters to the outcomes of their lives.

May 4 - New York Times

Long considered a desert backwater and second fiddle to Las Vegas, the city of Reno is having a resurgence. Small entrepreneurs, industrial giants like Tesla, and artists inspired by Burning Man are converging to overshadow the fading casino economy.

May 4 - Next City

A proliferation of 99-cent stores in the Woodhaven neighborhood in Queens has strangled the commercial offerings in the neighborhood. But can residents or the local business improvement district do anything about the trend?

May 4 - TimesLedger

A Market Urbanism op-ed makes the case for high-rise neighborhoods as an integral part of successful cities—even if some Jacobs fans tend to overlook the benefits of such parts of town.

May 4 - Market Urbanism