The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

At a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee meeting on Feb. 12, leaders from big labor, big business, AASHTO, and AMTRAK testified to the importance of keeping the Highway Trust Fund solvent. The first two specified increasing the gas tax.

February 14 - The Hill

A new report argues that city governments have some of the same incentives for de-emphasizing single-occupant commuters as colleges—such as attracting younger workers and freeing up land used for parking.

February 14 - Governing

Airbnb, arguably the most famous symbol of the sharing economy, has a court date with the New York State Attorney General in March. Meanwhile, a new report has evidence that Airbnb is fudging its numbers relevant to a key issue in the case.

February 14 - Skift

It’s Valentine’s Day, and it’s been a long winter in most parts of the country, so in the interest of staying warm and rightful pairs sticking together, here’s a website that lets people map the locations of lost mittens around New York City.

February 14 - TLDR

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Workers with long commutes are more likely to be be tired and stressed at work, and businesses are learning that they often make for less productive employees.

February 14 - Shane Phillips

A recent study called “America’s Rental Housing: Evolving Markets and Needs” by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard smashes myths about the rental market—of particular importance given the recent rise in rents around the country.

February 14 - Sustainable Cities Collective

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Are suburbanites less fearful of crime than city-dwellers? Maybe not.

February 13 - Michael Lewyn

Analysis of the USDA’s 2010 National Resources Inventory, which tracks land use, shows the growth rate of suburban sprawl peaking in the mid-1990s, declining by two-thirds since then, even through the most recent housing boom. How did that happen?

February 13 - Greater Greater Washington

An expansive new 3D film, shown recently at the Berlin Film Festival, collects a series of vignettes that anthropomorphize buildings like the Berlin Philharmonic, the National Library of Russia, and the Salk Institute.

February 13 - Variety

Around the country, highly educated, upwardly mobile Latinos are choosing urban settings in traditionally Latino neighborhoods over the suburbs. The effects of "gente-fication" ("gente" is Spanish for "people") are distinct from gentrification.

February 13 - Fox News Latino

It's not just residents who are suffering the country's highest rents. Non profits are suffering too. However, some are displaying adaptability and creativity in dealing with high rents, notes consultant David Prowler.

February 13 - UrbDeZine.com

If you need a little misery-loves-company commiseration on winter, Hazel Borys shares some pics from Winnipeg, the coldest big city on earth. How this winter city deals with the polar vortex is something we may all need to get used to.

February 13 - PlaceShakers

Google buses, Google ferries, and now, a Google hangar.

February 13 - San Jose Mercury News

Still reeling from a major chemical spill on Jan. 9 that contaminated the drinking water supply for 300,000 residents, word comes of a significant coal slurry spill. Unlike the earlier spill, the water supply is said not to be threatened.

February 13 - The Charleston Gazette

A political battle over the Ozark National Scenic Riverways—the largest federal park in Missouri—is heating up. The debate pressures a crucial distinction: how much are protected open spaces for people, and how much are they for protecting.

February 13 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Should dying cities like Detroit get their own visa programs to attract skilled foreign workers? What about prosperous cities like New York and London?

February 13 - Future Cities

Say what you will about growing corn for fuel, and there are many criticisms even coming from the environmental community, corn ethanol has its benefits, and one of the most important is reducing oil's stranglehold on America's transportaton fuels.

February 13 - Inside Climate News

After months of back and forth, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and City Council President Darrell L. Clarke “reached an agreement that would allow the rehabilitation of John F. Kennedy Plaza and the sale of the garage beneath LOVE Park.”

February 12 - Philadelphia Inquirer - Philly.com

A recent news broadcast showed the mayor of Tacoma with a backdrop of the city of Seattle. The feeling of being hidden in the shadow of larger, older neighbor cities is familiar all over the world, but what are “kid sister” cities to do about it?

February 12 - New Geography

With jaywalking enforcement policies recently making news in New York City and Los Angeles, more of the media is pushing back on long-held assumptions about who rules the road. Here’s a primer on how jaywalking became a crime.

February 12 - BBC News Magazine