The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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FEATURE

How Self-Driving Cars Can (and Should) Improve Transit

Comments on the proceedings of the Automated Vehicles Symposium (San Francisco, July 14-18, 2014), where participants addressed the many transportation and land use implications of an automated future.

August 1 - Daniel J. Fagnant

Welcome to North Dakota

Life in 'America's New Gold Rush City'

A dispatch from Williston, North Dakota, the epicenter of boom conditions compared to the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century. Whether the city has benefitted or suffered from the current oil boom, is a matter of perspective.

July 31 - Guardian Cities

Baltimore Past and Future Found on Brewers Hill

Adaptive reuse of historic breweries has revitalized the Brewers Hill neighborhood in Baltimore, which is well-situated with future Red Line access and proximity to the Port of Baltimore and the Canton Crossing shopping district.

July 31 - Global Site Plans

Profiles of New Yorkers Killed by Car Collisions

A new feature on Transportation Nation will highlight the tragedy of traffic fatalities in New York City, by profiling the people who passed and the traffic circumstances that took them.

July 31 - WNYC: Transportation Nation

Mean Streets

Mapping the Happiest Places in the United States (Disneyland Not Included)

Researchers from Harvard and the University of British Columbia used "self-reported life satisfaction data" from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to locate the cities and regions where Americans are most happy (or unhappy).

July 31 - Vox


Voices of the Train: Meet the Announcers Behind America's Transit Systems

Ever wondered who the announcers are for some of the largest transit lines in the United States?

July 31 - Vice Magazine

Massachusetts Voters May Repeal Automatic Gas Tax Indexing

It's been exactly a year since the state approved a 3-cent increase in the gas tax with hard fought legislation that ties future increases to inflation. However, the automatic indexing of the gas tax may be undone by voters on November 4.

July 31 - Tax Foundation


Can the Tea Party, Property Rights Activists, and Planners Find Common Ground?

Dr. Karen Trapenberg Frick suggests that in public participation processes, planners may find common ground with Tea Party and property rights activists.

July 31 - California Planning and Development Report

Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire: Summer Temperatures in 2100

A new interactive map titled "1,001 Blistering Future Summers" displays predicted daytime summer heat temperatures for 1,001 cities in the United States for the year 2100.

July 31 - CityLab

Boxing Gyms in Shrinking Cities: Refuge for the Formerly Incarcerated

Sociologist Lucia Trimbur describes how urban boxing gyms provide an opportunity for a particularly vulnerable population, formerly incarcerated men of color, to "recover from detention and establish stability in the free world."

July 31 - Urban Omnibus

University of Chicago

BLOG POST

The University and The City: Location and Structure

Institutional structure and culture can matter as much as location to the success and survival of urban universities.

July 31 - Dean Saitta

Real Estate Woes Hemorrhaging Wealth from the Middle Class

An article on the Washington Post Wonkblog shows how deeply the real estate crash impacted the wealth of the Middle Class—now on the tail end of three lost decades.

July 30 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Terminal Island Freeway Commodore Schuyler F Heim Bridge

Southern California First: Freeway Teardown Project Coming to Long Beach

Funded by a grant from the California Department of Transportation, Long Beach released an RFP for conceptual and design services for a plan to transform the Terminal Island Freeway into a "regional serving greenbelt and local serving road."

July 30 - Longbeachize

Senate Passes Transportation Bill; House Not Likely to Play Ball

Three days before Congress goes on recess and with the Highway Trust Fund approaching insolvency, the Senate passed a transportation bill notably different than the House version passed July 15, setting up a showdown between the two branches.

July 30 - POLITICO Pro.

Architects Design Fix For New York's Retro Parking Requirements

The "9x18" design team (named after the dimensions of a standard parking space) has evaluated and reimagined New York's parking regulations so they reflect actual parking demand and support affordable housing goals.

July 30 - Architizer

First Net-Zero Energy Apartments Planned in South Sacramento

Housing 120 units, the first net-zero energy transit-oriented development complex in South Sacramento will feature a rooftop farm and resident-run onsite bicycle repair.

July 30 - Sacramento Bee

Debate: How Much should 'Starchitects' be Faulted for Urban Ills?

In response to a recent polemic by Witold Rybczynski against the global proliferation of iconic but disconnected projects by starchitects, the New York Times hosts a debate that addresses the question: Are superstar architects ruining city skylines?

July 30 - New York Times

Add GE's Relocation to Cincinnati's Urban Renaissance

General Electric has a strong regional presence in the Cincinnati area, but none of its 10 facilities are located downtown. That is about to change thanks to Cincinnati's urban revival making it an attractive place for the company's younger workers.

July 30 - The Wall Street Journal

Study: Bikeshare Replaces Transit Trips in Minneapolis, Washington D.C.

Eric Jaffe dives into evidence that bike share should be considered an essential component of a multi-modal public transit network.

July 30 - CityLab

Toronto GO Transit

How Toronto is Making its Commuter Rail More Like Rapid Transit

Fifteen years in the making, Toronto is finally seeing increased ridership of its main commuter rail system, GO Transit, by changing its model from primarily serving suburban commuters to providing "all-day regional transit service."

July 30 - the transport politic

Post News

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.