The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

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Portland Shows How to Create More Downtown Parking (Without Building Any)

Dynamic pricing is not the only route to increasing parking availability. Better management of disabled placards at metered spaces may be an easier and more effective strategy. Implemented on July 1, Portland's policy is showing dramatic results.

July 14 - AP (via KATU.Com)

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More Great Research Quantifying Smart Growth Benefits

New research can help planners understand how specific decisions will affect transport activity (how and how much people travel), and their ultimate economic, social, and environmental impacts.

July 14 - Todd Litman

Ready and Waiting: New Law Makes Light Rail Possible in the San Fernando Valley

In another example of Los Angeles slowly unraveling itself from prior legislation that hinder its transit goals, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that will allow light rail construction in the San Fernando Valley.

July 13 - Los Angeles Times

State, Local Governments Clash over Highway Planning

A clash between transportation planning mentalities is playing out in Milwaukee over a proposed highway expansion—on one side the car-centric concerns of the state; on the other, the placemaking concerns of the city.

July 13 - Streetsblog USA

Mayors Drop Cap and Trade from New Climate Agreement

The U.S. Conference of Mayors signed a voluntary agreement to reduce carbon emissions in their respective cities, as they did ten years ago, but dropped the provision that they lobby Congress to pass a cap and trade bill to reduce emissions.

July 13 - Governing


Palo Alto Exploring 'Net Zero' Vehicle Trip Restriction for Commercial Developments

Palo Alto, one of the suburban cities at the center of the Silicon Valley tech boom, is considering a Comprehensive Plan Update. On the table for the Planning and Transportation Commission: a "net-zero" restriction for new vehicle trips.

July 13 - Palo Alto Weekly

Fences Make Bad Neighbors in Hamden, Connecticut

The ugly story of the fence between a public housing community called New Haven and the nearby "middle class" community of Hamden, Connecticut will soon be over, but not because Hamden suddenly gained enlightenment.

July 13 - New York Times


Bike Shed Netherlands

Surveying Innovative Bike Parking Solutions

Writing for Woodhouse, Mike Clay leads a worldwide tour of the most innovative bike parking technologies and facilities.

July 12 - Woodhouse

Bakken Oil Boom Straining Rural Communities

Joe Eaton reports from Bainville, Montana, which is suffering the effects of the Bakken oil boom, although the majority of the Bakken wells, and its corresponding tax revenue, are in North Dakota.

July 12 - National Geographic

Portland Businesses Advocate for Road Diet

Angie Schmitt covers Bike Portland's article on store owners teaming up to bring road diet as a means to improve business.

July 12 - Bike Portland

Congress Progressing with Stopgap Transportation Funding Bill

Patch bills advanced in the Senate and the House on Thursday that would keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through May 2015—good news for state DOTs that will see reduced federal reimbursements on August 1 unless a funding bill is passed soon.

July 12 - Politico Morning Transportation

Transit Ridership

The Secrets of Transit Line Success

Payton Chung summarizes a new report from the Transportation Research Board that reveals the indicators of successful transit projects.

July 12 - Streetsblog USA

Sacramento

Sacramento's Tale of Two Downtowns

Northern California is no stranger to debates about redevelopment, displacement, and the proper mix of affordable and market-rate housing—but this time the setting for these stories is in the state capital of Sacramento.

July 11 - Next City

'The Way Forward': What Would Expanded Public-Private Partnerships Look Like?

Robert Puentes and Bruce Katz call for expanded partnerships to build the infrastructure of the future. These new partnerships will require customization by sector and the development of new models for revenue and risk sharing.

July 11 - ReNew Canada

Blue Urbanism: Connecting Cities and Oceans

A new book called 'Blue Urbanism: Exploring Connections between Cities and Oceans,' by Timothy Beatley, argues that cities must expand their understanding of urbanism to include their impacts on the oceans.

July 11 - ASLA The Dirt

Sans Litter Ban, Tubers Trash Rivers in Texas

Tubers and tourists had their right to litter protected by a district judge in Texas. What they got as a result was…a lot more litter.

July 11 - New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung

Asians and Latinos: Contrasts in Population Growth

The immigration trends in the United States are both changing quickly and a long time in the making, according to new research by the Pew Research Center

July 11 - Five Thirty Eight

Holy Autonomous Bicycles Batman!

Recent reports reveal that a Chinese Internet search company known as Baidu is developing a bicycle that will ride itself. The technology could be game changer in Asia—China, for instance, has 551 million bike riders.

July 11 - Tech In Asia

City Hall Philadelphia

Philadelphia Zoning Board Called Out for 'Municipal Dysfunction'

Ryan Briggs reports on the state of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment—although zoning reform was a promise of Mayor Michael Nutter's administration, Briggs finds that inconsistency and mysterious politics still mar the board's decisions.

July 11 - Philadelphia City Paper

Despite Woes, Bike Share Programs Continue to Spread

Bike share programs are spreading throughout the United States, now in 36 urban areas, up from six four years ago. However, half the programs have encountered technical or financial difficulties, according to a tally by The Wall Street Journal.

July 11 - The Wall Street Journal

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