The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Millennials are fascinating, that much is clear. But maybe the youngest generation isn't as easily generalized and described as some journalists and researchers would like to believe they are.

March 14 - MillennialMadLibs.com

SPUR states its case clearly by announcing, “We believe cities are the key to our future” at the opening of a new report called “SPUR’s Agenda for Change.”

March 13 - Next City

MIT’s Senseable City Lab produced a beautiful visualization of every taxi ride taken in New York City in 2011. More valuable than the pretty pictures, however, are the insights the data provide about creating a more efficient transportation system.

March 13 - Atlantic Cities

The market forces that push developers and landowners to build “more” and “bigger” have cropped up in some of the swankiest neighborhoods in Portland. So far, neighbors who oppose the projects are finding scant legal recourse to prevent the changes.

March 13 - The Oregonian

A strange scene this week: members of Congress discussing height restrictions in one of the country's largest urban centers. In the end, a House committee approved a bill that would loosen D.C.’s century-old Height of Buildings Act.

March 13 - Washington Business Journal

While many of the cities leading the resurgence in the popularity of biking are growing, Pittsburgh has found its own reasons for making the city a better place to bike.

March 13 - Streetsblog USA

The Oregon Legislature adjourned this week with no actions regarding the Columbia River Crossing—a controversial project with opponents on either side of the aisle.

March 13 - The Oregonian

The city of Yakima, Washington, is exploring ideas to convert two large surface parking lots occupying valuable land in the city’s downtown core into a pedestrian friendly district.

March 13 - Crosscut.com

A recent article laments the missed opportunity of President Obama’s recent calls for increased spending on infrastructure: a lack of acknowledgement that cities are the best places to spend those dollars.

March 13 - Governing

In 2006, New York City signed contracts for private-public partnerships that would deliver a variety of street furniture throughout the city. To date, 3,355 bus shelters, 304 newsstands, and three (3) public toilets have been built.

March 13 - New York Times - City Room Blog

Transportation network companies like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar are growing quickly. A recent article examines the potential of such networks to build new efficiencies into urban transportation, as well as some of the risks to that potential.

March 13 - LA.Streetsblog

A recent article tackles the counter-intuitive state of transit investment in the St. Louis region: “While the abundance of transit possibilities create a veneer of progress, the region is quietly in a public transit state of crisis.”

March 12 - nextSTL.com

“There’s an open secret in America: If you want to kill someone, do it with a car,” says a recent article titled “Murder Machines.”

March 12 - Collectors Weekly

Following on the recent, promising news of increased transit ridership around the country, one writer calls for an end to the institutional bias toward cars. The key point of the appeal: public transit infrastructure benefits the middle class.

March 12 - The Week

Results are in from the California Household Travel Survey and they look good for alternative transportation—use has doubled since 2000. The survey also says a lot about the surveyor—Caltrans, long known for counting only vehicle trips.

March 12 - Napa-Solano Times-Herald

After receiving a $220 million capital infusion, the developers of a 27-acre waterfront redevelopment proposal in Washington D.C. will break ground on the long-awaited project on March 19.

March 12 - The Washington Post

BLOG POST

Why should people have veto power over anything built in their neighborhood?

March 12 - Michael Lewyn

A new bill in Congress would create a new $11 million program amidst the $1 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan program. But can it deliver more safety improvements to under-served populations?

March 12 - USA Today

Chuck Eckenstahler examines the “Benton Harbor Rule”—the desired funding and support that comes from a designation by the federal government as “metropolitan.” But does the “metropolitan” designation pay off as intended?

March 12 - Urbanophile

Starting in April, Houston will close 2.5 miles of streets to automobile traffic between 11 am and 3 pm. Additional street closures will follow in May.

March 12 - Houston Chronicle