The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The financial data is clear: BRT costs much less to go further and serve far more riders. Case closed, or is it? The Denver Post editors look at HNTB's cost and ridership estimates for the Northwest Rail Line and offer a recommendation, sort of.

October 11 - The Denver Post

In a keynote speech at the Urban Land Institute’s “Transit Oriented Los Angeles” conference, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the launch of a "Great Streets" program to coordinate work on, and investment in, "the City’s largest public space asset."

October 11 - LA.Streetsblog

New York's chief urban designer, Alexandros Washburn, addresses the monumental task of rebuilding New York after Hurricane Sandy and preparing for the next storm.

October 11 - Places Journal

Is your property the scene of a famous murder? Or perhaps a group suicide? Andrew Khouri profiles Randall Bell, a specialist real estate appraiser, who'll estimate just how much that "doom-and-gloom" is going to hurt your bottom line.

October 11 - Los Angeles Times

As housing (un)affordability continues to plague Canada’s big cities, some would-be city dwellers are looking to the suburbs to meet the budget. Using a hypothetical Toronto couple as its basis, number-crunching suggests little long-term savings.

October 11 - The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Driven by an explosion of online tools, cities across the country are looking beyond the traditional public hearing to rethink how to increase citizen involvement in decision-making and reshape the relationship between citizens and government.

October 11 - Governing

FEATURE

In an excerpt from his new book, Anthony Townsend explains how a volunteer effort is combining consumer technologies with open source GIS to chart one of Africa’s largest and most notorious slums.

October 10 - Anthony Townsend

One of the leading candidates to replace Cincinnati's progressive mayor Mark Mallory is threatening to cancel the city's 3.6-mile streetcar line if elected. With contracts signed and work under way, canceling it could cost more than completing it.

October 10 - Cincinnati CityBeat

An estimated 79 percent of young adults with autism spectrum disorders reside with their parents. But a new residence built to house 16 autistic adults in Sonoma, CA aims to provide a supportive alternative to living at home, and a nationwide model.

October 10 - The New York Times

David Madden laments that our current debate over gentrification, whether bemoaning a loss of authenticity or trumpeting the good that trickles down, "doesn't do justice to everything at stake." He suggests how to reorient the discussion.

October 10 - The Guardian

Though owning a home may be easier today than during the housing bubble due to lower interest rates and prices, in many cities across the U.S. the middle class is widely excluded from homeownership. Trulia crunches the numbers.

October 10 - Trulia Trends Blog

In the last week to sign bills, Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 327 that allows utilities to charge all ratepayers for costs incurred to the grid by rooftop solar and allows those who have it to 'run the meter backwards', known as net metering.

October 10 - KCET

Get used to hearing about historically hot temperatures. Using 39 of the world’s foremost climate models, researchers have developed "climate departure" dates for cities around the world to predict when temperatures will exceed historical norms.

October 10 - The New York Times

Nathan Heller illuminates how the tech industry has rendered San Francisco the new "power city" for U.S. economic growth and culture.

October 10 - The New Yorker

Northeast Ohio's largest regional planning effort in a generation recommends infill development, transit expansion, and land conservation as the essential elements for ensuring the area's future success.

October 10 - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Come November, 11 of Colorado's 64 counties, mostly in northeast, will vote to form a new state. Jack Healy explores what's behind the 51st State Initiative, what set it off, as well as other secession movements, mostly by rural areas in the U.S.

October 10 - The New York Times - U.S.

The recipe for a happy commute isn't just about length. Whether in a car or on mass transit, predictability and productivity are among the key attributes.

October 10 - The Wall Street Journal

BLOG POST

Joseph Heathcott presents a historical narrative of the decline, revitalization, and gentrification of the Parisian neighborhood surrounding the Promenade Plantée and Viaduct des Arts, the pioneering repurposing of obsolete urban infrastructure.

October 9 - JPER

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to mandate a standardized taxi for the streets of New York was given a potentially fatal blow this week by a State Supreme Court judge. With his successors unlikely to take up the legal battle, the plan appears doomed.

October 9 - The New York Times

Amid heavy political pressure, a plan to build a new expressway between Chicago's suburbs and Indiana backed by Gov. Pat Quinn and the Illinois Department of Transportation was dealt a significant defeat by Chicago's regional MPO this week.

October 9 - Daily Herald