The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The Risks and Opportunities of Globalization as Reflected in Homeownership

Jonathan Massey pens an essay in the journal <em>Places</em>, in which he probes the implications of homeownership as the vehicle by which the microeconomics of household finance and the macroeconomics of a globalized economy are mediated.

February 18 - Places

Commuter Rail May Tap CA High-Speed Rail Funds

The CA High Speed Rail Authority hopes to work with Caltrain in the Bay Area and Metrolink in the South Coast by allowing them to use state HSR Bond funds provided they match the amount. Electrification and grade crossing separations are eligible.

February 18 - San Francisco Chronicle

Illegal Palestinian Solar Installations Set For Demolition

Over the past two years, German funding and Israeli philanthropy led to the construction of solar installations for Palestinians living in "Area C" in the West Bank. Now Israel says the panels are illegal and wants them demolished.

February 18 - Spiegel Online

Revilatization Through Graphic Design

Zak Stone reports on a campaign in Chattanooga, Tennessee to distill the city's artistic and entrepreneurial spirit into a font, and asks the question - can a font help a city make a comeback?

February 18 - Good

Friday Funny: Using Classical Music to Deter Transit Crime

Pat Doyle reports on a new effort to reduce nuisances at a Minneapolis area light-rail station by using offensive music -- classical music in this case -- as a deterrent.

February 17 - Star Tribune


It Exists: A Conservative Who Supports Transit

Seemingly as hard to find as the mythic Sasquatch or a Unicorn, we've searched high and low for a conservative who supports transit (or at least who will say so in public) and have found one, in the region around Charlotte, North Carolina.

February 17 - The Herald Weekly

The Next Chapter in the Arcosanti Saga

Michael Tortorello pays a visit to the futurist desert colony to see what's in store as its legendary founder retires and it struggles to remain a bulwark against modern capitalism.

February 17 - New York Times


Metropolitan Museum Courtyard Renovation Plans Court Controversy

Ambitious plans to revamp the Metropolitan Museum's Fifth Avenue plaza, more than 40 years after its last makeover, are being criticized by the Museum's affluent neighbors, who fear that the project might be too successful.

February 17 - DNAinfo.com

On the Value of Tight Urbanism

As cities such as Chicago and Detroit put forth programs to turn their neglected alleyways into urban amenities, JoAnn Greco speaks with Daniel Toole, a 26-year-old, Seattle-based architect, who has accidentally become an expert on the topic

February 17 - The Atlantic Cities

A Fresh Design Concept for Mixed Use Development

Eric Laine and Suzanne Steelman present LiveWork, a new take on the changing nature of living and working in a design for a mixed use development in Athens, GA.

February 17 - Fast Company

Making the Case for Sprawl

Christopher Mims reports on L. Brooks Patterson, county executive of Oakland County, Michigan, who is perhaps the country's most vocal advocate of sprawl.

February 17 - Grist

Downturn Proves Resiliency of Smart Growth

In an interview with the <em>San Diego Union-Tribune</em>, Geoffrey Anderson and Bill Fulton reflect on the new normal for development across the country, which astonishingly to anyone looking back twenty years, has absorbed Smart Growth principles.

February 17 - UT San Diego

How MoMA's Foreclosed Exhibition Sets Design Back Ten Years

In a rousing rebuke to the Museum of Modern Art's new show "Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream," Bryan Bell takes aim at the out-of-date thinking represented in top-down architecture by star architects and curators.

February 17 - Metropolis POV Blog

The Keys to Happiness in City Living

Ariel Schwartz reports on the findings of a new study from Urban Affairs Review that surveyed residents from 10 major international cities on what qualities make them most happy.

February 17 - Fast Coexist

Senate Transportation Bill Derails

After moving swiftly through preliminary hearings in the Senate last week, that body's supposedly bipartisan transportation bill has been stopped in its tracks according to its sponsor Sen. Barbara Boxer, reports Keith Laing.

February 16 - The Hill

Why the Future of Sustainable Cities Rests with China

Manish Bapna outlines the factors that put China on the frontlines of sustainable urban development.

February 16 - Forbes

What Do Pop-Up Shops and Homelessness Reveal About Urban Land Use?

On the land use spectrum, pop-up shops and homelessness operate at very different ends and from disparate positions of power. Ann Deslandes investigates the commonalities that bind them.

February 16 - The Global Urbanist

Is a Deputy Mayor for Architecture and Urban Design in LA's Future

In preparation for a series of Los Angeles mayoral candidate forums being hosted by the AIA beginning this Friday, Will Wright singles out the one issue that he would most like to see addressed.

February 16 - The Architect's Newspaper

Melding Art With Infrastructure, Without Breaking the Bank

Walter Geiger pens a case study of an Orlando project that melded public art with mass transit, with maximum impact at minimal cost.

February 16 - ArchNewsNow.com

Innovative Project Turns Parking Lot to Wetland in Los Angeles

Kate Linthicum reports on a recently completed project in South Los Angeles to turn a former bus yard into a piece of stormwater infrastructure and a public amenity

February 16 - Los Angeles Times

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.