The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Citigroup is being sued for knowingly overstating ridership and advertising revenue projections for the Las Vegas monorail while soliciting investors for the system.

January 9 - Nevada Journal

Because of the relative motions of Earth and Mars, the pioneering astronauts who touch down on the Red Planet will remain there for a year and a half. For this reason, NASA has already started experimenting with a habitat fit for life on Mars.

January 9 - Txchnologist

A new technology enables pedestrian behavior and flow to be monitored continuously using mobile phone technology. Its use in US and UK shopping centers has consumer rights activists worried.

January 9 - The Guardian

The year 2011 may be remembered by some as the year planners began fielding objections about smart growth from Tea Party supporters. Nathan Norris offers his four-step process for responding.

January 9 - PlaceShakers

Nearly 10 years in the works, a connector between Oakland International Airport and the BART transit system is taking shape.

January 8 - The Contra Costa Times

LEGO bricks can be just as much an architectural medium than a toy, according to this profile of one "LEGO-certified professional" hired to recreate buildings for the company's architecture series.

January 8 - Chicago Tribune

Mapmaker David Imus spent 2 years creating the best 3x4-foot paper wall map you'll ever see.

January 8 - Slate

An innovative tenants-rights organization in Boston combines community activism and financial backing to force banks to sell foreclosed homes back to the previous owners.

January 8 - Shelterforce

Richard Florida examines the "Geography of Health" in American and why some cities are healthier than others.

January 8 - The Atlantic Cities

New York University's 20-year expansion plan could become a dangerous precedent for overbuilding by bypassing the city's open space zoning rules, argues Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.

January 8 - The Villager

Put you feet up on an an subway seat, and risk going to to jail. Bad behavior, sure. But criminal? In an effort to make the subway safer, NYPD is viewing even minor code violations seriously.

January 7 - The New York Times

A new study looks at how home values in neighborhoods in Columbus, Ohio responded differently to the presence of gay populations.

January 7 - The Atlantic Cities

San Francisco's Coit Tower is one of the city's historic and iconic buildings, and it's also home to a collection of historic fresco paintings of Depression-era California. But the building and its paintings are falling apart.

January 7 - Los Angeles Times

With perhaps as many as 2 billion parking spaces in the US, planners and architects should "take seriously" the parking lot as an actual, useful public space.

January 7 - The New York Times

Affordable housing advocates find that green building techniques result in higher-quality construction -- and often with costs comparable to traditional building techniques.

January 7 - Shelterforce

The results are in keeping with a federal goal to eliminate veteran homelessness by 2015 through grants and other measures to ensure permanent housing. Steve Vogel reports.

January 7 - The Washington Post

A lecture series explores the relation between city planning and urban violence. And who is to blame? The architect.

January 6 - Delft University of Technology

Delicious offers an engaging collection of transportation-related infographics, from the history of transportation to why freeway traffic occurs.

January 6 - Delicious

The safest cities. The best cities. The happiest cities. We see the rankings all the time. But do they matter. Yes, says Samuel Arbesman, who surveyed 310 US residents by using Amazon's Mechanical Turk service.

January 6 - Atlantic Cities

India's Bajaj Auto company introduces an ultracheap small car focused on the country's rickshaw industry. Meanwhile, an unrelated study finds that the unorganized auto-rickshaw sector presents a huge business opportunity.

January 6 - The New York Times