The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Top Food Cities in the U.S.

Travel+Leisure polls its readers for the best cities for foodies, with New Orleans taking the top spot.

September 15 - Travel+Leisure

Clean Cars May Lose Express Lane Privilege in LA

Single occupant electric vehicles retained access to carpool lanes in California, while hybrid owners lost it on July 1st.

September 15 - Los Angeles Times: Environment

Participatory Budgeting Launches in New York City

In four New York City Council districts, residents will soon be able to propose and vote on capital projects to be funded by councilmember's budgets.

September 15 - New York Times

Montana Landowners Bring Wind Power Project to a Standstill

Phil Taylor of the New York Times writes about an ensuing battle between a Montana wind power transmission project, backed by eminent domain rights, and Montana landowners, fighting for cultural conservation of their land.

September 15 - The New York Times

Farm Chic is the Latest Trend in Housing Developments

In the '00s, housing built around golf courses was all the rage. Stephanie Simon reports that today's consumer wants to live next to an organic farm, vineyard or other micro-rural setting.

September 14 - The Wall St. Journal


Converting Vacant Lots to Farms Can Feed Cleveland Population, Study Finds

A recent study found that a city could completely live off food grown from urban agriculture. Sharanbir Grewal, the study's author, discovered in his analysis of Cleveland that the city could produce up to 48 percent of the city's fresh produce.

September 14 - Smart Planet

Urban Village Rising in El Paso

Montecillo, a 293-acre 'urban village', is the first development to take advantage of El Paso's new Smart Code. The project launched in May, and the developer is already preparing to get Phase 2 off the ground.

September 14 - El Paso Inc.


A Gradual Approach to Improve a Busy San Francisco Street

San Francisco has made steps to avert cars from Market Street, but the next steps to alleviate congestion are vague. A gradual rollout of trial experiments to gauge a method's success seems the most likely answer, reports Rachel Gordon.

September 14 - San Francisco Chronicle

Amsterdam's Mercator Square is a Work in Progress

Michèle Champagne of Open City Projects Inc. examines Amsterdam's Mercator Square and how it functions as an open space. The community around Mercator Square is ethnically diverse, has good urbanism details, yet violence still is a problem.

September 14 - Open City Projects

Making Artificial Mountains

In Berlin and The Netherlands, crazy ideas of building mountains for recreational purposes are actually being entertained.

September 14 - Pruned

Skyscraper Historic District Rubber Stamped in Brooklyn

Yesterday, the Brooklyn's Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously approved the creation of an historic district in the downtown.

September 14 - WYNC

House Approves 'Clean' Transportation Extension Bill

After a mere 45 minutes of debate on the House floor, Obama's requested transportation bill extension was approved by voice vote - unanimously. The extension will be for six months (not four as Senate committee had approved) and extends the gas tax.

September 14 - DC.Streetsblog

The "Growing Divide" Between Cities With Kids and Cities Without Them

William Frey with the Brookings Institution explains that 1/3rd of the largest cities in the U.S. have seen significant losses of kids under 15, while babies are booming in the Southwest, Utah and Idaho.

September 14 - Urban Land

A New Urban Portrait for Kigali, Rwanda

Kigali, Rwanda's capital city, is beginning to embrace an urban transect-based plan as a solution for its recent population growth and rapidly evolving economy.

September 14 - World Architecture News

Chattanooga, Tennessee: America's Favorite Town

At least, the favorite town of Outside Magazine's readership, in a survey of almost 22,000 readers. Outside says the factors that make Chattanooga hot range from "epic singletrack to progressive city planning."

September 13 - Outside Magazine

Despite Ailing Economy, Manufacturing Spurs Cities' Growth

Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Titusvilla, Florida are metropolitan areas that grew faster than the national average in 2010, reports Ben Casselman for The Wall Street Journal.

September 13 - The Wall Street Journal

Commuters Find Car-Free Lifestyle Easy in Washington D.C.

More than a quarter of D.C. households are car-free, federal data shows. The diverse options such as an efficient public transportation, bike share and Zipcar program make it easier for residents to ditch their cars.

September 13 - The Washington Post

Popular Complete Streets Policy Killed by City Council

According to Kari Petrie, a highly popular Complete Streets measure in St. Cloud, Minnesota couldn't get a majority of votes from the City Council.

September 13 - SC Times

BLOG POST

Manhattan Urbanism, 9/11, and the "Security-Silo"

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September 13 - Brent Toderian

I (Heart) Sadik-Khan

Janette Sadik-Khan, transportation commissioner, gets unfettered praise in a New York bike lane. Frank Bruni looks at the significant legacy she has already built.

September 13 - The New York Times

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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.

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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.