The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A new study shows how even as minorities move up the social ladder, they tend to live in poorer neighborhoods, reports Joanna Lin for California Watch.

August 2 - California Watch

Toronto's Mayor Rob Ford keeps insisting that the city has plenty of "gravy" -- in the form of municipal services -- that can be cut from the budget; however, according to Jack Diamond "there is no gravy train."

August 2 - Globe and Mail

Arturas Zuokas, mayor of the Lithuanian capital, has taken enforcement of cars parked illegally in cycle lanes into his own hands. In a YouTube video, Zuokas is shown riding on top of a tank as it crushes a car parked illegally in a cycle lane.

August 2 - Guardian

Former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneors, now the executive chairman of CityView, makes the case for urban markets as the driving force of the real estate market (including investment from foreign investors) in the near future.

August 2 - The Planning Report

Last week, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing released the much anticipated Detroit Works Project for "shrinking" the city. Reporter Nancy Kaffer says it isn't quite what everyone was expecting.

August 2 - Crain's Detroit Business

Attorney Evan McKenzie explores the world of homeowners' associations and common interest developments, which he says are creating an unfortunate layer of private government over unsuspecting homeowners.

August 2 - New Urban Network

Fox News Latino reports on a Public Policy Institute of California poll that shows both clean air and climate change rank higher as a concern for Latinos and blacks than fowhites and Asians.

August 2 - Fox News Latino

Designing the U.S. embassy abroad is any architect's dream. But a crash between safety imperatives and beautiful design often results in "a dull series of near-identical, boxy bunkers," says The Economist.

August 2 - The Economist

At a two-acre site located 80 miles west of Ann Arbor, an engineering major at the Univ. of Michigan installed the state's largest solar farm with movable trackers that increase the amount of energy captured by almost 10%.

August 2 - Ars Technica

While other NYC development is stalled out, colleges and universities are "on a building spree", writes Mitchell Moss, and they are revitalizing old buildings and infrastructure.

August 1 - The Architect's Newspaper

Architect Magazine tours Phase 2 of the much-discussed High Line Park, a former elevated train track that has become a popular public space. NYC Planning Director Amanda Burden makes an appearance.

August 1 - Architect Magazine

London's preparations for next summer's Olympic Games have been widespread, but the event's economic returns are harder to see.

August 1 - The Economist

In a remarkable show of cooperation between the auto industry and the administration, the two agreed upon the highest increase since the advent of fuel efficiency standards. Current standards require 35.5 mpg by 2016 - safeguards exist for problems.

August 1 - The New York Times - Business Day

FEATURE

This famous statement by Mahatma Gandhi is being challenged by urbanists today who see a shining future for India in its cities. Architect Dhiru Thadani writes that Gandhi's vision of village life can apply to all levels of urban form.

August 1 - Dhiru Thadani

South Korea is making perhaps the biggest moves towards creating a vast "smart" electricity grid with a test grid of homes equipped with new meters and applications that communicate with each other and the grid.

August 1 - The New York Times

Lawmakers are likely to consider a controversial plan this summer to remove a series of dams on the Klamath River to help restore endangered salmon populations.

August 1 - National Geographic

Extortion by street gangs has been a way of life for bus drivers in Medellin for years. But recent refusals to pay -- and subsequent murders of drivers -- has led to a massive bus strike.

August 1 - The City Fix

After years of denial, the Chinese government has admitted that its massive Three Gorges Dam project is destabilizing the land around the reservoir.

August 1 - The Christian Science Monitor

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed a change to local rules that would allow urban gardens to expand and sell produce within the city.

August 1 - Chicago Tribune

The moribund state of the Los Angeles River reflects the zeitgeist of the city that it runs through, says The Economist. A mile wide but an inch deep, revitalization proposals are too conceptual at best and too feeble at worst.

August 1 - The Economist