The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Chikodi Chima responds to an article entitled "Economists Say High-Speed Rail Won't Make A Dime" with "California High Speed Rail Doesn’t Need to Make a Dime to Make a Difference" - both are about the recent Stanford study.

October 19 - AltTransport

Viral pandemics can devastate cities. In this review of pandemics of the past and present, this piece from <em>Places</em> suggests that urban design can play a much more important role in public health and pandemic prevention.

October 19 - Places

Launched in 2009 as an effort to choose five neighborhoods where sustainability measures could be quickly implemented and tested out, the city of Portland's EcoDistricts are entering their pilot phase.

October 19 - Next American City

Conflicts inevitably arise during design discussions and policy talks. A team of architects has created a new way of understanding each side's concerns, mainly by diagramming them into distinct domes.

October 19 - Urban Omnibus

<em>The American Society of Landscape Architects</em> talks with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh about "ecological urbanism" and the evolving role of landscape architecture in cities.

October 19 - ASLA

Those in the know know that it could be none other than UCLA professor Don Shoup, profiled here in the Los Angeles Times.

October 18 - Los Angeles Times

Stephen Smith questions the reasoning behind this increasingly popular breed of capital project, arguing the real benefits of connectors rarely justify their hefty price tags.

October 18 - Market Urbanism

HUD has awarded $98 million to 45 regions throughout the country in an effort to spur more sustainability planning efforts.

October 18 - Next American City

<em>The Architect's Newspaper</em> brings this cautionary tale of architect's accepting ambitious work projects in China that are too good to be true.

October 18 - The Architect's Newspaper

FEATURE

October 18 - Galina Tachieva

The two ends of the Gotthard Base Tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps are on the verge of connecting, marking a major milestone in the construction of what will be the world's longest transportation tunnel.

October 18 - The New York Times

The demise of a 20-year plan to improve rail linkages between Manhattan and New Jersey is symptomatic of America's $2.2 trillion infrastructure deficit, writes Rupert Cornwell.

October 18 - Independent (UK)

In an op-ed, Andres Duany and Jeff Speck discuss how the effects of sprawl they revealed years ago with the release of their book Suburban Sprawl is today being proven.

October 18 - The Washington Post

16 overgrown acres of land hide a long-unused railroad easement in Muskegee -- so long unused that no one knows who owns it. Muskegee Development wants it.

October 18 - The Muskegee Phoenix

As the economic downturn has caused many states and municipalities to borrow large amounts of money, some worry there may be a glut of them going bankrupt.

October 18 - Governing

A suburb of Tel Aviv is trying to revive itself by becoming an arts destination.

October 18 - Los Angeles Times

In the face of climate change and sea level rise, <em>Popular Science</em> offers four designs for urban lifestyles of the near future.

October 17 - Popular Science

AASHTO is pitching a replacement of the current fed excise fuel taxes with sales taxes - initially revenue neutral, but would increase with inflation, unlike stagnant excise taxes last increased in 1993. In 6 years, might raise an extra $43 billion.

October 17 - The Wall Street Journal - Business

Giant robot "worms" have been tunneling towards each other through opposite sides of the Gottard Massif for years. On Friday, they finally met, completing the 19-mile tunnel.

October 17 - NPR

Dense cities, argues Daniel Garst, are shaped like a pyramid, with the most density in the middle and sloping sides. Beijing, on the other hand, has developed more like a circus tent, with density at the sides but single-story homes in the middle.

October 17 - China Daily