The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

With 100 percent subsidies, transit agencies could drop the pretense of being businesses and serve many more people -- or so proponents say. Agencies aren't so sure.

November 24 - InTransition Magazine

Boston's Big Dig was supposed to result in a series of glorious, connected public spaces. Two years after the project's completion, the state is finally making the connections a reality.

November 24 - The Boston Globe

The World Bank recently released its 10-year strategy for addressing urban issues, focusing specifically on slum areas. <em>Next American City</em>'s Josh Leon takes a look at the plan and finds much to be desired.

November 24 - Next American City

So says Mayor Fortin of Victoria, British Columbia about Dockside Green, a new waterfront development in his city. A new documentary talks to the Mayor, architect Franc D'Ambrosio, and Smart Growth BC co-founder Deborah Curran about the project.

November 24 - Aclara Promotions

On a recent walking tour of Pasadena, California, noted architect Léon Krier didn't mince words over his disapproval of the cityscape and modernism in general.

November 24 - Pasadena Star-News

As cities grow, aging sewer systems are having trouble keeping up with increasing amounts of waste. Often, the result is sewer system overflows that end up directly in waterways.

November 24 - The New York Times

San Antonio is wrapping up a month-long experiment that has offered free Wi-Fi internet access on some of its buses.

November 24 - The Houston Chronicle

NASA scientists are floating the idea that turning deserts on the equator into lush forests could single-handedly end global warming.

November 23 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

Queens and Brooklyn homeowners may soon be prohibited from converting front yards into parking pads if a set of regulations is approved. The loss of street parking from new curb cuts was cited as a reason, along with aesthetics.

November 23 - New York Times-N.Y./Region (blog)

As reported here, many boomburbs have ceased growing, if only temporarily. Streetsblog notes that experts are suggesting that in order to maintain their economic viability, these fast growing communities will have to, gasp, become more urban in form

November 23 - SF.Streetsblog

Walkable, transit-accessible neighborhoods do more than just lower greenhouse gas emissions of their residents - they save them money too, states a new report, "Windfall for All", from the Bay Area's TransForm, a coalition of over 100 non-profits.

November 23 - Sacramento Business Journal

A group called New Yorkers for Safe Transit has called attention to the continual problem of female subway riders being ogled, groped, flashed, harassed and attacked.

November 23 - The New York Times

Miles Kemp presents a slideshow on <em>SEED</em> exploring the emerging field of interactive architecture -- and the tiny robots that are enabling spaces and structures to adapt in real-time.

November 23 - Seed

Filmmakers are calling on state officials in Michigan to extend the state's grant program that provides up to 42% of production costs simply for filming in Michigan.

November 23 - The Detroit Free Press

BLOG POST

<p> So, I&#39;m out at a site visit with the city engineer last week and we&#39;re talking about ways to implement curb extensions to reduce pedestrian exposure to vehicular traffic.  We&#39;re discussing inexpensive ways to accomplish this, and then on queue, as is the right and obligation of all civil engineers, the ugly villain subject of all things bumped-out rears its head: drainage. </p>

November 23 - Ian Sacs

This essay from <em>Places</em> offers five simple ways to make the world a better place -- and they're all related to the built environment.

November 23 - Places

Planners in San Francisco are proposing a 145-acre "transit center district" that would dramatically reshape the city's skyline.

November 23 - San Francisco Chronicle

Le Corbusier's influence as an architect has spanned generations. Theodore Dalrymple argues he is more appropriately classified as a totalitarian.

November 23 - City Journal

Landscape architecture is in the spotlight, as planners and officials place increasing amounts of energy and emphasis on the creation of shared public spaces.

November 22 - The Age

An architect, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer and four civil engineers from Iraq have taken over the base planning for the U.S Army's Basrah base, a small city with electrical, sewage and water systems as well as ongoing construction.

November 22 - Red Bull Release