The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Starting Monday, some SEPTA trains will launch a pilot program that discourages too-loud talking, a problem now prevalent during rush-hour.

January 8 - Philadelphia Inquirer

As they currently lead the way in designing the most avant-garde projects for overseas clients, American architecture firms must understand the roots of their success to stay afloat .

January 8 - Newsweek

It will take more than two decades to expand Los Angeles' Subway to the Sea by 10 miles, according to an MTA timeline. The mayor's office and transit activists are pushing for it to get done more quickly.

January 8 - Los Angeles Times

Correspondent/neurosurgeon Sanjay Gupta, who has been tapped to fill the Surgeon General position by President-elect Obama, talks about 'livable cities' as they relate to climate change and public health.

January 8 - WorldChanging

Thirty-story buildings used for crop-growing is a good idea on paper, but the challenges still outweigh the benefits.

January 8 - The Christian Science Monitor

The catastrophic spill of coal ash sludge in Tennessee is a wake-up call: there are more than 1,300 such dumps across the U.S., and, as a result of coal industry lobbying, no federal regulations for safe storage, reuse or disposal of the waste.

January 8 - New York Times

In the first of two guest posts, UCLA researcher Eric A. Morris blogs on the logic behind congestion pricing.

January 8 - The New York Times

What comes next for the doomed, enclosed mall across America? This article highlights a number of solutions, including an adaptive reuse model that incorporates housing units inside the mall itself.

January 8 - HousingWire

FEATURE

Transit oriented development experts John Renne, PhD, and Jeff Wood recently fielded questions from Planetizen readers about TOD, its current applications and its future.

January 8 - Planetizen

Plans for a broad statewide highway project known as the Trans-Texas Corridor have been abandoned by state officials.

January 8 - The Dallas Morning News

Was it a walkability protest, political demonstration, or just an accident? Regardless, the thousands of used shoes that covered Miami's Palmetto Expressway last week, delaying traffic for hours, are now on their way to Haiti.

January 7 - Miami Herald

A federal court has knocked down a previous ruling that Los Angeles' billboard ban is unconstitutional.

January 7 - Los Angeles Times

Bend, Oregon councilmembers took no more than five minutes to vote to expand the city's urban growth boundaries, adding nearly 9,000 acres of developable land to the city's map.

January 7 - KOHD

Canada is now on the road to developing enough capacity to have at least some residents in every province receiving at least some of their energy from turbines.

January 7 - The Globe and Mail

Eleven Amish families have sued their own town for religious discrimination in its building code.

January 7 - Chicago Tribune

Last summer in Toledo, former mayoral candidate Keith Wilkowski handed Barack Obama a book, saying it is the most important book about rebuilding cities. Obama responded, 'Is it Jane Jacobs?'

January 7 - BeyondDC

Compared to natural settings, busy urban environments can be detrimental to cognitive functioning and self-control. Well-designed, biodiverse parks are integral to counterbalancing the concrete jungle.

January 7 - The Boston Globe

Young Japanese men and women are ditching the car as a status symbol, sparking concern for car companies.

January 7 - The Oregonian

Cities like Alexandria, VA and Agoura Hills, CA have taken to relaxing sign restrictions for the sake of boosting local business.

January 7 - USA Today

A panel of experts weighs in. Is rebuilding rail transit the way of the future, or just reviving a system that should stay extinct?

January 7 - The Hawaii Reporter