The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Columbus Pilot Project Gives a West Cherry Street to Pedestrians

This summer, a pilot project will close a block of West Cherry Street to cars in Columbus, Ohio. If the project proves popular, more of the street could be permanently given to pedestrians.

May 26 - Columbus Underground

Electric Car

One Utility's Plan to Build Thousands of Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Southern California Edison wants to add 1,500 public charging stations to its service area, potentially expanding the effort to 30,000 charging stations if all goes well.

May 26 - San Gabriel Valley Tribune

Downton Abbey

Where Million-Dollar Homes Are the Norm

Recent data from Trulia reveals that the number of homes worth at least million dollars doubled in the past four years. Some places have a veritable monopoly on ritzy domiciles.

May 26 - Quartz

Gas Station 7-Eleven

Let Smokers Pay for Roads

Missouri has come up with a unique way to pay for roads, and it's even a user fee, though it bears no direct relation to road users other than for those driving to the store to buy their cigarettes. So much for using the tax to address public health.

May 26 - Missourinet

Queens Transit Station

How the Triboro Line Could Improve Transit for Boroughs Not Named Manhattan

The Regional Plan Association presents the details of a plan to build a rail line connecting the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn: the Triboro Line.

May 26 - Regional Plan Association


Tampa

Tampa Approves Big Riverfront Park Renovation

The Tampa City Council approved a big, ambitious park proposal for 23 neglected acres along the Hillsborough River.

May 26 - Tampa Bay Times

Hospital Signs

A Missing Conversation: Medical Centers and the Built Environment

Hospitals, medical research centers, and the like are supposed to represent health, but are often an unappealing and monolithic presence in the urban landscape. How can the form of health centers fall in line with their function?

May 25 - The Brookings Institution


National Building Museum

A Visit to D.C.'s Museum for the Built Environment

Washington, D.C. has many great museums. One of its least known may be the most interesting to architects, planners, builders, and others. The National Building Museum is all about the built environment.

May 25 - UrbDeZine

Broken Bus

Recommendations for Reforming the American Public Transportation Association

In light of the resignation of APTA's president following the withdrawal of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Transit Center offers its recommendations for reforming the national transit advocacy organization.

May 25 - Transit Center

Texas State Capitol building

Op-Ed: Why Uber Wasn't Welcome in Austin

In the spirit of civic self-congratulation, Austin resident Richard Parker writes about how the transportation network company giants canceled service after losing a referendum vote. He ascribes this victory to the city's enduring contrarian streak.

May 25 - The New York Times

Portland

Reflecting on Regional Planning—50 Years Later

The planning world celebrated Jane Jacobs's 100th birthday earlier this month, and has already begun commemorating the centennial of New York's first zoning code. But did you know regional planning rose to prominence 50 years ago?

May 25 - MZ Strategies

Mehaffy Portland Image

FEATURE

Has Portland Lost its Way?

Oregon's poster child for livable planning is embroiled in new controversies over destructive growth, skyrocketing prices, and back-room cronyism.

May 25 - Michael Mehaffy

Maine North Woods

The Controversial National Parks Proposal Dividing Maine's North Woods

The Washington Post provides feature-length coverage of an ongoing, long-lasting controversy over a proposal by a wealthy landowner to donate 87,500 acres for the purposes of creating a new national park.

May 25 - The Washington Post

Arlington Ballpark

Arlington Reveals $1 Billion Baseball Stadium Proposal

For a little while there, it looked like the Texas Ranger were going urban.

May 25 - Fort Worth Business

Stone Age

Lessons from the Paleolithic Era for Contemporary Urbanites

Gustav Milne makes a simple argument via The Guardian: urbanization "is bad for us."

May 25 - The Guardian

Full House Painted Ladies

Most Young Adults Living With Their Parents for the First Time in 130 Years

A Pew Research Center analysis of Census Data reveals a fundamental shift in the way U.S. residents are living—last true in a time closer to the Civil War than the 20th century.

May 25 - Pew Research Center

No Dumping

Something Is Rotten in 'Infrastructure Week'

The cause of infrastructure should be easy for people, and planners, to rally behind. But infrastructure's cause, like so many other political issues, invites conflicts of interest.

May 24 - Streetsblog USA

Detroit People Mover

Transit Planners Put Ann Arbor-Detroit Commuter Rail in Motion

A long-stalled, but partially built-out, commuter rail line has achieved institutional legitimacy with the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan. Novembers will have a chance to decide on the idea in November.

May 24 - The Detroit News

Moving Truck

BLOG POST

Does New Housing Create New Demand for Housing?

One argument against new housing is that it creates demand for housing, thus increasing housing prices.

May 24 - Michael Lewyn

C.J. Peete Public Housing, New Orleans

Reintegrating Ex-Convicts Means Giving Them a Place To Live

The New Orleans Housing Authority has approved reforms to policies on public housing for ex-convicts in an attempt to stem homelessness among the newly released and to foster better reintegration.

May 24 - The Nation

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