The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Part of this week's Urban Design Week in New York City, design duo Original Champions of Design present three solutions to a weak wayfinding system currently in place in the city's subways.

September 23 - Fast Company

Peter Sigrist takes us through three other tools for open sourced, democratic governance processes conducive to mobilization, collaboration, and funding--each integral for the crowdsourced city.

September 23 - POLIS

Christopher Alexander has said that there is a "timeless way of building" common to all vernacular and traditional architecture and urbanism. This essay looks at how our preference for this way of building evolved among the earliest humans.

September 22 - Preservation Institute/INTBAU

Renaissance Homes, a Portland builder, is attempting to revitalize its business by transitioning from suburban, large-scale development to multiple infill projects.

September 22 - The Oregonian

They're calling it 'bicycle-supported development', but it amounts to the same thing: new projects are springing up in Portland, OR that cater to the bicycle crowd with extensive bike racks and near popular bikeways.

September 22 - The New York Times

As city leaders look at ways to shrink Lansing, Michigan to a more sustainable size, historic preservationists say "Stop, Look and Listen" before you go clearing out neighborhoods of historic residences.

September 22 - National Trust For Historic Preservation

A key Senate subcommittee has appeared to have eliminated funding for high speed rail while preserving funding for Amtrak, highway, and transit. However, the full committee may not adopt these mark-ups. And then there are the changes the House makes.

September 22 - Steetsblog Capitol Hill

A waterfront development in Hercules, California which includes a multimodal bus/train/ferry facility, will be built, say city officials and the developer. This despite the fact that where half the cash is coming from has yet to be determined.

September 22 - The San Jose Mercury News

GOOD talks to Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood about the difficulty in getting funding to maintain highways and other transportation infrastructure.

September 22 - GOOD Magazine

The America's Cup, the worlds fastest yacht race, is destined for San Francisco in 2013. But local environmental groups are not pleased with the current plan to manage the environmental impacts of the event.

September 22 - USA Today

There are two housing markets, "one for the rich and one for everyone else," writes Michelle Conlin. Sales and subsequent bidding wars are back in richer neighborhoods, while approximately 98.5% of the population see no end to the recession just yet.

September 22 - Boston Globe

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September 21 - Barbara Knecht

Chicago's Wrigley Building is a standout among the city's rich architectural heritage. City officials never formally gave it landmark status because they felt the Wrigley family would never mar their history, but the building has a new owner now.

September 21 - The Chicago Tribune

The nonprofit Hug It Forward is helping Guatemalan neighborhoods build schools at less than $10,000 by making them out of plastic bottles, writes Zak Stone for GOOD.

September 21 - GOOD Magazine

Researchers found in their analysis of 300 California municipalities that the cities that had slow growth or anti-growth policies were less impacted by the housing crisis, writes Mark Bergen for Forbes.

September 21 - Forbes

Livability.com complies a list of cities that have strong book store cultures. The list looks at the volume of bookstores in a city and hallmark independent bookstores.

September 21 - Livability

Some say that there is simply not enough retail in existence now; versus U.S. cities, at least, Toronto has fewer malls in both numbers and square footage. Dana Flavelle explores why that might not necessarily mean it's underserved.

September 21 - Toronto Star

Cisco has sponsored a number of "Travel Stations" to be tested in a handful of subway stops. Dan Nosowitz went down to Bowling Green to try one out.

September 21 - Popular Science

Elaine Misonzhnik says the time is soon coming where having a smartphone at the mall will be a necessity instead of a luxury.

September 21 - Retail Traffic Magazine

Surprisingly, London's bus network carries 6 million passengers to the Underground's 3 million. Facing serious cutbacks and fuel costs, Transport for London is working to reinvent the bus system.

September 21 - Next American City