The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The skyscraper, developed by Thomas Properties and financed by Korean Air, required a new signage district and a TFAR transfer. The development will provide a link between the Financial District and the emerging Figueroa Entertainment Corridor.

March 31 - The Planning Report

New South China Mall in Dongguan, China has been 99% vacant since it was built in 2005. Is Chinese development running amok? Sarah Goodyear looks at a recent documentary that explains why the mall was built.

March 31 - Grist

Payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) are a popular new way for cash-strapped cities to add to their revenue by swapping voluntary payments from nonprofits for property taxes. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy evaluates this novel practice.

March 31 - Land Lines

A project now being considered by the City of Vancouver, B.C., would overhaul a handful of shipping containers to provide housing for the homeless.

March 31 - The Globe and Mail

INRIX, a traffic analysis company, recently released its 100 Most Congested Metros list. Los Angeles and New York predictably come out on top, but the more interesting finding is that traffic has increased significantly.

March 31 - INRIX

Who ever heard of "small-box stores"? Retail experts say the Walmarts and Targets of the world should have great success with smaller stores in urban settings.

March 31 - Retail Traffic Magazine

Critic Christopher Hume says that "an architecture of openness" is overtaking Toronto, foregoing individual personality for a greater sense of community and connectivity.

March 31 - The Toronto Star

Heze City police in the Shandong province of China recently aired accident footage from traffic cameras as a public service announcement to raise awareness for road safety.

March 31 - TheCityFix.com

The paved roads that finally brought rural America into the 20th century are starting to disappear across the Midwest in the 21st.

March 31 - Star Tribune

Google announced that it had chosen Kansas City, Kansas as the launching site for an experimental fiber-optic network with speeds of up to 1 Gb per second.

March 30 - TechCrunch

Rocco Pendola discusses the potential for electric vehicles to emerge as a meaningful mode of alternative transportation in the United States.

March 30 - Seeking Alpha

This series of graphics shows which states do the most for bicycle commuters, and which states have the most bicycle commuters.

March 30 - Fast Company

Officials in Portland are keen to expand the city's streetcar system with a proposed $458 million extension project. But some questions about the project remain unanswered.

March 30 - The Oregonian

Seeing an unfilled niche in the housing marketplace, developers in suburban Seattle are trying to build a communal housing development.

March 30 - Sustainable Industries

As cities like Detroit show major population losses in the enumeration of the 2010 Census, experts discuss why cities are shrinking on this episode of the <em>Diane Rehm Show</em>.

March 30 - The Diane Rehm Show

As cities grow, the spaces within them that are truly public diminish, according to this piece. But even with few public spaces, public activities can still thrive.

March 30 - The Wall Street Journal

As green spaces and public areas increase in demand, more and more projects are being awarded to landscape architects rather than architects, some foresee a potential professional turf war.

March 30 - The Architect's Newspaper

Manufacturing in the U.S. hasn't gone away, it's just gone local, writes Allison Arieff.

March 30 - The New York Times

A new proposal in front of the European Commission would put speed limits on the autobahn to reduce carbon emissions, and ban gasoline and diesel powered vehicles by the year 2050.

March 30 - Wired

Sustainable design and historic preservation design have sometimes been at odds. But a group of experts says these two goals can work together to improve building sustainability.

March 29 - Sustainable Cities Collective