The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
A Very Thorough Understanding of a City's Streets
One woman in Lansing, Michigan has started a walking mission to explore and document every stretch of street in her city -- a total of more than 400 miles.
Livability Lessons from Gainesville
Urban designer David Green talks with Anthony Lyons, Director of the city of Gainesville's Community Redevelopment Agency, about his successes in the city and how other cities can become more livable.
FEATURE
European Urbanism: Lessons from a City without Suburbs
Athens, Greece has all the elements of good urbanism - density, diversity, destinations, distance (to transit) and design. So is Athens a poster child for good urbanism? Fanis Grammenos takes an in-depth look.
Farming the Subdivision
Agricultural spaces are increasingly being included in housing developments.
Temporarily Activating and Renting Unused Spaces
In Japan, owners of vacant space can rent them out by the hour, day or week to people who need them for temporary purposes thanks to a new website.
Vancouver Students May Get New Gondola
The city of Burnaby, near Vancouver, may soon approve a proposed gondola line connecting university students to rest of city.
Prioritizing Pedestrians
Daily pedestrian trips in Vancouver, Canada are at 318,000, while bike trips are at 60,000. So why do bikes have a committee and pedestrians don't? City planners are rectifying that situation now, with a new focus on walkers.
BLOG POST
Trains So Fast They'll Make Mama Proud
<span style="border-collapse: separate; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; font-size: medium; font-family: Times; color: #000000" class="Apple-style-span"> <div style="font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; background-color: #ffffff"> <p> To hear my mother tell it, I gave Joe Biden the idea for high-speed rail. Charitable and glowing, yes, but isn’t that what mothers are for? </p> <p> All the same, I can’t help but glow a bit anyway when I think about how far we’ve come as a country in embracing high-speed rail. </p>
Congress Expected to Support High Speed Rail Funding Request
The Obama Administration is moving ahead with its plans for a national high-speed rail system after opposition on the part of some conservative lawmakers backfired.
Redevelopment Plan of Gateway Arch Grounds Moves Forward
More details of the winning design are unveiled for the planned remodeling of the Gateway Arch Park in St. Louis, MO.
Supermarkets in Britain Remain Controversial Even After Move to Town Centers
After the backlash of suburban development in the 80s and 90s, “supermarket-led development” in town centers remain a contentious issue in Britain.
Livability, A Universal Principle
US Department of Housing and Urban Development sees diverse crop of applicants for $100 million in grants going towards community development projects adhering to livability principles.
Museum Steps in as Budget Cuts Threaten Watts Towers
As the city of Los Angeles's budget faces deep cuts, money to pay for the upkeep of the city's iconic Watts Towers folk art installation has dried up. But a museum is stepping in to try to keep the Towers alive.
Transportation Bill Reauthorization Could Come Soon
More than 2 years after it expired, the federal transportation bill is likely to be reauthorized soon, according to Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Bridge Plan Rejected in Favor of Cheaper Alternatives
Long-held plans for a new bridge over the Columbia River between Portland and Vancouver, Washington, have been thrown out by a panel of experts who have suggested cheaper alternatives.
Yacht Race's Potential Long-Term Impact for San Francisco
San Francisco will host the America's Cup yacht race in 2013. Some in the city argue that the event could provide a good opportunity for the city to make major investments in projects that last long after the event.
Preparing to Create New York's New Public Space
Governor's Island is likely the next major waterfront area in New York City to be converted into a public space. Designers and planners are starting to think about what form it could and should take.
Snow as Traffic Calming
Recent snowstorms in much of the U.S. have left many cities with major snow cleanup jobs on their streets. In some instances, though, the buildup of snow has created natural traffic-calming curb extensions.
BLOG POST
"Intelligent City Model" Complements Smart Growth - Doesn't Replace It!
<p> <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Having read articles lately on Planetizen and elsewhere on how the "fresh new concept” of Intelligent Cities is replacing the stale old term "smart growth", I was moved to <a href="/node/47982" target="_blank">write a comment regarding the latest such article</a> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'">which compared smart growth to urban renewal in terms of its stale-dated coolness, and suggested that smart growth may be passé because of its successful take-over of main-stream thought and practice.
Mysterious, Unauthorized Stop Signs Found
The town of Cranston, Rhode Island came to the realization that hundreds of stop signs -- almost a third of the stop signs in town -- were not installed by the city. Are these the work of a rogue urban planner?
Pagination
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.