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.

February 10 - Lansing State Journal

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.

February 10 - Fast Co. Design

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.

February 10 - Fanis Grammenos

Farming the Subdivision

Agricultural spaces are increasingly being included in housing developments.

February 10 - Landscape Architecture Magazine

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.

February 10 - Japan Today


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.

February 10 - The Vancouver Sun

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.

February 10 - The Vancouver Courier


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>

February 9 - Jeffrey Barg

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.

February 9 - Huffington Post

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.

February 9 - STLtoday.com

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.

February 9 - New Urban Network

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.

February 9 - Metropolis

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.

February 9 - The New York Times

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.

February 9 - Reuters

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.

February 9 - The Oregonian

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.

February 9 - Streetsblog San Francisco

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.

February 9 - Places

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.

February 9 - Streetfilms

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 &quot;fresh new concept” of Intelligent Cities is replacing the stale old term &quot;smart growth&quot;, 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.

February 8 - Brent Toderian

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?

February 8 - Lowering the Bar

Post News

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

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.