The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Peace and Security professor Michael Klare warns that we are entering a period of global resource scarcity and unrest.

January 24 - AlterNet

With many scratching to make a living in a badly damaged economy, coworking is springing up to meet the needs of independent workers.

January 24 - New Urban Network

There are 12 community benefit districts in San Francisco, which raise their own taxes to create funds for various local projects. But some argue they favor big businesses.

January 24 - San Francisco Chronicle

The city of Detroit is increasingly characterized through imagery of its abandoned and decaying buildings. This piece from <em>The New Republic</em> says it's time to stop.

January 24 - The New Republic

FEATURE

Was Jane Jacobs a NIMBY? Did she despise density? These sort of reevaluations of Jacobs' legacy are hot at the moment. Roberta Brandes Gratz explains why the naysayers are off base.

January 24 - Roberta Brandes Gratz

A new project is seeking to create the first citywide, comprehensive urban agriculture plan for New York City.

January 24 - Urban Omnibus

A group of city leaders and activists gathered in Sacramento to protest Governor Jerry Brown's plan to close the state's redevelopment agencies.

January 24 - San Francisco Chronicle

This TIME video is titled, "What Makes Cities Smart?" But the mayors interviewed - Villariagosa, Daley, Nutter - are mostly obsessed with building public transit and high-speed rail.

January 24 - Time

A new report from BP projects world energy use for the next 20 years: decreased oil growth but more OPEC-dependent; increased coal, natural gas, and renewable usage; and a major growth in carbon emissions.

January 24 - USA Today

Streetfilms looks back at Professor Donald Appleyard's pioneering work observing the social life of streets, which proved that streets with less traffic fostered more social interactions than those with heavy traffic.

January 23 - Streetfilms

Toronto is growing up, up, up, with a very hot downtown condominium market, including a number of very small (500 sq. ft.) apartments for young professionals.

January 23 - The National Post

The need to replace the Bayonne Bridge has inspired a discussion on Staten Island over including transit, and possibly light rail, over the new span. Yonah Freemark looks at the numbers, and isn't so sure.

January 23 - the transport politic

Can you talk to a fellow passenger, quietly, in the New Jersey Transit quiet car? On Jan. 3, NJ Transit designated the first and last cars on many peak hour trains 'quiet' - no cell phones and other restrictions, but arguments have erupted.

January 23 - The New York Times - N.Y. / Region

Joel Kotkin said today that cities no longer need outside help. The day before, Bill Fulton talked about growth without population growth. This story focuses on strategies for cities to use land plans as business plans.

January 23 - PlaceShakers

Dickson Despommier says that the goal of cities today should be to be a "closed loop" ecosystem, where everything that is needed to support the city - energy, food, etc. - is contained within its borders.

January 22 - McKinsey & Company

Demand for multi-generational housing is on the rise in Canada. Municipalities and builders should take note.

January 22 - The Globe and Mail

Urban Fabric, a landscape architecture and urban design firm in Israel, uses recycled tiles, benches and more in their park designs.

January 22 - Ha'aretz

Officials in Jordan are moving closer to creating an ambitious project aimed at producing food, fresh water and energy in the Sahara Desert.

January 22 - Gizmag

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently visited Washington D.C. to discuss his plans for expedited transit projects in L.A., but the new congressional leadership is not as supportive as the old.

January 22 - Los Angeles Times

Planner Robert Voigt created this XtraNorml video to poke fun at the incomprehensibility of planner speak, and how it sabotages community engagement.

January 21 - Civic Blogger