The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

An ambitious new development outside the Chinese city of Ordos lies empty.

October 20 - The New York Times

Getting kids to walk to school has been a nationwide campaign for years. But some places say it's just not safe. Some urban forms -- like that of Laguna Beach, California -- prove it.

October 20 - NRDC Switchboard

Historic architecture is rapidly being replaced by cookie-cutter high-rises in Cairo, much to the displeasure of local architects and historians.

October 20 - BBC

The relocation of a museum in San Francisco offers a model for how private developments can create quality public space, writes John King.

October 20 - San Francisco Chronicle

The spatial needs of commerce and employment are shifting, and cities need to focus on bringing employment centers back to neighborhoods, argues Jay Hoekstra.

October 20 - Terrain.org

A new report shows that solar panel installation has increased to record levels in 2010. Throughout the first half of 2010, 339 megawatts of grid-connected solar capacity were installed.

October 20 - Good

The new 23-acre Seaport Square in the South Boston waterfront district will bring a mix of uses and ample parkland to a former railroad property.

October 19 - The Architect's Newspaper

The Times-Picayune reports that the Army Corps of Engineers, under pressure from penny-pinched local governments, has commenced a new pilot study that potentially relaxes the new, stricter standards for levees it set in place post-Katrina.

October 19 - The Times-Picayune

It's the busiest rail station in America - the first step of its transformation that returns some of its former grandeur began Oct. 18 at a groundbreaking that included DOT Secretary Ray LaHood. Penn Station will be renamed Moynihan Station.

October 19 - Crain's N.Y. Business - Real Estate

Christopher Leinberger argues that regardless of current coping strategies, the mortgage crisis is permanently reshaping cities and their edges.

October 19 - The New Republic

Sitting in a controversial niche in the development market, Thomas Chapman develops plans for parcels within national parks, only to take buyouts from environmental groups or the government. He's got a bold new proposal on the way.

October 19 - The Wall Street Journal

Chikodi Chima responds to an article entitled "Economists Say High-Speed Rail Won't Make A Dime" with "California High Speed Rail Doesn’t Need to Make a Dime to Make a Difference" - both are about the recent Stanford study.

October 19 - AltTransport

Viral pandemics can devastate cities. In this review of pandemics of the past and present, this piece from <em>Places</em> suggests that urban design can play a much more important role in public health and pandemic prevention.

October 19 - Places

Launched in 2009 as an effort to choose five neighborhoods where sustainability measures could be quickly implemented and tested out, the city of Portland's EcoDistricts are entering their pilot phase.

October 19 - Next American City

Conflicts inevitably arise during design discussions and policy talks. A team of architects has created a new way of understanding each side's concerns, mainly by diagramming them into distinct domes.

October 19 - Urban Omnibus

<em>The American Society of Landscape Architects</em> talks with landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh about "ecological urbanism" and the evolving role of landscape architecture in cities.

October 19 - ASLA

Those in the know know that it could be none other than UCLA professor Don Shoup, profiled here in the Los Angeles Times.

October 18 - Los Angeles Times

Stephen Smith questions the reasoning behind this increasingly popular breed of capital project, arguing the real benefits of connectors rarely justify their hefty price tags.

October 18 - Market Urbanism

HUD has awarded $98 million to 45 regions throughout the country in an effort to spur more sustainability planning efforts.

October 18 - Next American City

<em>The Architect's Newspaper</em> brings this cautionary tale of architect's accepting ambitious work projects in China that are too good to be true.

October 18 - The Architect's Newspaper