The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
The Vicious Cycle of Adding Capacity for Cars
Dan Bertolet argues that adding expanding car capacity in cities just inspires more people to drive and ruins the qualities that make the city attractive in the first place.
True Historic Buildings At Risk, As Faux Historic Buildings Spring Up
Even as the City of Buffalo is spending millions to build new historically appropriate buildings on the waterfront, true historic buildings are allowed to be destroyed mere blocks away, says Donn Esmonde.
China's Road To Nowhere
Marina Hyde writes that the "horrible thing about China's 62-mile nine-day jam was that it destroyed the certainty that travel will inevitably result in arrival."
Temporary Autonomous Zones Alter Public Space in The UK
The increase in outdoor music festivals, guerrilla gardening, temporary restaurants, cinemas and pop-up shops are all examples of "a growing appetite for transforming our apparently prosaic, profit-led landscape into something else."
Architecture Gets Political in Israel
Esther Zandberg calls on Israeli architects and planners to refuse to design in Ariel, a sliver of land that goes deep into Palestinian territory. "Architecture is the implementer of political decisions," says Zandberg.
Building Business By Building Bike Lanes
Cycling activists in Vancouver are trying to tout the economic benefits of bike lanes to help build the case for a proposed separated bike lane.
Pedestrianism a World Cup Legacy in Cape Town
Pedestrianism is on the rise in Cape Town, South Africa, where the recent World Cup has inspired more citizens to get out of their cars and put their feet on the street.
Blight Camouflage?
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that the city has begun covering the broken windows and doors of abandoned homes with plywood painted to look like functioning doors and windows as part of a program to fight blight.
The Year of the City at Burning Man
The annual arts festival Burning Man is underway in Northwestern Nevada. This year's theme of Metropolis highlights the event's city-like nature.
A Little Bit of Venice in New Orleans
The waters that have for so long plagued New Orleans should be reconsidered as an amenity, not a curse, according to this commentary.
Dubai's Formula of Tax Free Economic Zones and Mass Tourism Doesn't Work
Joshua Hammer describes his visit to the financially straitened emirate where he found "deserted highways, empty hotel rooms, miles of unsold residential and office space."
Extensive Rapid Transit System Planned For Paris' Outer-Ring Suburbs
An extensive 96-mile network of rapid transit lines connecting Paris' poorer outer-ring suburbs, on hold since it was proposed a year ago because of its considerable cost, takes a step closer to realization.
Marketing Suburban Life To Gay Community
Berwyn, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, is running an aggressive marketing campaign to convince the gay community that their small city is a friendly and affordable place for them to live.
BLOG POST
Snow, Cars and Growth
<p> A couple of years ago, I was listening to a friend explain why she left Rochester for Jacksonville. "I was tired of digging my car out of the snow." It occurred to me that the nexus between driving and winter weather may at least partially explain the decline of America’s northern Rust Belt. </p> <p> Here’s why: car care and storage makes snow a bigger bother than might otherwise be the case: if you don’t have a heated garage, you have to dig your car out of the snow every day, and if you park on the street you may have to constantly move your car to accommodate municipal snow removal. </p>
Five Levels of Public Space
HafenCity is a district in Hamburg that is being built with flooding in mind. One way the development prepares for rising waters is having several layers of public space that can be used, creating a model for cities facing global warming.
You Can't Have Good TOD Without the T
Philip Langdon argues that if the U.S. is going to shift toward compact, less resource-consuming patterns of development, Americans will have to rely increasingly on mass transit - so it better work.
100 Acres of Art
100 Acres is the name (and size?) of a new park in Indianapolis that is a "hybrid of landscape, art, and architecture," according to Edward Blake, of Landscape Studio, the designers.
"Temporary" Parks Get Approved Easier
Heather Smith talks with urban designer Andres Power about his work creating parklets within the San Francisco Planning Department.
Meet the Geeks Re-Shaping D.C.
Planning nerd bloggers like David Alpert of Greater Greater Washington are finding that they can have significant influence in the world of D.C. planning and development.
Stealth Solar is Slowly Transforming Downtown Portland
In Portland, two examples of how stealthy implementation of solar-powered technology is changing the rhythm of daily life.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
Tyler Technologies
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
