The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Whither City Planning In Los Angeles?
With the retirement of City Planning Director Gail Goldberg and ongoing budget problems gutting the department, a group of planners, developers, politicians, and advocates add their voices to the discussion on the future of planning in L.A.
Would You Pay To Sit On A Public Bench?
Designer Fabian Brunsing is responsible for "Pay & Sit: The Private Bench." Basically, it's a bench covered in metal spikes that retract when you feed it money.
South Korea's City of The Future
Being developed on 1500 acres of Incheon's waterfront, Songdo is a completely planned city harnessing the latest innovations in green technology and planning doctrine aimed at creating a sustainable, self contained 'city of the future.'
Designers Produce HSR Concept to Entice Legislators
In an effort to entice the British government, designers PriestmanGoode have released this video displaying a shiny new bullet train slicing through country that invented the locomotive.
Smart Grid Scores As Heat Beats Up New York City
In the face of a recent heat wave, New York City's smart grid stood up to the challenge and made sure that the power kept flowing.
Sacramento Chooses Practical Over Transformative in Downtown Revitalization
Spurning an elaborate but costly proposal to transform two blighted blocks of Sacramento's ailing downtown K Street mall the city council chose a less costly, mixed-use plan restore the blocks sooner with four story buildings and 256 housing units.
Downtown Mixed Use Generates More Than 30 Times The Tax Revenue of Malls
Sarasota County, Florida finds that one mixed use building generates 36 times the property taxes per acre as the region's largest high end mall. Mary Newsom reports that "evidence is piling up to show the benefits of compact, in-town development."
Cleveland Deals With "James Drain"
The Urbanophile explains that although Lebron James was never going to turn around Cleveland alone, his departure is indicative of the city's reliance "on a never-ending cycle of “next big things” to reverse decline."
Property Tax Revenue Downturn Hurting Cities
The economic recession is lightening up in some areas, but cities and municipalities will continue to struggle with the downturn in the economy for years, mainly because of falling property tax revenues.
Peter Harnik Talks About Innovative Parks for Built-Out Cities
City Parks Blog asked Peter Harnik to answer questions about his new book, Urban Green: Innovative Parks for Resurgent Cities, that covers how cities can plan for parks as well as how to create them in 'all built-out' settings.
Seattle Upgrading its Stormwater System to Prevent Sewage Overflows
The city of Seattle is taking on a $500 million project to update its storm drains to reduce the amount of untreated sewage that overflows into waterways during storm events.
Can A New L.A. Park Please Everyone?
Christopher Hawthorne says that new Civic Park in downtown Los Angeles, which breaks ground this morning, "shows the strain" of trying to reconcile differing visions, but it also has "a coherent aesthetic identity."
From Bus Yard to Housing
A decades-old plan to convert a bus yard into a housing project has gained new momentum in San Francisco.
Turning Car Parking into Bike Parking
This post from <em>Spacing Toronto</em> gives a personal look at the conversion of a car parking space into a bicycle parking area -- and how quickly the facility filled up.
Charlotte Bags Federal Streetcar Funds
Charlotte recently won a $25 million federal grant to begin construction on a streetcar system. <em>The Charlotte Observer</em> goes over some of the system's basics.
Vancouver Tests Out Street Vending
Vancouver's streets are buzzing with a new wave of street food vendors, part of a pilot program to expand formalized informal commerce downtown.
Russia: Now With American-Style Suburbanism
With the Russian spies being sent home, Clifford J. Levy wondered if they'd miss the comforts of U.S.-style suburban living. What he found is that today's Russia has imitated the way of life, including gated communities with American names.
Brownfield Approved For Huge, Controversial Mixed-Use Redevelopment
By an 8-3 vote at 1:35 AM, July 14, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved a plan to add 10,500 homes (32% affordable) on a 720-acre brownfield site known as Hunters Point, a former shipyard, including 320 acres of parkland and open space.
Detroit on the Border
Detroit is a city of borders: international borders, borders between cities and not-cities, and borders between the success of the past and the uncertain future, writes Jerry Herron in this essay for <em>Places</em>.
Fairtrade Towns on the Rise
10 years after a town in England declared itself a "fairtrade" town, the ethical trading movement has grown to 500 towns across the world.
City of Moorpark
City of Tustin
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
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.
