The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Living in a Jumbo Jet

A new home in Malibu, CA is being constructed using the parts from a Boeing 747. The client asked the architect to use recycled materials as much as possible, and the plane parts were relatively affordable.

June 16 - Fox News D.C.

City Logos for the Entire World

<em>GOOD</em> points to a new project that's trying to create and collect city logos for every city on the planet.

June 16 - Good

USGS Releases Detailed Map of Land-Cover in U.S.

The U.S. Geological Survey has released a highly detailed map of vegetative land-cover in America, which is expected to assist officials in efforts to preserve wildlife habitats.

June 16 - EurekAlert

New Bike Lanes Hope To Eliminate 'Dooring' Factor

Actually, dooring (motorist or passenger exiting car opens door on passing cyclist) might still occur, but the driver would have to watch for passing cars, not cyclists, as the bike lane would be placed between the parked cars, buffer and the curb.

June 15 - San Francisco Examiner

Stop Making Cities Look the Same, Say Chinese Scholars

At a forum in Suzhou on Sunday, scholars urged city planners to do something about the monotony of contemporary buildings shooting up in cities across China.

June 15 - People's Daily Online (English)


A New Direction for New Urbanists

At the 18th Annual Congress for New Urbanists, Andres Duany announced 'Agrarian Urbanism' as his new planning emphasis. He believes that the success of New Urbanism has stultified its progress and reduced its potential.

June 15 - Fast Company

L.A.'s Bold Transit Moves

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's plan to cram 30 years of transit projects into one decade is gathering steam in Washington -- and other cities are watching closely.

June 15 - Next American City


Bruce Sterling on Cities

<em>Boing Boing</em> interviews author and futurist Bruce Sterling about global cities and how vastly expanding urban scale is not necessarily a problem.

June 15 - Boing Boing

Reusing Stalled Construction Sites in Seattle

Officials in Seattle are trying to pass legislation that would allow stalled construction sites to be reused as parking lots and temporary vending areas.

June 15 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Understanding Through Noshing

Conflict Kitchen is a new restaurant in Pittsburgh that serves food from countries that are in conflict with the United States.

June 15 - Azure

TOD Commands A Premium In Denver

Apartment seekers are willing to pay more for places next to transit, says a market analysis by Grubb & Ellis. Proximity to transit was the #1 factor in their decision.

June 15 - The Denver Post

Making Buildings More Like Ecosystems

Green building? Feh. Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow looks at the movement towards biomimetic architecture, buildings that create living, sustainable ecosystems of their own.

June 15 - The Boston Globe

Augmenting Sense of Place

In the first of a two-part series on augmented reality, Mitchell Schwarzer discusses how this new form of information affects our sense of place.

June 15 - Places

Hanging Out at the Virtual Mall

Mall operator Westfield Group says it is developing a completely virtual "mall" shopping space, and is seeking retailers to rent spaces.

June 14 - Retail Traffic Magazine

High-Speed Rail Will Mean 150,000 New Jobs

A new report from the U.S. Conference of Mayors says that the added connectivity from high-speed rail will create 150,000 new jobs and $19 billion in new businesses by 2035.

June 14 - The New York Times

How Cities Can Take Advantange of Their Data

Public data can be more than information for cities. Some have even used it to help generate revenue.

June 14 - Next American City

The San Francisco of Fill-in-the-Blank

San Francisco is often upheld as a model for other global cities, with places such as Brighton, Port-au-Prince, and Geneva being compared to the city by the bay.

June 14 - The New York Times

FEATURE

Road Diets: Making Streets Slim Down Is Good For Pedestrians, Businesses And Even Traffic

Cities are greatly in need of slimming down their roads, says architect Michael Bohn. A recent project in Long Beach, California shows how curb extensions and street furniture can have a huge impact on the economics of downtowns.

June 14 - Michael Bohn

Roadblocks Hinder Infrastructure in Russia's Olympic Host City

The relatively tropical seaside resort of Sochi, Russia will play host to the 2014 Winter Olympics. But building the infrastructure to support those games has become a major challenge for officials.

June 14 - The Vancouver Sun

BLOG POST

Valuing The Precious Hours Of Our Lives

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Time is a limited and valuable resource. As much as possible, people should spend the precious hours of their lives in the most satisfying and productive possible ways. This has important implications for transportation planning, since most people spend a significant amount of time in transport, and travel time savings are often the greatest projected benefits of transport projects such as roadway and transit service improvements.</span> </p>

June 14 - Todd Litman

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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.