The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa has caused the creation or redesign of ten stadia. <em>The Architect's Newspaper</em> offers this list of four of the most interesting stadia and what future these expensive buildings may have.

June 14 - The Architect's Newspaper

Mayor Daley's successes in downtown Chicago have attracted attention worldwide, but what about the rest of the city? Greg Hinz and Steven R. Strahler say Daley has fixed downtown but not the city's neighborhoods.

June 14 - Chicago Business

Transit advocates are used to battling the 'road lobby', but this article reports on a clash between small and mid-sized transit agencies (who want more flexibility) against the larger ones, as well as the main transit lobbying organization, APTA.

June 14 - The Washington Post

With the devastating spill of oil in the Gulf, this post from <em>The National Review</em> suggests taking control over off-shore drilling out of the hands of government and putting it into the hands of private interests.

June 14 - The National Review

Causeway Street, formed by the Big Dig in Boston, is in the plans as a vibrant new center of streetlife. With the Big Dig construction long over, planners say now is the time.

June 14 - The Boston Globe

Reducing the speed limit to 50 mph, say researchers, would create the tipping point where taking transit or modes other than driving will become more attractive and therefore save CO2 emissions.

June 13 - Wired

BLOG POST

<div>I learned with great sadness about the loss of William Mitchell, 65, this past friday after a long battle with cancer. Bill was the chair of my Ph.D. committee, a mentor and a friend.</div><div><p>&nbsp;</p>

June 13 - Anthony Townsend

William Rivers Pitt says it's all too easy to blame BP or the politicians who deregulated the oil industry. Ultimately, he says, all of us are to blame for the Gulf oil disaster and the damage wrought by fossil fuels.

June 13 - Truthout

A debate is simmering in Los Angeles between transit planners, developers, urban planners, and community activists about the future of transit-oriented development.

June 13 - Los Angeles Streetsblog

The jury is out on skyscrapers- are they responsible density, or terrible energy hogs? As Indian cities like Mumbai and Delhi grow, architect Aditi Nargundkar Pathak says the time to consider skyscrapers is now.

June 13 - http://www.theurbanvision.com

John King is encouraged by the nascent plans for a "fantastical" new landscape at the eastern end of the Bay Bridge. The Bay Area has a chance to create something as "lasting and bold" as the high line in New York or Chicago's millennium park.

June 13 - San Francisco Chronicle

BLOG POST

<p> A recent Planetizen interview on the <a href="/node/44392" target="_blank">relationship between park space and active living</a> got me thinking about what spaces inspire physical activity and what spaces discourage it. </p> <p> In my old apartment complex, the indoor fitness centers were jammed while the nearby riverside walking trails were desolate, despite nearly perfect year-round weather.  Why? The trails were perceived as unsafe because they were completely isolated from view. </p>

June 12 - Diana DeRubertis

Judge Raymond Pianka of Cleveland’s Housing Court has taken a hard line on landowners that let their homes fall into disrepair, blighting suffering neighborhoods. But a higher court may be clipping Pianka's wings.

June 12 - Next American City

A Catholic charity in Kansas City got a lot of requests from the immigrants they were assisting from Africa and Asia for a place to plant vegetables. The resulting hybrid of community farm/microbusiness is flourishing.

June 12 - Grist

Embassies are a critical diplomatic tool, but their original emphasis on representing a state has given way to defending the diplomats inside.

June 12 - Sustainable Cities Collective

Joe Peach understands "that online technologies and the city are becoming increasingly integrated," and argues that social media should have a democratizing effect on the planning process.

June 12 - thisbigcity.net

"A once radical idea - that health and urbanism are so deeply entwined that investing in the latter may improve the former -- is beginning to find broad adoption," concludes Fast Company. Greg Lindsay charts the realization of this relationship.

June 12 - Fast Company

BLOG POST

<!--StartFragment--><p style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; font-family: Cambria">Jay McChord is as energetic and passionate a person as you’ll find in America. While many know him as a generational communication consultant, a Lexington, Kentucky City Councilman, or even as a former University of Kentucky “Wildcat” mascot, livable streets advocates should know him as the chief architect of the only statewide ciclovia program in the United States: Kentucky’s <a href="http://www.2ndsundayky.com/Second"></a>(2S) initiative (<span style="font-family: Cambria, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" class="Apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.2ndsundayky.com/index.htm">http://www.2ndsundayky.com/index.htm</a>).</span></span></p>

June 11 - Mike Lydon

The staff of the BUILDblog review the architectural approach, style and design of kid-constructed couch forts.

June 11 - Build Blog

Are there two many stores? Growing evidence says yes, that the retail market is unlikely to spring back and with the shift to internet spending, it's likely that we've already got more retail space than we need.

June 11 - ArtVoice