The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Officials in the Dominican Republic have approved the creation of cities made of home built out of shipping containers -- part of efforts to aid earthquake-rattled Haiti.

March 8 - Inhabitat

Saul Kaplan says cities should be transformed into innovation centers to stay competitive and become the venue of a "new economic conversation".

March 8 - Business Week

FEATURE

Dr. Marc Schlossberg of the University of Oregon developed a series of tools for mobile GIS devices, and set community members loose to use the technology to collect data about their streets and improve their neighborhood livability.

March 8 - Dr. Marc Schlossberg

The city of Toronto's public transit system has been plagued by dysfunctional service and rider complaints. Officials are looking to Philadelphia for lessons on improving their troubled system.

March 8 - The Toronto Star

This video takes a futuristic tour of Tokyo -- through an editing technique that parallels the imagery to give the impression of weightless flight.

March 7 - nait5

Tasked with managing millions of acres of public lands, the federal Bureau of Land Management has announced plans to perform detailed ecological studies of some of its most notable properties.

March 7 - San Jose Mercury News

One in five Detroit homes is in foreclosure and asking prices are dropping to extreme lows. Many in the city question what lies in the future for the struggling city.

March 7 - Guardian

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> Students nearing graduation are wondering about employment. Some already have jobs lined but many do not. While it is good to start looking, best advice is to graduate first as finishing up after you have a job almost always creates a lot of stress and bother. Previous blogs have covered <a href="/node/37736" target="_blank">Finding a First Job in Planning</a>, <a href="/node/38516" target="_blank">Tips on Gainful Unemployment for New Planners</a>, and <a href="/node/34807" target="_blank">Defining the Planning Skill Set </a>based on surveys of employers and graduates. <strong>Anna Read</strong>, a recent graduate from Cornell’s MRP program who found employment right away last year, has passed along these tips from her own experience: </p>

March 7 - Ann Forsyth

Through a photo collage of historical and current pictures, artist Alden Cudanin documents the changes that have happened in Toronto Since the early 1900s.

March 7 - Spacing Toronto

This piece from <em>Design Observer</em> takes a pointed and critical look at the work of <em>New York Times</em> architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff and finds much to be desired in his work.

March 7 - Design Observer

Mary Our Queen Catholic Church in Norcross, Georgia needs a new building. Rather than build a modern box, they're moving a historic basilica all the way from Buffalo, New York, calling their strategy "preservation by relocation".

March 6 - PlaceMakers blog

When all business happens over the internet, does where your business still matter? Yes, says Business Insider, for all the same reasons as before.

March 6 - Business Insider

The new park takes an old waterfront park and connects it with previously inaccessible space to create an 85-acre site stretching 1.3 miles along the waterfront.

March 6 - Design Trust blog

Architecture critic John King reads Sharon Zukin's new book "Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Spaces" and ruminates on the meaning of authenticity in his own hometown, San Francisco.

March 6 - The San Francisco Chronicle

An extensive redevelopment program is planned for East London, in an area one commenter calls "the land that God forgot."

March 5 - The New Statesman

After the success of the protected bike lane, or "cycletrack" on 15th Street NW, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) has begun discussing plans for four additional protected lanes around Northwest DC.

March 5 - The WashCycle

A 12-story condominium proposed for Crystal Beach in Fort Erie, Ontario brought protesters out in droves, but despite the fact that objections outweighed approvals by 2-1, the city council approved the project.

March 5 - The Buffalo News

The Portland waterfront is zoned to exclude anything but marine uses, but with a slump in the fishing industry property owners are pushing for the freedom to build for other uses along the water.

March 5 - Portland Press Herald

West Oakland's days as an industrial center are long gone, but city officials have a vision of rebuilding it as a clean energy mecca. Problem is, many locals have their own vision of upscaling the neighborhood with local eateries and condos.

March 5 - The Wall St. Journal

Food trucks are hot in Los Angeles, but local restaurateurs are understandably upset by the surprise competition. Mobile vendors have banded together and established a "gourmet food lot" downtown as a sort of solution.

March 5 - GOOD Magazine