The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

FEATURE

Planetizen talks with Anne Lutz Fernandez, author of the new book <em>Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives,</em> about how Americans feel about their cars, the Starbucks Effect, and the built environment.

February 1 - Tim Halbur

TIME Magazine gives an overview of possibility of high-speed rail in the country, and sees Florida as the perfect place to start.

February 1 - Time

A new luxury hotel with subway access on the ground floor has opened in L.A., creating what Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne sees as a bizarre mix of vanity and transit.

February 1 - Los Angeles Times

This piece from <em>Next American City</em> looks at health in New York City, and why the city's new health commissioner is looking at elevators, escalators and other subtleties of the built environment.

February 1 - Next American City

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small">Let me wade into an ongoing debate among fellow Planetizen bloggers </span><a href="/node/42367"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small">Samuel Staley</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small"> and </span><a href="/node/42323"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small">Michael Lewyn</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small"> concerning the meanings of <em>accessibility</em> and <em>mobility,</em> and their implications for transportation and land use policy. </span> </p>

February 1 - Todd Litman

Despite the economic downturn, a new skyscraper is rising in Oklahoma City. A suite of street improvements are also one their way.

February 1 - The New York Times

A new report from the Alliance for Biking & Walking takes a state-by-state look at the cycling and walking community, safety statistics, and investment figures.

February 1 - Streetsblog

The main reason people move to the outer suburbs is for larger homes, says a small study conducted by Ohio State University.

January 31 - The Columbus Dispatch

Locals in some of the smaller towns of British Columbia are skeptical that they will see the economic benefits of the this year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

January 31 - Winnipeg Free Press

BLOG POST

<p> As a young kid, skirting aimlessly throughout my suburban municipality from one car-optimized shopping center to the next on my bicycle in search of stimulation (and perhaps trouble), I vividly recall - though I likely didn&#39;t describe it as - the internal conflict between interesting commercial destinations on the inside, and the banal, cruel approach to these places on the outside.  Although the primitive human desires of my psyche subconsciously longed for a central place to congregate with other lost children of the suburbs, I never had a downtown; I never had a community center.  In this vacuum, I compensated with all that was available. </p>

January 31 - Ian Sacs

That's where authors Nathan Cherry and Kurt Nagle found their inspiration for their new book about urban form. Grid/Street/Place.

January 31 - The Huffington Post

<em>Worldchanging</em>'s Alex Steffen says the question of cities versus suburbs is the political conflict that will define the next decade.

January 31 - Grist

In the world of natural gas, Oklahoma City is ground zero. Sandridge, a large independent producer of natural gas, is parlaying its new importance into a $100 million investment in the downtown, complete with parkland.

January 31 - Fast Company

More than a million Haitians have fled the capital city of Port-au-Prince, and government officials are advising them to stay out of the city. But many question if these provincial cities will be able to provide jobs and economic opportunities.

January 30 - The Christian Science Monitor

Plans by Las Vegas officials to siphon water from northern Nevada down to the growing city may have hit a wall, as a recent ruling from the state Supreme Court found fault with the region's water rights application process.

January 30 - Los Angeles Times

This piece from <em>Utne Reader</em> looks at the role of architecture in the public works projects of Medellin, Colombia, a city that has struggled with severe crime.

January 30 - Utne Reader

New Orleans has had a rough couple of years. But now that the city's professional football team is headed to the Super Bowl, the city is relishing the opportunity to celebrate.

January 30 - The New York Times

Having stalled in the state Senate last June, a bill that aims to "reduc(e) governmental or government-required subsidies for parking" passed out of the senate on Jan. 28. Parking strategies would be eligible for cap & trade credits under the bill.

January 30 - Los Angeles Times

A series of mock-advertisements herald the gentrification of Brooklyn.

January 29 - Flavorpill

The growth patterns of amoebae as they spread out to connect to food sources bears a striking resemblance to the map of a rail system. Some say the amoeba could inform urban planners and designers.

January 29 - MSNBC