The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, many shopping centers are losing retailers left and right. More unusual tenants are filling in the gaps, like gun ranges and bounce houses.

October 27 - The Wall Street Journal

Public participation is an important part of the urban planning process, says Michael Hooper, as "it improves project outcomes and the likelihood of project success." But lately, some prominent people are saying that it hinders the planning process.

October 27 - Next American City

Creating livable streets starts at the grassroots level by gathering support from the community. Better Blocks Philly was a project that created temporary changes to streets, promoting the concept of the "complete street" for the residents.

October 27 - Project For Public Spaces

In occupied cities across North America, sanitation and noise concerns, as well as conflicts over scheduled public uses of parks, are leading to official efforts to end the protests.

October 27 - Winnipeg Free Press

Many sport agencies are realizing the benefits of going green. John McHale Jr., executive vice president at M.L.B. said “just because you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you can’t do something.” Many others are doing their part to help as well.

October 27 - The New York Times

FEATURE

The results of our crowdsourcing project, in collaboration with the Project for Public Spaces, reveal not an objective Top 100 but instead a handful of communities passionate about their own local public spaces.

October 27 - Tim Halbur

Internet server farms suck up enormous amounts of energy keeping all those mainframes cool. So Facebook has announced it will build in Northern Sweden and use only the natural air to chill their facility.

October 27 - The Telegraph

For years, absentee owners of Philadelphia eyesores avoided penalties from Licenses and Inspections, often because citations and warnings were sent to vacant properties. Now, commissioner Fran Burns can summon those owners back to the city.

October 27 - Philadelphia Daily News

The City of Rio de Janeiro announced the winner of its design contest for the 2016 Olympic Park. Contestants also designed a master-planned, mixed-use neighborhood to take over the space post-Olympics.

October 27 - 2016 Olympic Park Competition

Natalia Echeverri profiles Asheville, NC, a town that that has transformed itself into a grassroots-oriented, local creative hub. One highlight? A recycled "design-build" studio constructed in 10 weeks.

October 27 - POLIS

The New York City Department of City Planning wants to place maximums in the Manhattan core, but there's just one problem: its own two-year-old parking study. Noah Kazis reports on the faulty arguments against reform.

October 27 - Streetsblog New York City

BLOG POST

<p style="margin-top: 6pt" class="MsoPlainText"> <span>Let me tell you a scary story that you can use to frighten fellow planners at next week’s Halloween party. It’s not just fun and games – this story is true and may cause nightmares.</span> </p>

October 27 - Todd Litman

BLOG POST

October 26 - Ki Kim

Coachella Valley is home to agriculture, music festivals, and impoverished residents living in shanty mobile homes. Drinkable water, reliable electricity, basic sanitation, and clean air are scarce, says California Watch.

October 26 - California Watch

Zipcar is a car sharing service based in Cambridge, Mass. The program allows you access to a car for either several hours or the whole day. Illinois contracted with the company giving its state employees access to nearly 500 vehicles.

October 26 - Chicago Tribune

Pollution has caused the Anacostia River to suffer, writes Ryan Donahue, and efforts to revitalize the area were put on hold just as the recession began. Since then, the District has implemented programs to help restore this neglected area.

October 26 - City Parks Blog

In its 5th year, the Solar Decathlon had submissions from 20 different countries and from schools like SCI-Arc/Caltech's and Appalachian State University, writes Diana Budds for Dwell.

October 26 - Dwell

The government plans to build 24 industrial cities that stretch from New Delhi to Mumbai for a corridor bigger in land size than Japan, write Matthias Williams and Lyndee Prickitt for Reuters.

October 26 - Reuters

The implosion of the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects is recognized as the moment when modernism died. Sam Jacob is taking university students to the site to observe what has become of the location.

October 26 - Strange Harvest

"Carjacked" author Anne Lutz Fernandez says Time's tearful coverage of the traffic deaths of a 72-year-married Iowa couple fails to recognize the true problem: that Americans are persuaded that driving = living.

October 26 - Streetsblog Capitol Hill