The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Christopher Hawthorne reflects on the simultaneous rise of bicycle culture and anti-transit NIMBYs. Can Angelenos come together to move forward when it comes to transportation and the built environment?

October 25 - The Los Angeles Times

Architecture critic Sarah Williams Goldhagen says that streets can't create public interaction in the way that unstructured spaces like urban parks can.

October 25 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

Public domain activist Carl Malamud explains in this brief talk why he believes building, fire and safety codes should be taken out of the hands of the private companies that distribute them and made publicly accessible.

October 25 - Boing Boing

FEATURE

Planetizen talks with Peter J. Park, Manager of Community Planning and Development for the City of Denver, Colorado, about the return of physical planning, the city's form-based code, and more.

October 25 - Tim Halbur

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows how population growth increases greenhouse gas emissions. More importantly, two demographic factors shape the increase, urbanization and aging -with opposite effects.

October 25 - BBC News - Science & Environment

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Republicans appear set to make significant political inroads in Congress this November, perhaps taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives and knocking on the door of majority control of the U.S. Senate. Their success will be in no small part due to the so-called Tea Parties, a grassroots political movement reacting to the perceived excess of the federal government. Planners should take note. While the Tea Party Movement is largely a national and statewide, its effects may well be felt on the local and regional level as well.</span> </p>

October 25 - Samuel Staley

At the recent RailVolution conference in Portland, OR, Chris Smith of Portland Transport showed off a cheap and simple display device that uses open source data to display transit times in public spaces. His price? $200.

October 25 - Steetsblog

BLOG POST

It's Halloween time again, the day when dressing up in silly costumes is required of every conscionable person. Some opt for the scary ghost or the sexy nurse, but others, more thoughtful others, make more of this opportunity.

October 25 - Nate Berg

An influx of federal infrastructure dollars -- which needed to be spent quickly for active transportation routes -- has Winnipeg divided over the way the improvements were carried out, heating up the race for Mayor [Video].

October 25 - CBC - Tha National

Across the country, federal funding is unable to keep up with repair costs, forcing some municipalities to cut units from their programs.

October 25 - The New York Times

Looking to spur civic engagement, officials in Boulder, Colorado are experimenting with unusual incentives for attendees of city-sponsored meetings.

October 25 - Daily Camera

Grist asks, "Does new public transit increase gentrification?" Their conclusion: "Isn't that the point?"

October 25 - Grist

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small">Why are otherwise generous and smart people sometimes selfish and irrational? </span> </p>

October 25 - Todd Litman

Rejected entirely last February for federal funding, planners made two important changes: Scaled down the project considerably, and scaled-up the city's contribution - which says little as their prior contribution had been zero!

October 24 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The shortcomings of Walk Score are becoming more apparent as planners look to use it as a measure of walkability, says The Conservative Planner.

October 24 - Conservative Planner

In a unanimous vote on Oct. 21, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District approved another 'first' air quality measure not done elsewhere: They supported charging Valley motorists for paying the $29 million ozone penalty set by the E.P.A.

October 24 - The Fresno Bee

The NY Times has created a loving photo essay depicting the long and storied history of the New York Subway.

October 24 - The New York Times

BLOG POST

<span style="widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; border-collapse: separate; font: medium 'Times New Roman'; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; letter-spacing: normal; word-spacing: 0px; color: #000000" class="Apple-style-span"> <div style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 10px"> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> This week, Hoboken is announcing its version of a highly successful awareness campaign practiced throughout Europe and, more directly translatable, the UK. In the UK, the <a href="http://www.20splentyforus.org.uk/">campaign</a> is called “20&#39;s Plenty for Us”, and in cities that adopt this policy, a 20mph speed limit area is established and signs are posted requiring drivers to obey the lower speed limit.

October 23 - Ian Sacs

A new study looks at the best cities in the world for science, using publication rates in as the basis. The researchers

October 23 - Nature

In Knoxville, Tennessee, a neighborhood association has asked the city to sell off one of its parks. The reason? They have a surfeit of park space and want to focus their attention on another park nearby.

October 23 - Knox News