The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
A Central Park Emerges in Downtown Los Angeles
Authorities in Los Angeles are working on a grand plan to unify the city's core with a new Downtown Civic Park Project.
Geolocating Your Fruity Pebbles
"Indoor positioning systems" are getting closer to reality, placing products at your fingertips by tracking them down within the store.
Future Olympic Host Working Around the Clock
Sochi, Russia, is set to play host to the Winter Olympics in 2014. Preparations are fast underway, with construction work happening practically around the clock.
Regional Agencies Abolished in U.K.
Regional Development Agencies, a U.K. fixture that developed regional strategies for placing affordable housing and creating jobs, are being replaced by "Local Enterprise Partnerships", which, as Alison Killing writes, sounds suspiciously different.
Washinton D.C. Becomes Latest City To Launch Bike Share
Washington D.C. became the latest city to launch a bike share scheme Monday. "Like bees tumbling from the nest, scores of riders on ruby-red bicycles swarmed from a lot near Nationals Park to establish Capital Bikeshare," writes Ashley Halsey.
Amtrak Appoints Albrecht Engel To Head High Speed Rail Department
As Amtrak seeks to create and expand high-speed passenger train operations in the United States, the company on Thursday named Philadelphia rail expert Albrecht "Al" Engel to head its new high-speed rail department.
The Car as Protector, and Prosthetic
Asrai Ord explicates Rebecca Solnit's belief that "the car has become a prosthetic… for a conceptually impaired body or a body impaired by the creation of a world that is no longer human in scale."
2,000,000,000 Cars
In 15 years, the number of cars on the road worldwide is expected to hit 2 billion. Dan Sperling thinks focusing on electric vehicles and low carbon fuel standards will allow us to hit number and survive.
Friday Funny: Goats on the Roof™
Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant in Wisconsin features a traditional sod roof, complete with grazing goats. The Johnson family lawyers have trademarked the animal/roof combination, and sue anyone who does the same.
Celebrating Park(ing) Day 2010
Park(ing) Day, the worldwide event where artists, activists and architects take over parking spaces and transform them into public spaces, happened this week. Wired has pictures from this year's festivities.
Immigrant Growth Powers Houston As A Global City
The growth of George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Continental Airlines' largest hub but also one of he principal destinations away from the coasts for international carriers, has vastly increased passenger traffic and allowed Houston's reinvention.
Daley's Success As Chicago's 20-Year Mayor
Neal Pierce argues that retiring Mayor Daley's achievements in Chicago "stand out as beacons for mayors, American and worldwide, to emulate." He attributes some of his success to sheer political skill, but also examines seven effective policy shifts.
Taking the Gloom Out of Peak Oil
The latest issue of Yes! Magazine focuses on local resilience, and how preparing for a Peak Oil era -- through such efforts as the Transition Town movement -- can be a positive force for community building.
Broadway's "Self-Reinforcing Cycle"
In the last 2 years, New York's Broadway has given up 3.5 miles of traffic lanes and parking to bike lanes and pedestrian access, and gained a significant improvement in congestion and accident rates.
Lawsuit Over Zoning Dismissed, But the Damage is Done
The Town of Kingston, Massachusetts won a lawsuit this week, filed over whether land around the town's commuter rail station was properly rezoned -- but lost the promised developer and a state grant for smart growth in the process.
From Displacement to Permanent
In Haiti, displacement camps full of people left without homes after the devastating January earthquake are becoming more and more permanent. Deborah Gans argues that these sites should be more carefully planned to foster functioning places.
From 'Ruin Porn' to 'Prosperity Porn'
A new series of films about Detroit go beyond the "ruin porn" that has flooded the media in recent years and focuses on the good things happening in the city.
Turning Cars into the Last Resort in San Francisco
As San Francisco update its strategic plan, the rhetoric in the boardroom is increasingly about reducing car traffic and use in the city.
Walter Hood On Engaging the Public
Landscape architect Walter Hood feels a responsibility to educate and engage the public in his design commissions, from the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park to a light rail station in Crenshaw, California.
Turning Landfill into Landscape
The Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island is slowly being transformed into a major new park for New York. Eventually it will be three times the size of Central Park.
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Yukon Government
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Norman, Oklahoma
City of Portland
City of Laramie
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