The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Cities across the country are experimenting with free "shuttles" that circulate people through top destinations and have a unique brand to take away the stigma of riding the bus.

January 18 - the transport politic

BLOG POST

<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'"> <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri">Last week I attended the </span><a href="http://www.trb.org/AnnualMeeting2010/Public/AnnualMeeting2010.aspx"><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri">Transportation Research Boards (TRB)</span></a><span style="font-size: small; font-family: Calibri"> 89th annual meeting, which attracted approximately 10,000 transportation professionals from around the globe to Washington DC. More than 2,000 papers were presented at more than 700 sessions, plus several hundred committee meetings took place. Let me share some highlights.</span> </p>

January 18 - Todd Litman

Spain has rapidly developed high speed rail system, leaving many U.S. politicians -- including President Obama -- wondering how the U.S. can catch up. This article and video from <em>PBS</em> looks at the Spanish model.

January 18 - PBS

Thursday, the switch was flipped on a generator that will serve the heating needs of 16,000 residents of the Olympic Village in Vancouver. The generator transforms sewage into heat.

January 18 - The Vancouver Sun

The United States has a long history of planning at the national level. This article from Professor Robert Fishman details that history, and looks at how national planning may play out over the next 100 years.

January 17 - PBS

A temporary urban garden has been erected in Shenzhen, China by a group of artists. The garden represents the amount of agricultural land is necessary to feed all 4.5 million of the city's residents.

January 17 - Inhabitat

Governor Linda Lingle is proposing that the state bring the state's elevated rail project down to the ground to save costs, considering Hawai'i's budget problems.

January 17 - The Honolulu Advertiser

Steven Mouzon reflects on the huge investment a roadside reference like a Waffle House must make in infrastructure versus the relatively low expense for an inner-city restaurant.

January 17 - The Original Green Blog

Inhabitat reports on a Bulgarian designer who has a vision of a bicycle lane suspended in the air, taking bicyclists out of the line of traffic and onto a very precarious-looking track.

January 17 - Inhabitat

Cities along the British coast are being warned that sea level rise over the next 100 years will have significant destructive effects. Officials are being cautioned to consider city-altering plans that shift populations away from endangered areas.

January 16 - Guardian

Basra and Mosul are Iraq's second- and third-largest cities. In this post, Iraqi journalists talk about the two cities, their evolving public realms and the security issues they face.

January 16 - The New York Times

Economist Edward L. Glaeser takes a look at how the housing bubble has affected changing populations in the Sun Belt.

January 16 - The New York Times

<em>Metropolis</em> presents a slideshow of photographs by artist Christoph Gielen, who photographs suburban developments from a helicopter.

January 16 - Metropolis

Dallas is putting its hopes on architecture and art to spur the city's cultural development.

January 16 - The Texas Observer

Planner Sam Gennawey applies the Urban-to-Rural Transect concept to Mickey's Toontown at Disneyland.

January 15 - SamLand's Disney Adventures

Petaluma, California, made headlines last year when it got rid of its planning department. <em>The Architect's Newspaper</em> takes a look at how the city is adapting to contract-based planning through hired consultants.

January 15 - The Architect's Newspaper

<em>AskMen.com</em> has released a list of the world's top ten bike-friendly cities. Portland, Oregon is the one U.S. city to make the list.

January 15 - AskMen

A new report from the Health Effect Institute concludes that there is a strong correlation between exposure to traffic and heart ailments.

January 15 - The New York Times

First proposed in 1993, a higher peak toll may finally be applied to the Bay Bridge: $6 would be charged 5-10am and 3-7pm, while $4 charged off-peak. Weekends will see a $5 toll, the same as the other state-owned regional bridges if approved 1/27.

January 15 - San Francisco Chronicle

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> Every so often, one sees an article arguing that one mode of transportation is cheaper, more efficient, or less dangerous than another because it uses less energy/kills more people/costs more per passenger-mile. (1) </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> It seems to me, however, that per passenger-mile comparisions are flawed in one key respect: they assume that trips on any mode of transportation will involve the same mileage, so that if the average driver lives 20 miles from work, the average bus rider will also live 20 miles from work.<span> </span> </p>

January 15 - Michael Lewyn