The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

The United States has been the largest market for automobile sales since the advent of the Model T. But in 2009, China's demand jumped a whopping 46 percent over the year before, as the American market slumped.

January 11 - Bloomberg.com

Prof. Sharon Zukin argues that Jacobs had "a gentrifier’s appreciation of urban authenticity" in her new book, <em>Naked City.</em>

January 11 - New York Post

FEATURE

The editors' choice of the most significant stories in the realm of urban planning, design and development of the "aughts" (2000-2009). The decade began with one crash and ended with another, but in between we've learned a lot about making cities.

January 11 - Nate Berg

A system of escalators in Hong Kong, installed in 1993 to create a new connection between districts, has become an unusual and popular way to commute Hong Kong's steep streets.

January 11 - BBC

Residents and visitors to downtown Portland have long enjoyed taking buses, LRT, and streetcar within a perimeter known as Fareless Square at no cost. While the MAX and streetcar will remain 'fareless', the bus will cost you. New name: Free Rail Zone

January 11 - OregonLive.com

In a new working paper called “The Greenness of China: Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development,” Siqi Zheng, Rui Wang, Edward L. Glaeser, and Matthew E. Kahn rank 74 Chinese cities in terms of their household carbon footprints.

January 11 - NYTimes

This new cafe in Oakland does more than welcome cyclists - it caters to them. It is a welcome addition in a neighborhood that has seen more than its share of crime. Check out the pedal-powered video player.

January 11 - YouTube

Is twelve feet square enough room to live in? Designer James Stuart thinks so, and is practicing what he preaches in his own 12' cube house in Canada.

January 10 - This Big City

Ed Glaeser argues that housing needs to be viewed as a commodity like any other, rather than an investment.

January 10 - Economix Blog

In this editorial, the Times strongly supports the new, more stringent ozone standard proposed by the EPA. It views the new proposal as a sign that the Obama administration looks toward science, not industry, to set environmental and health standards

January 10 - The New York Times - Opinion

Private investors are claiming that they can build a $3 billion, 220-mile high speed rail system in Indonesia by the end of 2011. But the plan may be too ambitious to pull off -- or just not a good idea in the first place.

January 10 - The Infrastructurist

The market for big box spaces plunged during the recession as companies like Circuit City folded. But demand is very slightly picking up, and in some places it never went away.

January 10 - Retail Traffic Magazine

Long-held plans to build a bus rapid transit system connecting Oakland with nearby cities may also result in the creation of what some are calling the longest "complete street" in the state.

January 9 - San Francisco Chronicle

As China's cities grow, the economic policy that determines who is a rural resident and who is an urban resident are in need of some changes, according to this article.

January 9 - Guardian

A new manifesto is being circulated in Hamburg, Germany, where city officials have used the concept of the "creative class" to rebrand the city and lure in creative people. The resulting gentrification of the city has many locals upset.

January 9 - Der Spiegel

In Singapore, where land is precious, new concepts in building are being proposed to create shared resources for different industries in the same space.

January 9 - AsiaOne

New parking lots and obstructed views of historic buildings would be forbidden under a new set of zoning rules being discussed for downtown Baltimore.

January 9 - The Baltimore Sun

A group of Southern California nudists is criticizing parks officials who buried a dead sea lion near their controversial stomping grounds -- a stinky development in the long battle between nudists and officials over the contested beach.

January 8 - The Orange County Register

The "N Building" in Tokyo has a facade made up of digital QR codes- aim your phone at a window, and it will tell you all about the business, what's on sale, and what the people inside are Tweeting.

January 8 - Fast Company

An artist collective in New York City is on a mission to blot out advertising in public space, covering it over with their art projects.

January 8 - The Indypendent