The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

Could Trolley Canal Boats Make a Comeback?

Low-tech Magazine details the history of the trolley canal boat, a staple of the past for transporting goods down canals and waterways. Could something like this make a comeback?

December 25 - Low-tech Magazine

Detroit Gets Funding for Light Rail

A public-private partnership has come together to fund a 3.4-mile light rail line through Detroit's commercial district, and convinced the Feds to bend the rules a little to bring it to reality.

December 25 - the transport politic

Can Beauty Be Regulated?

Roger Scruton compares American and European ways of regulating aesthetics in buildings.

December 24 - The American Enterprise Institute

Free Holiday Parking Fails in Providence

Instead of encouraging shopping, as the city had hoped, free downtown parking has been occupied by downtown workers.

December 24 - NBC News - Providence

The Coming Transition to Electric Cars

A new report from PikeResearch predicts the future for electric vehicles in 2010, including the prediction that hybrids will dominate the market.

December 24 - Renewable Energy World


Documenting The Mother Road

The California Preservation Foundation and the National Park Service are funding a cultural survey of Route 66, which could result in several new national landmarks along the old highway.

December 24 - The Los Angeles Times

Malcolm Wells, R.I.P.

Malcolm Wells was a pioneer of sustainable design, with an emphasis on green roofs and underground buildings. He died recently at the age of 83.

December 24 - Design Boom


BLOG POST

Christmastime in the City

<p> Even more so than usual, few people will be receiving buildings as gifts this season.  They&#39;re too expensive, you can’t return them, and, notwithstanding Barbie’s Dream House, they probably won&#39;t fit under your tree.  But still, this Yuletide affords ample opportunity to take stock of the works that have arisen in this most momentous of decades.  </p>

December 23 - Josh Stephens

BLOG POST

New IPhone App Fails Government Transportation Funding Support Criteria

<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%"><span style="font-family: Calibri">A friend of mine who&#39;s a biophysicist popped in to see me the other day. <span> </span>He was all excited and showed me his “patent pending” letter for his newest invention.

December 23 - Steven Polzin

Convention Centers Can Be "Deadly, Single-Purpose Monoliths"

Robert Campbell argues that Boston's planned expansion of the convention center should be mixed-use and urban in nature.

December 23 - The Boston Globe

The High Line of Cleveland?

The designers of New York's popular High Line park have a radical new proposal for Cleveland's Public Square that turns the one square into four new ones.

December 23 - Fast Company

Is China Spending Too Much on Trains?

Financial analysts in China say that the country is spending far too much money - to the tune of $229 billion - on its nationwide high-speed passenger-rail network.

December 23 - The New York Times

CalTrans Sued Over Disability Access, Settles for $1.1b in Fixes

Civil rights activists sued CalTrans for failing to provide wheelchair ramps across the state. In federal court yesterday, CalTrans settled with the groups, agreeing to over a billion dollars in access improvements over 30 years.

December 23 - The Los Angeles Times

Sustainable Olmsted

Vandergrift, PA was a company town designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1895. Today, the town is looking back to Olmsted's original plan to improve the town's sustainability.

December 23 - ASLA's The Dirt blog

Farms Growing in Colorado

Dipping into Colorado's census information reveals 7,000 new farms in the state, in addition to other surprising statistics.

December 23 - The Denver Post

Martin County, FL Approving Rural Development

Arterial intersections around Martin County, Florida may soon see 7-11s and gas stations as county officials prepare a new growth plan.

December 23 - The Palm Beach Post

Returning to Las Vegas

Nicolai Ourousoff pays a visit to an exhibit at Yale that looks back at 'Learning From Las Vegas,' the famed book on Sin City architecture from the 1970s.

December 23 - The New York Times

Federal Bills To Provide Billions For Transportation Working Through Congress

The jobs and defense bills - both of which will provide much needed money for transportation projects while extending the current transportation authorization law (SAFETEA-LU) through Sept. 2010, are working there way to the President's desk.

December 23 - Transportation for America

Federal Grants Make Taxis More Accessible

A new federal grant program is enabling private car and taxi companies in cities across the country to buy new handicapped-accessible cars for their fleets.

December 23 - USA Today

The Infrastructural Divide

Infrastructure spending is becoming a dividing issue amongst political factions in America, according to this piece from <em>Wired</em>.

December 22 - Wired

Post News

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.