The Daily Source of Urban Planning News

A new performing arts center in downtown Dallas is a sizeable addition to downtown. But is size actually the problem?

October 13 - Dallas News

Community activists are calling for a ban on new convenience stores in South Los Angeles, a lower income part of town that saw a ban on new fast food restaurants last year.

October 13 - The Los Angeles Times

BLOG POST

<p class="MsoNormal"> <span>Some of my acquaintances believe that climate change may end human life (or at least civilization) and that the only way to save humanity is to massively reduce economic growth and consumption.<span> </span>Other acquaintances believe that climate change is, if not an outright hoax, a minor problem- and that even the slightest attempt to regulate emission-creating industries will itself destroy American civilization.<span> </span></span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <span> </span> </p>

October 13 - Michael Lewyn

John King visits the new Taube Koret Campus for Jewish Life in Palo Alto, which he sees as an example of the challenges of infill development.

October 13 - The San Francisco Chronicle

The Disney Corporation has announced intentions to donate land for a high speed rail station in Orlando if a Florida project is approved. But some say it's unlikely the company will encourage anyone to use their station.

October 13 - The Orlando Sentinel

Townships surrounding Philadelphia have managed to survive the recession until now, but city coffers are now going into the red and cities are being forced to take action.

October 13 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

A group of landowners has been assembled that can now establish a special tax assessment district to raise money for the extension of the Washington D.C. area Metro system to Dulles International Airport.

October 13 - The Washington Post

The Houston neighborhood of Montrose was recently named one of the APA's 'Great Neighborhoods' for 2009, but as this editorial suggests, planners had nothing to do with it.

October 13 - The Houston Chronicle

Richard Florida notes that there are only 40 significant mega-regions that drive the global economy, and are poised for faster recovery from the economic slowdown.

October 13 - The Wall St. Journal

Travel + Leisure Magazine picks their worst buildings ever, including a Michael Graves-designed office in Portland and the National Library of Belarus.

October 12 - Travel + Leisure

Transit oriented development is having a hard time taking hold in Salt Lake City. Some say the parking preferences of lenders are to blame.

October 12 - The Salt Lake Tribune

A coalition of community groups in L.A. has banded together to address the lack of access to healthy food in sections of East and South Central Los Angeles.

October 12 - The Christian Science Monitor

A TIME reporter attempts to pay a visit to The World, the collection of manmade islands off the coast of Dubai that has gone from dream to disappointment in the economic crisis.

October 12 - Time

Carolyn Steel gives a talk inspired by her new book "Hungry Cities," about the history of feeding urban areas, and the ways in which food might reach increasingly urban populations in the future.

October 12 - TED.com

When it turns frustrated drivers to different modes like transit, walking, biking and carpooling, says writer David Owen.

October 12 - The Wall St. Journal

BLOG POST

<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt" class="MsoNormal"> <span style="font-size: small; font-family: Times New Roman">I spent the last week teaching a professional development course for young planners in Buenos Aries, Argentina. It’s been a wonderful experience – my students are smart and enthusiastic, and Buenos Aries is a vibrant city with old-world charm. The buildings, plazas and old statues are beautiful and dignified, although a little frayed around the edges.

October 12 - Todd Litman

A public art piece installed in the Tokyo Subway imagines that an alien race has lived underground since long before the subway was built and have come out to interact with commuters.

October 12 - ArchiCentral

A pilot carbon capture project in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin claims to be safely sequestering carbon emissions using a chilled ammonia process.

October 12 - autobloggreen.com

A Grist writer and environmentalist takes a trip to the Talladega Superspeedway to try to understand what the petroleum-wasting is really all about.

October 12 - Grist

The problem with white roofs is that while they keep apartments and the atmosphere cool, come winter people want that heat to absorb. A new high-tech roofing material switches from white to black when needed.

October 12 - Fast Company