The Daily Source of Urban Planning News
Breaking Out of Silos and Across Borders
With interdepartmental cooperation blossoming within the Obama administration, Neal Peirce wonders how things will shake down when policies hit metropolitan regions -- and the municipal borders that can impede and confuse policy.
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Part Time Lover - Is The Car Just An Affair?
<p> America's so-called “love affair” with the automobile, although cliché, provides a vivid description of how attached we really are to driving. Public policy, and the historically overwhelming effect of auto industry lobbying, is only partly to blame for the endemic traffic jams and smog of the twentieth century. Bruce Schaller, a transportation consultant hired by New York City advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, <a href="http://www.transalt.org/files/newsroom/reports/schaller_Feb2006.pdf">recently demonstrated</a> that urbanites with multiple transportation options still choose to commute by car for rational reasons of privacy, convenience, and speed. A chart of his, shown below, demonstrates how perplexing this choice is. Overcoming these reasons is a ser
D.C. Bus Gets Real-Time Locator Application
A new web-based application that tracks the location of Washington D.C.'s Circulator bus has been released.<em>DCist</em> reports.
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Finding Planners with Shared Interests: The Post-Graduation Experience
In recent months many planning students have graduated and are moving on to the next phase of life—jobs, internships, fellowships, and such. For many this will involve a move to a new place. Even those staying in the same metropolitan area will seldom make it back to their planning program, and besides their fellow students will have scattered. Graduate school provides a peer group of those with similar interests and training. How do recent graduates create such a network when they are no longer in residence at a university?
Ownership of Bus Arrival Data Disputed
The story of how an iPhone application charting public transit arrival times led to as-yet-unanswered questions about who owns this public data -- or whether it can be owned at all.
The Shared Woes of the Auto Industry and the Black Middle Class
The downfall of the American auto industry is also having a major impact on middle and working class African-American families. This piece from the <em>The New York Times Magazine</em> looks at the connection.
City Styrofoam Bans Send Food Packaging Industry Scrambling
More than 30 cities and counties in California have passed some form of a ban on the use of polystyrene containers, and a new state law under consideration, AB 1358, would ban the use of polystyrene foam and non-recyclable food containers statewide.
Public Space Starting Small On Philadelphia's Waterfront
A competition to redesign Philadelphia's Pier 11 represents a concentrated -- and viable -- effort to create quality public space along the city's waterfront, according to <em>Philadelphia Inquirer</em> architecture critic Inga Saffron.
Community Colleges Set Green Workforce Training Mission
Already a national leader in green building and looking to expand its leadership, the Los Angeles Community College District is launching several collaborative efforts to train a new, green workforce.
City People Do-It-Themselves
This post from <em>The New York Times'</em> blog examines how city government's are increasingly relying on automated services to keep order and boost revenue, and how citizens are reacting.
Squatters to Gain Legal Land Rights in the Amazon
The Brazilian government has just approved a measure that would grants legal land rights to squatters in the Amazon.
Waterfront Park and Housing Heading to Queens
New York City recently acquired land to develop parkspace and housing for middle and moderate-income New Yorkers in Queens.
Good Parks Good for Urban Economies
Anne Schwartz compiles recent studies on the economic value of parks, describing how an investment in parks by the city will result in a healthier urban economy.
Granny Flats and Carriage Houses for Denver
Grass Root Efforts to Help Bring Back a Much-Loved Building Form
BART Looking at Vendors to Boost Revenues
The San Francisco Bay Area's BART regional transit system is considering a plan to expand the amount of retailers and vendors it allows within its stations as a way to boost revenue.
Bicycle Use Surpasses Car Use in Amsterdam
According to the latest numbers out of Amsterdam, residents are for the first time using bicycles for transport more often than they use their cars.
$300,000 to Fund Green-collar Jobs
Mayor of Boston announces $300,000 to create green-collar jobs.
Try, Try Again
A local committee in Easton, Connecticut, has made a suggestion on the location of a 9/11 Memorial Site -- the same site that was denied by the Planning and Zoning Commission six months ago.
Inspection in Philly After D.C. Crash
SEPTA of Philadelphia will inspect train-control signals made by the same company that made the signals on the Metro in D.C, where a possible signal malfunction is under investigation in the recent train crash.
The Megaprojects Shaping the Future of Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi is looking to develop itself into a new global arts hub, and an incubator of green technology. This piece takes a tour of two ambitious projects seeking to reform the oil-rich emirate.
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Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
